Category Archives: News & Reviews

October 6, 2012 · 10:53 am

Last Day of Hopper Conference 2012

After some very promising networking and fascinating presentations, the TechWomen mentors and mentees enjoyed dinner together and then walked to the final party of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing – held at the Maryland Science Center on the harbor in Baltimore MD.

I particularly enjoyed yesterday’s talk by Jane Margolis about changes in the technical world in the ten years since her publication with Allan Fisher of the groundbreaking book Unlocking the Clubhouse. There has been both growth and retreat for the community of technical women during that time. Some of the advances are in:

Visible Leadership: Exemplified by Maria Klawe becoming President of Harvey Mudd College, Shirley Tilghman becoming President of Princeton, Ginni Rometty becoming Chairman and CEO of IBM, and Meg Whitman becoming President and CEO of HP. (See the Famous Women in Computer Science list for more…)
Growing Role Models: Exemplified by the Spelbots, the African-American Women’s Robotics Team of Spelman College.
Successful Education and Networking: Exemplified by the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing growing from a few hundred attendees in 1994 to 3,600 participants this year – and GHC being sold out in advance for the third year running. 2012 is also the 25th anniversary of Systers – the world’s largest email community of technical women in computing. Another notable success is the National Center for Women & Information Technology organization and NCWIT’s Aspirations in Computing award program for technical girls.

As always, I was very pleased to be able to participate in GHC with my smart and geeky daughter Jessica!

Images Copyright 2012 by Katy Dickinson
#GHC12

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Filed under Hopper - Anita Borg Institute, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Tagged as Geeks, Jessica, Mentoring, Middle East, technical women, TechWomen

October 4, 2012 · 9:13 pm

Successful Panel at Grace Hopper Celebration

Our Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing panel called “Technical Women in the Arab Region: Challenges vs. Aspirations” was well attended and successful. The audience wanted to ask questions and talk far beyond the limits of the time available. My daughter Jessica took pictures for us.

It took months of preparation to make this happen – not only the preparation of the conference submission but applying for and getting four travel scholarships and visas for travel from the Middle East and North Africa. Many of the 2012 TechWomen mentors and mentees attended to see the only presentation from the first TechWomen class. I think they loved it. Everyone wanted to be in the picture at the end.

10/22/2012: Read Larissa’s Review of this panel.

Images Copyright 2012 by Jessica Dickinson Goodman and Katy Dickinson
#GHC12

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Tagged as Geeks, Jessica, Mentoring, technical women, TechWomen

October 3, 2012 · 3:03 pm

Technical Women in the Arab Region: Challenges vs. Aspirations

I am at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Baltimore, Maryland. GHC12 is sold out for the third year running, with 3,600 amazing technical women (and a few men) participating from all over the world. I attended the Anita Borg Institute Advisory Board meeting this morning (presenting an update on the work of the Famous Women in Computer Science team). Tonight, I get to see my daughter Jessica Dickinson Goodman present her poster called “Using the Technology to Lower the Cost of Being a Woman”.

Tomorrow, I am moderating a panel called “Technical Women in the Arab Region: Challenges vs. Aspirations” featuring four TechWomen mentees from the original class in 2011: Hania Gati (Algeria), Maysoun Ibrahim (Palestine), Reham Nasser (Egypt), and Sukaina Al Nasrawi (Lebanon). Ours was the only 2011 TechWomen presentation accepted for GHC12 – we are very proud to represent our sisters! Maysoun, Reham, and Sukaina are already here (Hania arrives tonight). We met this afternoon to discuss how we would manage tomorrow’s panel. The 2012 TechWomen will arrive from California in time to attend tonight’s poster session. I am very much looking forward to introducing my 2012 mentee to my friends from the 2011 TechWomen program and to my daughter.

