Tag Archives: Jessica

June 4, 2013 · 11:07 am

Grace Hopper and AAUW Conference Prep

For the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (“GHC-13”) in October, I look forward not only to presenting a poster (“Lifetime Value of Mentoring to Technical Women” with Andrina Chaffin) but also a Student Opportunity Lab (SOL) topic: “Empowering Technical Women Through Global Mentoring” (with Sukaina Al-Nasrawi of Lebanon, Adla Chatila of Lebanon, Heba Hosny of Egypt, Maysoun Ibrahim of Palestine, and Trish Tierney of the US Institute of International Education). The Hopper Conference registration just opened and they have announced that Keynotes and Plenary Sessions will include Maria Klawe (President, Harvey Mudd College) and Sheryl Sandberg (Chief Operating Officer, Facebook and Founder, Leanin.org):

http://gracehopper.org/2013/
Theme: Think Big, Drive Forward
Minneapolis, Minnesota
October 2 – 5, 2013

Next week, I am going to present at another women’s convention – new to me! – the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Convention 2013 in New Orleans, Louisiana. AAUW Convention speakers will include Lilly Ledbetter and US Senator Olympia Snowe. AAUW has asked MentorCloud to present an “Online Mentoring” Special Interest Group (SIG):

Mentoring is a remarkably successful method to accelerate learning and growth, for both mentors and mentees. Come learn from an expert about how professional mentoring works. Hear about best practices and return on investment as well as real-world success stories from a variety of programs.

I have not been to New Orleans for many years and am curious how it will be different since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I am in the process of developing the presentation materials for both of these events now.

My daughter Jessica Dickinson Goodman also had her GHC13 poster accepted: “The Arduino Dress: Be Your Own Light in Dark Places”. I look forward to sharing the Hopper Conference with her again this year!

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

Tagged as AAUW, Egypt, Geeks, Jessica, Lebanon, Mentoring, Palestine, teaching, technical women, TechWomen

May 9, 2013 · 2:41 pm

Peninsula School – Grads Doing Well

In 2007, I wrote the blog entry “Peninsula School – A Successful Alternative” about the school my daughter Jessica attended from age three through 8th grade. Last weekend, many of her Peninsula School alumni classmates gathered at the annual Spring Fair in Menlo Park, California, to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Although they started at an alternative school with no grades or tests, she and her friends have done very well indeed.

Here is where they were in 2007:

Academy of Art University (San Francisco)
Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY)
California College of the Arts (San Francisco and Oakland, CA)
Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) – Jessica
Colorado College (Colorado Springs, CO)
Foothill College (Los Altos Hills, CA) 2 going
Portland State (Portland, OR)
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI, Troy, NY)
Stanford University (Stanford, CA) 2 going
Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, PA)
University of California at Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
University of California at Davis (Davis, CA) 2 going
University of California at Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA) 3 going
Wesleyan (Middletown, Connecticut)

What Jessica was able to discover about her class at their reunion:

Motion animation business founder
Social worker
Online outreach specialist for a national non-profit (Jessica)
Still at the university – studying abroad or in graduate school (at least six)
Serial Silicon Valley technical entrepreneur
User experience software designer
Photographer
Elementary school teacher
Ultimate frisbee – professional sports player
Deputy US Marshall
Financial professional in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Jessica was graduated in 2012 from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh PA, with college and university honors, Phi Beta Kappa. She is now working at Polaris Project in Washington DC.

Jessica and I traveled in Jordan and Lebanon together in February 2013. Here we are in Petra, Jordan:

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Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as CMU, Geeks, Jessica, teaching, University of California

March 31, 2013 · 6:44 pm

Easter Egg Hunt

Despite all official weather prediction to the contrary, we had no rain but a warm lovely morning for today’s Easter Egg Hunt. This year, we made some procedural changes. Young people who have been coming to this party for years volunteered as Associate Bunnies – staying over the night before or arriving very early to help the Assistant Bunny (me) hide 500+ plastic eggs with candies inside. Jessica (Senior Associate Bunny, in the Washington DC Branch Office) drafted the Gold and Silver Egg poems:

Gold Egg (hidden on the roof beam of the cabana, next to the hot tub) – found by Paul:

In my hutch I am squatting,
Through a triangle I see,
Above the earth I’m spotting
A train, two dogs, and a tree.
Next door water is too hot
But folks sit in there alot.

Silver Egg (tied up inside the San Francisco fire plug) – found by Jim:

My nest was moved from the city,
There its job was very gritty.
It once was wet but now is dry.
A little river I can spy.
Like a bunny safe in a log,
I’m hidden here from nose of dog.

