Women in Technology (WIT) at IUPUI is planning the Third Annual Women in Technology Networking and Career Day to be held at the IUPUI Campus Center on Tuesday, March 26. Women in Technology (WIT), a recognized IUPUI student organization, is dedicated to empowering, inspiring and developing female leaders in computing and technology. This free event features local employers, roundtable discussions, student poster sessions and flash talks as well as an invited keynote speaker.
WIT and the March 26th event are supported in part by a Symantec Student Seed Fund grant made possible through the National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT). According to NCWIT, groups encouraging women in technology are much-needed. Women occupy more than half of all professional positions in the U.S., but only one-fourth of all computing-related occupations. And women make up only 11 percent of corporate officers at Fortune 500 technology companies. Furthermore, women earned 18 percent of all computing-related degrees as recently as 2009 – a significant drop from 1985 when women earned 37 percent of all such degrees.
Why is this a problem? With IT being one of the fastest-growing sectors of the US economy, over two-thirds of these positions could go unfilled due to an insufficient pool of qualified candidates. Women represent an untapped talent pool. Further, companies with the highest representation of women on management teams have a 34% higher return on their investment than those with few or no women represented.
WIT hopes to significantly build its membership across all undergraduate and graduate programs on campus, including informatics, computer science, engineering and more. Benefits it plans to offer its members include mentoring, networking opportunities and research resources, as well as community outreach projects. It also plans to continue building strong, supportive relationships with local employers and female IT leaders.
Media Contact
Joanne Lovrinic
jebehele@iu.edu
317-278-9208