#GHC12

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Tagged as Algeria, Egypt, Geeks, Jessica, Lebanon, Mentoring, Middle East, Palestine, technical women, TechWomen

September 30, 2012 · 8:16 am

TechWomen Farewell Party at Mozilla

Yesterday was the TechWomen farewell party hosted by Mozilla in San Francisco. Next week, we travel to the Grace Hopper Celebration and then the US State Department in Washington DC. We admired the stunning view of the Bay Bridge from the top of the Hills Brothers Coffee building, just a few blocks from where my father’s business was for many years. I grew up smelling the coffee roasting but had never been in this building before.

Before dinner, the mentors were each given a certificate of thanks signed by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. We talked and danced and had a wonderful evening enjoying each other’s company. I even dressed up in a kaftan with matching veil.

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September 28, 2012 · 7:18 pm

Last TechWomen Day at Huawei

Today was the last day at Huawei in Santa Clara for the three TechWomen mentees during their visit to the Silicon Valley. There are still some San Francisco Bay Area events before they travel to the the Grace Hopper Celebration and then the US State Department in Washington DC next week. The Huawei team held a lunch and gave each of our emerging leaders a certificate signed by Futurewei President, Guolin Wang, and by the TechWoman’s mentor or mentors. I was also treated to a surprise birthday party this morning and Huawei held its annual Moon Cake and Chinese harvest festival party this afternoon. A busy day!

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Tagged as China, Geeks, Huawei, Mentoring, Middle East, San Francisco, technical women, TechWomen

September 27, 2012 · 3:06 pm

Huawei TechWomen Learning

In both 2011 and 2012, Huawei hosted three TechWomen mentees during their visit to the Silicon Valley. During these short and busy weeks, I invited all the Huawei TechWomen team (3 mentees, 6 Professional and Cultural mentors, 2 backup-mentors, Human Resources support, etc.) to a weekly meeting to check in with each other, discuss key questions, and practice public speaking. The questions are some that we all expect to be asked when we visit the Grace Hopper Celebration and then the US State Department in Washington DC next week: Why did you join TechWomen? What did you learn? What do you plan to do with what you have learned from TechWomen?

We had our last team meeting yesterday here in Santa Clara. It was moving to hear how much everyone had benefited from TechWomen already. This is a remarkable group of super-smart geeks – I am honored to know them. Some of what the eleven present said:

I will share what I have learned with my students
I will tell other technical women in my home country about the TechWomen program, and encourage them to apply
I will set up seminars and technical talks so that we can exchange experience and technical knowledge, so that we can make better choices in the future
I will tell my manager and my home organization’s leadership what I learned
I will design and implement a mentoring program to increase learning and communication
I will keep my connection with members of the TechWomen community with virtual conferences
I will change my life, continuing to work hard but also allowing myself time to think how to change the future
I will work with my staff to prepare them better for promotion
I will spend more time on my startup company, to benefit the education of children
I will encourage other technical women to change the world, using examples I have seen in the Silicon Valley
I will seek more experiences in which I can learn from other technical people outside of my country
I will tell new hires about the importance of mentoring in their professional lives
I will work with entrepreneurs to create opportunities for good jobs for educated people in poor areas of the world
I will provide connections and support for TechWomen emerging leaders when they go home
I will make space in my life to give back to my community
I will seek opportunities to make corporate social responsibility a focus for the new generation of companies
I will continue connecting with extraordinary technical women and spread the message of TechWomen
I will continue the momentum and follow my passion

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September 26, 2012 · 2:19 pm

TechWomen: Last Week in Silicon Valley

The 42 TechWomen Mentees from eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region) have been in California’s Silicon Valley for almost three weeks. Next week, we move on to the Grace Hopper Celebration (Baltimore MD) and to visit the US State Department in Washington DC.

This week, my Mentee and I visited a grade school computer club (thanks to the invitation from Suzanne Andrews of ABI). Last night, we went to a big party at Twitter in San Francisco. Sending tweets directly from Twitter’s headquarters was fun. We also continue to work diligently on her project. This has been a special and productive time for mutual learning.