Tag Archives: Jessica

November 13, 2012 · 6:48 pm

Big Southern California Wedding

My brother Pete Dickinson married Julie Gutman last weekend at a big wedding in Southern California. The guests included dignitaries and creative folks and vast numbers of lawyers (since both Pete and Julie are in that line of work) in addition to family. Most of the joyous event was held at the Terranea Resort in a lovely coastal setting.

Except for the bride in white, the wedding party wore red and black – in honor of my father Wade Dickinson who passed away a year ago (his favorite color was red). The mothers of the bride and groom had a lovely time together, surrounded by all of their children and grandchildren. The Mayor of Los Angeles and the whole City Council signed a beautiful certificate of congratulations and best wishes. California Speaker of the Assembly John Perez participated in the ceremony, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was a guest. My daughter Jessica sang a song to the couple.

The less extroverted guests retreated into corners to commune with their smart phones and avoid all of the excitement. A good time was had by all.

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Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Eleanor, Jessica, John, marriage, Matthew, Paul, Pete, Wade

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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Filed under Home & Family, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

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

October 9, 2012 · 5:10 am

TechWomen Leadership Workshop

Yesterday, the TechWomen spent a day at Georgetown University in a leadership workshop with Barbara Fittipaldi. Barbara Fittipaldi was one of those who inspired Dr. Anita Borg to start what is now the Anita Borg Institute.

Afterwards, some of the TechWomen spent the evening exploring Georgetown. My daughter Jessica and my mentee and I went exploring on the mall to see the sights at night, particularly the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. We were moved by Dr. King’s words carved on the curving wall behind the big statue. Jessica and I sang “We Shall Overcome” – the anthem for the African-American Civil Rights Movement. We also visited the Washington Monument and White House to see them wearing lights in the dark.

MLK door mural on the Luther Place Memorial Church (Washington DC), seen 9 October 2012:

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

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

October 7, 2012 · 8:21 pm

National Zoo Visit

My daughter Jessica, her husband Matthew, and I visited the National Zoo (Smithsonian National Zoological Park) today in Washington DC. Highlights were the Cheetahs, Pandas, Otters, and the reptile house. The two zoo functions of conservation and education were much in evidence, with displays and interactive exhibits everywhere along with information about zoo breeding programs for rare animals. There is still sadness over the unexpected death of a panda cub at the zoo last month.

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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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.

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

October 3, 2012 · 6:53 pm

TechWomen 2011 and 2012 Meet

After travel adventures on their way here from California, the forty-one 2012 TechWomen emerging leaders arrived at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference in Baltimore and met three representatives of the 2011 TechWomen for the first time. We mentors and the Anita Borg Institute staff waited, talking with friends, checking out the poster session, and guarding the 2012 mentees’ box dinners. My daughter Jessica arrived from Washington DC and presented her poster (“Using the Technology to Lower the Cost of Being a Woman”). A fun evening and a good start to a great conference!

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Filed under Home & Family, Hopper - Anita Borg Institute, Mentoring & Other Business

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

Tag Archives: Jessica

Big Southern California Wedding

TechWomen’s last day in Washington DC

TechWomen Leadership Workshop

National Zoo Visit

Last Day of Hopper Conference 2012

Successful Panel at Grace Hopper Celebration

TechWomen 2011 and 2012 Meet

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