White House Recognizes NCWIT’s Ruthe Farmer Among “Champions of Change for Tech Inclusion”
Boulder, Colorado (PRWEB) July 31, 2013 -- The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is pleased to announce that its Director of Strategic Initiatives, Ruthe Farmer, will be among 11 individuals honored at the White House as “Champions of Change for Tech Inclusion” on Wednesday, July 31st.
The event will recognize these individuals for their extraordinary work around expanding technology opportunities for young learners – especially minorities, women and girls, and others from communities historically underserved or underrepresented in tech fields. This Champions of Change event is part of the White House Tech Inclusion Initiative, launched after President Obama issued a call to better equip American graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy during his 2013 State of the Union address.
Ms. Farmer has focused her efforts on increasing girls’ participation in technology and engineering since 2001. She spearheads the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing talent development initiative, a program designed to increase women’s participation in technology careers by providing awards, encouragement, visibility, community, leadership opportunities, scholarships, and internships to aspiring technical women.
Since 2007, NCWIT has inducted more than 2,200 young women into this unique community. The Aspirations program serves 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NCWIT AspireIT, currently in its 2013-2014 pilot year, will provide more than 25,000 program hours to 800 middle school girls in 15 states.
Prior to joining NCWIT, Ms. Farmer launched multiple, national initiatives at Girl Scouts of the USA including Intel Design and Discovery and FIRST Robotics. She also served as the 2012 Chair of Computer Science Education Week.
"It is such an honor to be recognized by the White House for this work. Isolation and encouragement are two of the biggest obstacles facing young women in technology,” said Ms. Farmer. "NCWIT Aspirations in Computing is providing a long-term community to overcome these challenges for thousands of young women every year. We're excited to see how this unique group will change the face of the technical workforce."
Several Aspirations in Computing participants will accompany Ms. Farmer:
-- Kirsi Kuutti will attend the University of Pittsburgh this fall, where she will major in electrical engineering and computer science.
-- Angelika Modawal attends the University of Cincinnati.
-- Charell Adagala is working at Bank of America on the Global Information Security Team for the summer.
-- Veronica Wharton will attend the Rochester Institute of Technology this fall, where she will study New Media Interactive Development.
-- Krista Holden will attend the University of Washington this fall, where she will study computer science and engineering.
-- Kathryn Bartel attends the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she writes software for Digital Fabrication in an MIT research lab.
NCWIT Aspirations Educator Award Winner Seth Reichelson will also be recognized among the “Champions of Change for Tech Inclusion.”
To watch this event live, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/live at 2:00pm ET on Wednesday, July 31st.
About NCWIT
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a non-profit community of more than 450 universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations nationwide working to increase women’s participation in computing and technology. NCWIT helps organizations more effectively recruit, retain, and advance girls and women in K-12 through college education, and from academic to corporate and startup careers.
Find out more at http://www.ncwit.org.
Adriane Bradberry, NCWIT, 3034925213, [email protected]
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