Hunters lined up by age on the new porch – where they could see the eggs in the garden and plan their launch strategy. One family arrived late – I was so pleased to watch the big kids re-hide their eggs so that the new little ones could hunt. One teenage boy dumped his whole basket for them. Of course, there was food and drink (John made pulled chicken sandwiches, mint tea, and punch) and WP668 caboose tours for all.

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Filed under Church, Home & Family

Tagged as garden, House Work, Jessica, John, Paul, San Jose, Willow Glen, WP668

February 15, 2013 · 1:41 pm

Where We Stayed in Jordan and Lebanon

The TechWomen enjoyed some very good hotels while traveling in Jordan. My daughter Jessica and I were also pleased with our lodging in Beirut, Lebanon. In case you are headed there, here is where we stayed and also the names of our tour guides:

Hotels:

Four Seasons Hotel, Amman, Jordan
(5th Circle, Al-Kindi Street, Jabal Amman, Tel. +962 (6) 550-5555)

Kepinski Hotel Ishtar – Dead Sea, Jordan
(Swaimeh, Dead Sea Road, P.O. Box 941806, 11194 Amman +962 5 356 8888)

Phoenicia Hotel – Beirut, Lebanon
(P.O. Box 11, Beirut 846 Lebanon, Front Desk +961-1-369100)

Tour Guides:

Michael Schuring, Amman, Jordan, Tel: +962 65 68 55 53
Natacha Asmar, Lebanon Tour Guide and Archaeologist, Tel: +961-3-476474, Syndicat Des Guides Touristiques Liban

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Tagged as Jessica, Jordan, Lebanon, TechWomen

February 15, 2013 · 6:42 am

Jordan and Lebanon

I arrived home in San Jose, California, yesterday afternoon from my amazing trip to Jordan and Lebanon. My daughter Jessica got safely home to Washington DC the day before. I enjoyed two days of discussions about mentoring and MentorCloud with the remarkable Al-Makassed (the Makassed Philanthropic Islamic Association of Beirut), including impressive tours of three schools. I very much look forward to continuing to work on Makassed program development. Two other TechWomen delegates to Jordan were on my flight to San Francisco – the entire group is making our way back home.

I walked the ancient cities of Jerash, Petra, and Sidon, rode a camel, met many groups of capable technical girls and women, visited the site of Jesus’ baptism and the tomb of Kahlil Gibran, and talked with a Princess and Vatican Ambassador. The best part of this once-in-a-lifetime trip was spending time with my daughter and my dear TechWomen friends, deepening our understanding and love.

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Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Tagged as Jessica, Jordan, Lebanon, Mentoring, Middle East, San Francisco, San Jose, technical women, TechWomen

February 12, 2013 · 9:53 pm

Cedars of Lebanon, Khalil Gibran, and other delights

Yesterday, my daughter Jessica and I were delighted to go on a tour of northern Lebanon with Adla Chatila (my TechWomen mentee) and two of our school director friends from Makassed. One of the highlights was seeing the actual Cedars of Lebanon. We could not walk among these large beautiful trees because the snow was so deep but we got to touch one that was over 3,000 years old. We also saw the Kahlil Gibran museum and tomb in Besharreh, and an early printing press and cave at the Mar Bishay Hermitage, Qozhaya. We ended the day with a delightful TechWomen alumnae dinner here in Beirut. What an interesting and lovely country Lebanon is! Tomorrow, I have meetings with Makassed, some more touring, and then I start to fly home to San Francisco.

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Tagged as Jessica, Lebanon, Mentoring, Middle East, teaching, technical women, TechWomen

February 11, 2013 · 9:57 pm

Makassed Talk, AUB and Sidon Walk

Yesterday, My daughter Jessica and I walked through the campus of the American University of Beirut to see their archeological museum, visited Al Makassed (the Makassed Philanthropic Islamic Association of Beirut) to hear a talk, then toured the ancient city of Sidon or Saida. The impressive talk was to the Makassed students by His Eminence Bishop Gabriel Caccia, Vatican Ambassador to Lebanon, about Christian-Muslim understanding and dialogue. The talk coming on the day of the surprise resignation of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI made it even more interesting. I was honored to sit next to Bishop Caccia at lunch and benefited from his charming informal remarks. We also discussed MentorCloud, TechWomen, and the benefits of professional mentoring. After lunch, Jessica and I were delighted to be given a night tour of the Sidon souk and other old stone remains of some of the many cultures which have lived in this amazing place.