Increase the number of women in your technology, science and engineering classrooms with the strategies you'll learn through the WomenTech Educators Training

In this video, your trainer Donna Milgram shares an important realization about recruiting women to STEM classes:

Source: Participants in WomenTech Educators Training. External evaluator’s report to the National Science Foundation for the CalWomenTech Scale-Up Project, March 2013.

Who Should Apply:

Community college administrators, professors, instructors, counseling and outreach staff from Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) programs in which women are underrepresented in the Mid-Pacific ICT (MPICT) Center's region -- CA, NV and HI. Preference will be given to applicants who apply in teams; however, we also encourage individuals connected with ATE Projects or Centers to apply. We expect to have a mix of teams and individual participants in the training.Thirty fellowship spots are available.

Attend the Training in a Team:

The more people that you can get involved in this campaign, the more lasting change you're going to have. Yes, one teacher on their own can get more women in the classroom, but the schools that have been the most effective and had lasting institutional change have had more people involved. Together, you and your team members will work together to develop an action plan and provide support to each other as you implement it.

Who Should Be on Your Team:

Your team will be the most effective if it includes a variety of stakeholders from your college dedicated to increasing the number of female students in the targeted STEM program(s). Teams should have between 3-6 members. The larger the team the greater the likelihood for change. Ideally, a dean, department chair, technology center director, or Principal Investigator (PI) of an Advanced Technology Education (ATE) grant will act as key leader and an instructor from the targeted program will act as co-leader.

Recommended core team members:

• Dean or Chair of the Department of the targeted program;
• Director of the Technology Center (or equivalent if applicable);
• Principal Investigator of the ATE grant (if applicable);
• Minimum of two instructors in targeted technology courses, with one being an adjunct if possible (highly recommended);
• If you have math prerequisites for core targeted courses, a math administrator.

Other potential team members could include counselors, advisors, outreach and recruitment coordinators, learning center staff, curriculum developer, STEM coordinator, Workforce Development Director, and other key stakeholders. The NSF-Funded WomenTech Educators Training includes additional guidance on forming and working with a Women in STEM Leadership Team.

Career Pathways:

Targeted STEM career pathways must be in areas where women are under-represented.

"Participating in the IWITTS training refined my skills as an instructor and administrator to be an agent of change in this realm. Because Computer Networking and Information Technology was not on the radar of many women, the tools that were given to us by IWITTS for reaching out to students for our entry level class were very effective. And those changes have been institutionalized in my department. Thanks to our work with IWITTS, female enrollment in my department has risen from 19% to 33%."

"Completely made me re-evaluate the approach that we have been taking. I realized the many mistakes and plan to make changes that I learned from the training. Great information!"

"Last year, the Computer Science department held an Open House event for prospective students. Although a few female high school students came, none of our female faculty members could attend and there weren’t any women there representing the department.

After attending the workshop with IWITTS, I was committed to making sure that didn’t happen again. At this year’s Open House, the College of Sciences held a special Women in Technology event in partnership with the College of Engineering. The girls who came had a great experience, they learned a lot, and I’m confident that it strengthened their resolve to pursue careers in science and engineering. Our goal is to have enough female students in science and engineering majors so that the process can become self-reinforcing."

~ Fred Martin, Associate Dean of College of Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell

"The most valuable things I received from working with IWITTS were strategies that have been researched and have data to support them. There are also many inexpensive strategies; "inexpensive" is a key term in these difficult economic times. I anticipate additional increased retention in my programs. I have already implemented retention strategies from IWITTS with much success. The workshop has empowered me!"

This fellowship is free to community college ICT educators in the MPICT region (CA, NV and HI).
Limited travel stipends available. See below for eligibility.

Donna Milgram is the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science (IWITTS), a national nonprofit organization, founded in 1994, that provides educators with a roadmap to increasing the number of women and girls in science, technology, engineering and math.

• Ms. Milgram developed the WomenTech Educators Training to help educators nationwide increase the number of women in their technology programs.
• A national expert on recruiting and retaining female students in STEM programs in which they are underrepresented, Ms. Milgram has personally trained educators in 44 states and Canada.
• Ms. Milgram is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles and conference presentations including the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and Women in Engineering Proactive Network (WEPAN). Most recently, she received a reader's choice award from the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) for her November 2011 cover article, "How to Recruit Women & Girls to the STEM Classroom" published in the journal, Technology and Engineering Teacher.  The success of the CalWomenTech Project was featured in articles on the NSF "Discoveries" website in April 2012 and the Community College Times in May 2012. 
• Ms. Milgram has testified before the U.S. Congress and appeared extensively in the news media. Her media appearances include CNN, Fox Morning News, C-Span and National Public Radio. She has been quoted in major news outlets such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune and the Associated Press.

Because it is still so difficult for many faculty to travel in these tough economic times, MPICT will provide stipends to qualified community college faculty and administrators teaching ICT related subjects, on a first-come, first-served basis, until funds are exhausted:

• a $50 stipend for educators whose community college is within 70 miles of San Francisco,
• a $100 stipend and two paid hotel nights* to ICT educators whose college is between 71 and 250 miles of San Francisco,
• a $250 stipend and two paid hotel nights* to ICT educators whose college is between 251 and 500 miles of San Francisco

*Note: Hotel must be booked at the conference hotel and paid directly by MPICT on a master bill. Room sharing increases the people MPICT can support to attend, and is encouraged.

Our funding source for this training restricts stipends to California ICT faculty and administrators only.

Instructions: Stipends will be available on a first-come, first serve basis so please apply early. You will be able to request a stipend in the online application for the training.

Stipend Questions? Please contact Elise Staples, MPICT Program Assistant, with any questions about travel stipends (email: EStaples[at]mpict.org; phone: 415-239-3600).

There are a limited number of WomenTech Educators Training spaces available.

This fellowship is free to community college ICT educators in the MPICT region (CA, NV and HI).
Limited travel stipends available. See above for eligibility.