"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!"

~ Hector Yanez, Department Chair/CADD Manager of Computer Drafting and Design Technology, Texas State Technical College - Harlingen, TX. Increased female enrollment from 11% to 37% in Computer Drafting after participating in a WomenTech Training.

"Thank you so much for the information you presented. The manner in which you did so was easy to understand and comprehend. The fact that we were able to create plans to implement at our institution were helpful; especially since we were able to receive input immediately from our peers. This certainly allowed my partner and I to adjust our plans given others input and perspectives. Again, thank you!!."

~ Edda Urrea, Director of Support Services/Title IX Coordinator, Texas State Technical College - Harlingen, TX

"Attending the WomenTech Educators Training was the best decision I have made in a long time! During the training, I developed a recruitment and retention plan for one of the CIS programs. This is not a training where you consider doing ‘something’ when you get back to your office, you are actually developing and obtaining feedback from other colleagues on what they have done and how you can improve your plan before implementation! Plus, I will be able to take my experience and work on other programs of study using the same framework."

~ Edna Quintana Claus, Ph.D., M.B.A., CIS Division Director, Texas State Technical College Harlingen - TX

"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%."

~ Pierre Thiry, Principal Investigator, Mid-Pacific ICT Regional Center, San Francisco, CA (ATE Center)

“I've been an educator for a very long time: 40 years in education and 30 years at a community college. I thought I knew everything related to education. Well, I quickly found out with the WomenTech Educator’s program that you were guiding us through there were a lot of strategies that I had never realized we should try, things I never would have thought about doing myself to interest females in STEM fields. I also found out that there were many people at the college that were interested in the project. Getting people to buy in as early adopters in several areas in the college was very important. It might be slow go to start with, but if you could get a handful of champions early on, that that will be enough to keep the program sustained down the road.

I’m happy to say it worked! Our Engineering Technology program went from 2 female students to 12 in only one semester and retention went from 50% to 100%.”

~ Steve Branch, Former Dean of STEM, Patrick Henry Community College, Martinsville City, VA

"One thing that was especially valuable about the WomenTech Educators Training was having a variety of people come to the table to talk about all the issues. It was interesting for faculty to learn how they can engage students who might be on the fringes of the class, not necessarily just female students either. Also, in our publications and brochures, we're now as likely to use images of women as of men. As a result of working with IWITTS, over two years the percentage of women in targeted classes at CCRI went from 10.8% to 14.3%."

~ Peter Woodberry, PhD, Dean of Business, Science and Technology, Community College of Rhode Island, Newport, RI

“Originally, we participated in the WomenTech Educators Bootcamp because we were working towards obtaining a National Science Foundation grant and this had been recommended to our college. The Bootcamp gave us a solid foundation to start with, we increased female enrollment by 150% from 4 to 10 female students in our targeted Engineering Technologies course after only one semester. We’re happy to say we did receive the NSF grant ‘Increasing Women in Engineering and Industrial Technologies Programs’ and this will enable us to expand our success in increasing female participation through Industry Partnerships.”

~ Tony Bean, Director, Program Chair of Engineering Technologies, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, Salisbury, NC

“When we started fully applying the WomenTech Training’s female-specific recruitment strategies our numbers doubled from 3 female students to 6 in BioTech Medical Equipment Technology. Our program now has 25% female students. The most important thing we learned was that we couldn’t do this half-way, our first attempts to recruit more women were gender-neutral and didn’t work! We appreciated the proven, specific strategies from other schools that were an important part of the WomenTech curriculum.”

~ Randy Libros, NSF PI, Associate Professor of Physics, Director of Applied Science and Engineering Technology Program, Community College of Philadelphia, PA

"If you are ready to learn how to recruit and retain females in your program, then I strongly suggest taking the training with IWITTS. The training was well worth my time. It opened up my eyes as to why the invisible barrier remains for females. I am a female and had never thought of some of the ways we are impacted culturally."

~ Paula Shelton, Executive Director of Maryland Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MD MESA), Laurel, MD

"We have the first three women in our Auto Technology Program and really want to make sure they succeed. After participating in the WomenTech Educator's online training, we created additional open lab time for them, realizing they may need extra time to develop hands-on skills in a nonthreatening atmosphere. Two months into the course they are still with us. I learned so much about retention from the online training, I decided our entire Engineering and Technology Department could benefit and we are bringing the online training to our school and rolling it out to all of the technical faculty over the next two years."

~ Van Madray, Dean of Construction and Industrial Technology Division, Pitt Community College, Winterville, NC

"The training was time well spent. It was such a minimal amount of time to get so many concrete implementable strategies. The WomenTech Educators Online Training gives you the most for your money—you can implement the tools immediately with minimal resources and see true quantitative results!"

~ Phyllis Baca, Director of STEM Initiatives, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM

"The WomenTech Educators Online Training has the potential to change the way you view your program. Important data is presented with passion and humor. I want you to know I have gained a great deal from the course. By the time you have a graduate degree and have worked in education for decades, most "professional development" is repetitive. I can honestly say that you have given me much to think about and that it will result in changes to my approach to course development."

~ Lauran Sattler, Department Chair, Computer Information Systems, Ivy Tech Community College, President's Award for Instructional Excellence 2007, Warsaw, IN

"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!"

~ Jessica J. du Maine, Assistant Professor/Program Coordinator, Electrical/Electronic Engineering & Technology, St. Louis Community College, St. Louis, MO

"At the WomenTech Educators Workshop, it was eye-opening to learn that there is a long list of simple things we could be doing that would make women feel more welcome and included, for example the pictures we use to market the program, and some curricular approaches in the lab environment.

The first big benefit that we've seen is finding out the cross-campus interest in this topic. We've put together a team of 30 people covering a variety of academic departments, student services, admissions, and counseling. The workshop gives everyone a common language to continue discussions.

I don't see how we couldn't be successful. In the upcoming fall, we're looking forward to having more women in our Engineering and Computer Information Systems departments. [...]

The [Coaching] sessions really keep you on task. It’s too easy for this to be just one project among dozens, and the calls give you just-in-time reminders. It’s very helpful when you’re in the middle of implementing your plan to be reminded of something from the training you might want to go back and look at, or to receive new information from Donna [Trainer] that you need just at that moment."

~ Patrick J. Enright, Dean for Business, Mathematics, Engineering and Technologies, County College of Morris, Randolph, NJ

"The training conducted by Donna Milgram was the best training I have ever received because I can implement the recruitment and retention plans I created specifically for my program Computer Information Management (CIM) to help increase females in technology at Irvine Valley College!"

~ Roopa Mathur, Professor, Computer Information Management, Irvine Valley College, Irvine, CA

This was an engaging and practical learning experience that will help us to increase recruitment and retention."

~ Myron Curtis, Deputy Sector Navigator, ICT & Digital Media, Butte College, Oroville, CA

"The WomenTech Educators Training Workshop was one of the best things I've done. I feel very confident that I have the strategies and tools to help me increase the number of women in my STEM programs. Thank you so much."

~ Hank Miller, Division Head of Science and Math, Nebraska Indian Community College, Macy, NE