Tag Archives: Algeria

October 4, 2013 · 12:30 pm

Grace Hopper Conference – GHC13

I came home yesterday after an inspiring day at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. I joined 4,600 other technical women at the sold-out GHC13 in Minneapolis, MN. My GHC13 day started at 6:30 am switching my bag to a downtown hotel (all hotels near the convention center were sold out for the day I arrived), then to breakfast hosted by Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, followed by a keynote panel with Maria Klawe (President, Harvey Mudd College), Sheryl Sandberg, and Telle Whitney (President, Anita Borg Institute). Then, Trish Tierney (of the Institute of International Education) and I presented on “Empowering Technical Women Through Global Mentoring” and later I presented a poster on the “Lifetime Value of Mentoring“. My daughter Jessica Dickinson Goodman also presented her poster on “The Arduino Dress“. The poster next to mine was “Girl Scouts: An Analysis of STEM Activities and a Call to Action” by Maria Ebling of IBM Research. Jessica and I got back to our hotel room by 10 pm with bags of loot and tshirts from GHC’s wonderful sponsor companies, universities, and organizations.

I flew back to the Bay Area yesterday in time to have dinner with my new TechWomen mentee from Algeria. She and I are going to another event together tonight and plan to tour San Francisco this weekend, as well as seeing the musical 1776 at the American Conservatory Theater.

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Tagged as Algeria, Geeks, Jessica, Mentoring, San Francisco, teaching, technical women

September 19, 2013 · 10:52 pm

TechWomen Mentor Workshop and Mixer

We 2013 TechWomen mentors met as a group for the first time today. What an inspiring group of talented technical women! Dozens of Silicon Valley’s great companies are actively supporting this impressive program. TechWomen is an Initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs:

TechWomen is a professional mentorship and exchange program developed in response to President Obama’s efforts to strengthen relations between the United States and the Middle East and North Africa. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton first announced the TechWomen initiative on April 28, 2010 during President Obama’s Entrepreneurship Summit. In June 2011, TechWomen launched with 37 participants from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and the Palestinian Territories. In 2012, the program expanded to include women from Tunsia and Yemen. In 2013, the cohort doubled in size with the addition of women from Cameroon, Kenya, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

We were welcomed this afternoon by Heather Ramsey (Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, Institute of International Education) in person, and Lee Satterfield (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State) with Sheila Casey (Deputy Director, Office of Citizen Exchanges at U.S. Dept. of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs) by way of video from Washington D.C. The interesting keynote address was by Gabriela Styf-Sjöman (Ericsson Vice President, Product Line IP and Broadband Cloud Computing and NMS), followed by a cultural training session.

Our 78 Emerging Leaders arrive early next month from the Middle East and Africa. My 2013 mentee is from Algeria – I am so looking forward to meeting her in person! I am serving as her Cultural Mentor with Larissa Shapiro as her Professional Mentor.

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

February 10, 2013 · 10:47 pm

Friends in Beirut

The 2013 TechWomen delegation to Jordan has sadly said its goodbyes. Most of us have returned to Algeria, Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Yemen, Tunisia, Jordan, and the USA. We will continue to communicate on email, Skype, LinkedIn, Facebook, by telephone and sometimes even through precious visits to each other’s homes.

My daughter Jessica and I traveled yesterday to the lovely city of Beirut, Lebanon, to visit more TechWomen friends and to meet with Al Makassed (the Makassed Philanthropic Islamic Association of Beirut). Our dear TechWomen friends Sukaina Al-Nasrawi and Maysoun Ibrahim met us in the hotel lobby when we checked in, then took us on a walking tour of downtown. We were honored to have a driving tour and marvelous dinner with Dr. Amine Daouk, President of Makassed, and Adla Chatila, Makassed’s IT and Finance Director (my amazing and talented TechWomen 2012 mentee). We look forward to seeing even more of this fascinating place today.

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Tagged as Algeria, Egypt, Episcopal church, Jessica, Jordan, Lebanon, Mentoring, Middle East, Morocco, Palestine, technical women, TechWomen

December 20, 2012 · 10:41 am

TechWomen Mentors’ Reunion

The TechWomen mentors gathered for a reunion and evening holiday party at Anar Simpson’s home in Saratoga, California, this week. Anar was a TechWomen mentor in both 2011 and 2012 and is on the TechWomen entrepreneurship advisory committee. At the event, Heather Ramsey (Director for Strategic Partnerships, Institute of International Education) gave us details about the October 2013 TechWomen program (more below), and the February 2013 delegation to Jordan – which I plan to join! I caught up with news from my sister Mentors and told them about my new job as the Vice President for Solutions at the MentorCloud startup.

Carmel Jud from Rising International gave us a presentation about her organization and brought in crafts made by women entrepreneurs – including some delightful lady dolls from Afghanistan. In the picture above, the doll on the lower left was the first one made. The doll on the lower right is the one I purchased for our family doll collection.

