According to a recent post from Friends of the UNCG Libraries, a camp at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro recently focused on a topic many Walker College of Business faculty are passionate about: sharing IT/computing education/career opportunities with girls and women in k-12 and university settings.
The camp was led by Dr. Lakshmi Iyer, Director of Applied Data Analytics at Appalachian State University, who anticipates beginning similar initiatives at Appalachian.
According to the article:
University Libraries' Digital Media Commons recently partnered with the Aspire IT Summer Camp, a Women In Information Technology (WIIT) initiative that Dr. Iyer began in 2009 to encourage middle school girls to pursue paths and careers relevant to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields and build leadership, teamwork and collaboration skills. While the camp offered students insight into the many aspects of IT, it also included talks from women in various STEM fields, demonstrations in 3D printing and robotics.
WIIT strives to increase awareness of girls (in K-12 and higher education) and women about IT/computing education/career opportunities and provide educational support for women to advance in the IT field. While women represent about 58% of the total workforce, the under-representation of women in computing continues to be a concern as studies show that only 25% of computing jobs in the U.S. are held by women. Information technology job prospects are growing significantly (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014) and women are losing out in opportunities in the IT field (Women in IT Website, 2017).
Iyer was previously an Associate Professor at UNCG and Director of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management Graduate Programs there. Iyer joined the faculty at Appalachian July 1.
Related: Iyer named program director of applied data analytics at Appalachian
Lakshmi Iyer on the campus of Appalachian State University
