Laura Biche and I drove to San Francisco yesterday to see the 7th day of the America’s Cup. Unfortunately, after almost an hour of hunting and finally finding parking at Fort Mason, yesterday’s boat races were called off due to winds. Laura and I made the best of our afternoon by walking through the art galleries and museums at Fort Mason, ending with an memorably delicious dinner with John Plocher at Greens Restaurant. A day well spent!
Images Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
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This Wordle* graphic presents key words about famous women in computer science. It describes women who are pioneers and leaders in computing, recognized by their peers, academia, and the technology industry through major awards and other public acknowledgements of excellence. Since 2009, I have lead a committee of the Anita Borg Institute – Advisory Board that collects and presents information about notable women in STEM.
In March 2012, we published the Famous Women in Computer Science web resource. Last month, we announced the “CRA-W and Anita Borg Institute Wikipedia Project – Writing Wikipedia Pages for Notable Women in Computing” (and the list with more than 230 names). For more, see Notable Women List Triples.
As always, thanks to my wise and energetic committee members, including:
The graphic above includes information from both the 2012 and 2013 lists.
Image Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Hopper - Anita Borg Institute, News & Reviews
This weekend, I became a member of the San Jose branch of the American Association of University Women – AAUW. I was honored to give a presentation about mentoring at the national AAUW meeting in New Orleans in June and have continued to be impressed by the effective and interesting work of this venerable organization. Newly-elected Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez joined the San Jose branch the same day I did – that’s her photo above. I am also a member of the California On-line AAUW branch.
Patrick Schmitt (Chancellor at the West Valley-Mission Community College District) gave a excellent talk about the future of higher education. He predicted that in 30 years, the higher education model will be “bespoke” – customized and driven by student success and student-focused measures. This reminded me of the future presented in Neal Stephenson’s remarkable novel Diamond Age. AAUW San Jose also awarded tech-camp and college scholarships to over a dozen young women at the meeting.
Images Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
I have been editing the new book Triangular Partnership: the Power of the Diaspora all summer for the People to People organization.
People to People (P2P) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care and reducing the spread of diseases, particularly in Ethiopia and in diaspora communities.
Yesterday, I sent the fifteen lead authors their agreements and the most current versions of their written contributions (chapters, the introduction, forword, etc.) for review and approval before we send everything to the printers next week. I also sent myself the signed agreement for the chapter “Professional Mentoring – Fostering Triangular Partnership”. I am enjoying working with and learning from the other members of the book development team:
A pre-publication review copy will be distributed at the 5th Annual Global Ethiopian Diaspora Conference on Health Care and Medical Education, 28 September 2013 in Washington D.C. This morning, my first phone call was from Mauritania from an author with a copyright question. I love this project!
27 September 2013 update: the conference version of this book is available for free download
18 October 2019 update: fixed links
Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews
The 148th Scottish Highland Gathering and Games is a major San Francisco Bay Area annual event featuring music, dance, crafts, and sporting competitions. I particularly enjoyed the presentation by the California Foundation for Birds of Prey. Most of their talk was about the modern hunting sport of falconry (including how breeding programs helped to bring back the endangered peregrine falcon), some was about conservation practices to protect birds, and the rest was show and tell. The presenters showed a variety of hawks, falcons, eagles, owls and even a vulture. Four women handlers flew their Harris Hawks over the audience. The Harris Hawk is an unusually gregarious bird – family packs hunt together (compared to most raptors that hunt alone). The announcer teased the handler for the Peregrine Falcon who sported a pink mohawk hairstyle – saying that he was part cockatiel.
This is very much a family event with parents and children in Scottish costume – and others who wore their Renaissance Fair or Dickens Fair costumes regardless. There were many buff guys strutting around in plaid skirts – sometimes with bands of other men but often with little kids in their burly tattooed arms. Scottish costume ranged from historically accurate tartans with full clan accessories, to camo pattern utilikilts worn with tshirts and hiking boots.
In one of the craft halls, I discovered that my Dickinson family may be historically associated with the Paisley district tartan. I knew that some ancestors originated in Scotland but this was the first time I saw our name associated with a tartan.
See the 22 June 2014 blog post for a picture of the tartan sash I bought!
Images Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews
On 17 August 2013, the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real held the 8th annual event to celebrate its women. Honored Women’s Day was held at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Salinas, California. The gathering was organized by the diocesan Episcopal Church Women. Sixteen awards were presented by Wanda Bryan for dedicated leadership and inspiring volunteerism. The day include a worship service lead by the Right Reverend Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves who blessed the women of the diocese. Some of the awards were for lifetime service but young women were also acknowledged for their remarkable contributions. One lady was represented by a cardboard cutout and another by her granddaughter as they were not well enough to attend.
Before the awards, there was a brief reading of “Yet We Persist”, a 2009 historical reflection on Episcopal Church Women by Katerina Katsarka Whitley that opens with
Voice 1: We are called old-fashioned;
Voice 2: We are called passe;
Voice 3: We are thought of as irrelevant;
Together: Yet, we persist. Why?
Narrator: Our history declares that we cannot be ignored, that we have relevance, and that the church could not have functioned without us.
Voice 1: Look at Mission in the past two centuries: Without us, who would have cared for the needs of missionary families?
Voice 2: Who would have raised the money?
Voice 4: Without us, who would have worried about young girls and children working in factories?
Voice 2: Who would have raised the money?
Voice 5: Without us, who would have taken action against the sickness of alcohol and its damage to families?
Voice 2: Who would have raised the money?
Voice 4: Who would have worked to claim the vote for women?
The “Yet We Persist” story starts in 1867 and tells of the hundred years of letter writing, lobbying, disappointments, but persistent efforts to have women deputies finally seated in the Episcopal General Convention in 1967, and the further work required for women to be ordained as priests in 1976. In 1989, the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris of the Diocese of Massachusetts became the first woman Bishop of the Episcopal Church – and of the worldwide Anglican Communion. “Yet We Persist” ends in 2006, when the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori became the Episcopal Presiding Bishop and the first woman elected as a primate in the Anglican Communion. It was an inspiring presentation and inspiring day.
Images Copyright 2013 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Church, News & Reviews
I admire Marie Curie as a great scientist and inventor but I get tired of hearing about her. Several times in meetings where attendees were asked to name great women in STEM, Marie Curie was the only one anyone could think of. Marie Curie is extremely impressive: the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. On a wall at Cal Poly, the portrait of Marie Curie is next to that of Albert Einstein. But she did die almost eighty years ago and there have been many great women in science, math, and technology before and since.
One of my smaller motivations for helping to create the “CRA-W and Anita Borg Institute Wikipedia Project – Writing Wikipedia Pages for Notable Women in Computing” (and the list of notable women in computing with a current total of 234 names) is to get beyond Marie Curie. Maybe next time I participate in an icebreaker exercise at a meeting, participants will shout out…
…or even the name of a still-living woman. But please not just Marie Curie.
Image Copyright 2009 by Katy Dickinson
Filed under Hopper - Anita Borg Institute, News & Reviews
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