TechWomen potential Mentees may now apply for the 2013 program. TechWomen brings emerging women leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) from the Middle East and Africa together with their counterparts in the United States for a professional mentorship and exchange program. TechWomen connects and supports the next generation of women leaders in STEM fields by providing them access and opportunity to advance their careers and pursue their dreams.

During the five-week program, participants engage in project-based mentorships at leading companies in Silicon Valley, participate in workshops and networking events throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and travel to Washington DC, for targeted meetings and special events to conclude the program.

In 2012, 41 TechWomen Emerging Leaders participated from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Tunisia and Yemen. The 2013 TechWomen program has expanded to include women from Cameroon, Kenya, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zimbabwe. TechWomen is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). The Mentee Application deadline is February 22nd, 2013.

The Professional Mentor application will be available April 1st, 2013 (deadline is June 1st, 2013). Cultural Mentor application will be available July 1, 2013 (deadline to apply is August 1st, 2013).

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Tagged as Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Mentoring, Middle East, technical women, TechWomen

November 30, 2012 · 2:30 pm

Hopper Conference, TechWomen Press

I have been honored to have been included in two news stories recently:

“Sharing the Hopper Conference” – a story about my daughter Jessica and me attending the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women and Computing together, on the fascinating website Anitasquilt.org
United Nations – Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia Weekly News story (Issue 45/52) “Women and ICT”, about the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women and Computing 2012 panel “Arab Women in Computing: Challenges vs. Aspirations” for which I was the moderator. The UN ESCWA story is about the participation of the impressive Sukaina Al-Nasrawi, Associate Social Affairs Officer at the ESCWA Centre for Women in Beirut, Lebanon. Sukaina was one of the amazing participants in the U.S. State Department’s 2011 TechWomen mentoring program, four of whom returned as GHC12 panelists (the others were: Reham Nasser of Egypt, Maysoun Ibrahim of Palestine, and Hania Gati of Algeria). Read more about the panel in my 4 October 2012 blog entry and in Larissa’s 7 October 2012 blog entry.

Here are screen shots of the news stories:

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

October 12, 2012 · 8:01 am

TechWomen’s last day in Washington DC

The TechWomen enjoyed their last day in Washington DC and are now slowly making their way home to either the Silicon Valley area (mentors), or to Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Yemen in the MENA region (mentees). I miss them already!

Wednesday was full of TechWomen-normal activities: networking, exchanging ideas and experiences, and taking pictures. It is usual for me to be given three to six cameras and smart phones and asked to photograph a posed group of lovely intelligent women. The group I am photographing may start small but if the setting is good, it often doubles and triples as other TechWomen join in. Taking TechWomen group pictures is an enjoyable if frenetic experience. My daughter Jessica lives in Washington DC and was invited to two of the TechWomen dinners – which made picture taking even more enjoyable.

We met in the morning in the Loy Henderson conference room at the US State Department for a political discussion, then had a magnificent lunch in the Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room. The TechWomen were welcomed and honored by Ann Stock, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, and Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. We regretfully did not get to meet the program sponsor, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Ann Stock was patient and a very good sport – she stayed after the lunch to take dozens of pictures with the TechWomen. I love the diplomatic rooms at the US State Department, with cases full of china and silver (some by Paul Revere), and walls covered with portraits of American historical greats. The copy of the Declaration of Independence is my particular favorite.

After lunch, we returned to the Henderson room for Sheila Casey (Deputy Director, Office of Citizen Exchanges at U.S. Department of State) and Heather Ramsey (Director at Institute of International Education) to give the mentees their participation certificates (signed by Secretary Clinton). Our going away party was around the very windy roof pool of the Donovan House hotel (the party eventually moved downstairs since we were all freezing!).

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

October 11, 2012 · 6:01 am

What TechWomen Should Read

Yesterday morning, the TechWomen mentors and mentees returned to the Henderson Room of the US State Department in Washington DC for a discussion of American politics and the Presidential election. The Mentees from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and Yemen have been hearing election discussions since their Silicon Valley arrival in early September – this was to put that experience in context and to allow them to ask questions.

The presenters were Linda Moore Forbes (a Democrat working at Harvard’s Institute of Politics) and Ellen Yount (a Republican working for Management Systems International). Much of their presentation was about the current campaign but there were also fascinating side comments about politics in general and particularly on how women participate in politics. One of their themes was that extreme views of “women’s issues” (and social discussions) are the often focus of a campaign but elected officials actually govern based on the economy. “Women’s issues” during a campaign often include:

birth control, contraception, in-vitro fertilization
abortion (voluntary, as well as in cases of incest and rape or when the mother’s health is in danger)
equal pay for equal work

My question to these remarkably experienced and politically-wise women was: what do they read to keep current, and what do they recommend that the TechWomen Mentees read when they return to their homes in the MENA region (in addition to Al Jazeera and BBC News)? Here are the US news sources that Ellen Yount recommended: