Champions of Change Blog

Women in STEM = American Economic Competitiveness

I am something of an accidental champion of women in STEM fields. In 2008 two young women in my AP Computer Science class applied for and won the National Center for Women & Information Technology's (NCWIT) award for "Aspirations in Computing."  When they won the award, I presented it to them at our school's annual award ceremony and it was the only award given by my department to anyone.  These two girls were both excellent students and naturally inclined to computer science in the first place, but they were also really interesting people and what you might call “cool”.  The next year almost half of my AP class was girls, and again a girl in the class won the NCWIT award and I called her up on stage, alone, at the school's award ceremony.  Since then I've never had a gender equity problem in class.  Year after year many girls cite seeing those who came before them on stage as a big reason why they gave computer science a try.

As a teacher I have been really lucky to have outstanding female students who won this award, basically on their own, and who were able to influence other girls to try my class.  However, once I had all these terrific girls in my classes, I was filled with dread that I would somehow screw it up.  So, I began to look very deliberately at my courses to see if there were any differences between the boys and the girls, what they liked and what they didn't like.  Quickly, my eyes were opened to the issues of both gender and racial equality that are crippling computer science, American education, and the nation's economic outlook as well.  I don't really claim to have hard answers but I can tell you what I do in my classes, why I made some choices, and why I think these things work.

Ensuring Equal Education and Employment Opportunities for All Citizens

I am thrilled to be nominated for and recognized as a Champion of Change under President Obama’s Winning the Future Initiative. My work to inform and encourage girls (and other under-represented groups) to explore STEM courses, develop STEM skills, and prepare for STEM careers has occurred within the context of a long and fine tradition of ensuring equal education and employment opportunities for all citizens.  I represent a network of state leaders created by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, by Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by the 1976 federal Vocational Education Act and subsequent Perkins Act reauthorizations working to eliminate sex role stereotyping, bias and discrimination from public school courses, programs and activities. Sadly, all federal policy and investment for these networks was eliminated by 1998.