Thank you for your interest in the 2018 STEM for All Video Showcase. I hope you enjoy this video. You can't do something if you don't know about it. When I started college I thought my career options were teaching or nursing.  Unfortunately many women today don't know about all of the options open to them. This video shares some information on the rationale for our Picture Yourself campaign.  I am looking forward to discussing options and answering questions you might have.  Pam

Although it is of course, depressing, I loved the beginning of your video!

THE "PICTURING" component of your strategy makes a lot of sense, but could you briefly, provide a listing of some of the other key strategies you are using in your programs?

Have you considered alternatives for communities where there are few role models in the technical career field?

We have a 3 pronged approach to encourage and retain ALL students.

1. Marketing - We use the Picture Yourself campaign to make sure all materials include a diverse group of students.  For us it is a focus on women in technology and engineering.
2. Marketing - When we talk about Technology and Engineering careers we focus on helping others, working in teams and making a difference (instead of the typical marketing strategies of higher pay and jobs).  Not only do employers value these soft skills but they are the reason many people choose careers.
3. We host an Innovative Expo on our campus each summer for high school personnel so they can learn about our programs and opportunities
4. We host a Focus on the Classroom event for community college faculty.

This video does such a great job of demonstrating the problem of practice in the field! In your project description you note the increase in women's participation in the identified programs. Have you been able to collect other data on the impact or influence your efforts are having on the recruitment and participation of women in the identified programs? I'd also like to hear more about the Innovative Expo you mention in your response to Barbara's comments. What kind of information do you share with high school personnel? Have you collected any data from participants on how that event has affected the work they do at their schools to promote tech and engineering degrees and careers to their female students?

Similar to the individuals interviewed in the video, I also found it challenging to picture and name a woman when thinking about professionals in technology so thank you for sharing a few examples of women role models. I noticed in the description you mentioned there was an increase from 39 to 75 female students in the programs. What are some of the programs where you are measuring the number of students? Can you tell us more about other ways you are collecting evidence to document outcomes and impacts of the Picture Yourself campaign?

The programs which were targeted for our grant were Computer Information Systems, Networking Technologies, Systems Security, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics, Computer Engineering and Civil Engineering.

In addition to the Picture Yourself campaign our marketing materials also included highlighting the soft skills needed for these careers.  Picture yourself helping others, working in teams and solving problems.  STEM marketing often focuses on jobs and money, which studies show are motivating factors for many men in career selection but not women.

Terrific video and message!  Thanks for capturing and sharing. I will be passing this along to the many STEM programs with whom I work as an evaluator and/or as I mentor teams who want to develop competitive grant proposals.  So often, I find a great desire among faculty to encourage more female participation in advanced technological education and related STEM disciplines but little knowledge of proven successful strategies for doing so.

Terrific video and message!  Thanks for capturing and sharing. I will be passing this along to the many STEM programs with whom I work as an evaluator and/or as I mentor teams who want to develop competitive grant proposals.  So often, I find a great desire among faculty to encourage more female participation in advanced technological education and related STEM disciplines but little knowledge of proven successful strategies for doing so.

I am catching up on my New York Time's - and just finished an interesting article on "the wedding" entitled What Meghan Markle Means to Black Britons by Ellen Barry

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/12/world/europe...

It is another example of how having role models can be critical.

Excellent video showing how important it is to recruit and retain women in STEM fields.

Pamela and team,

I currently teach technology education at the high school level, and as you pointed out I see a very low female participation rate in my courses. Majority of my teaching load has to do with manufacturing and girls tend to think that they are not good at hands on classes, but when I do get girls in my classes they tend to out perform the boys. From what I see, girls have a greater ability to apply what they have learned into more imaginative and creative designs. I think if we can build confidence in our young female students maybe we can achieve more women in STEM fields. Good luck and I hope we can all work together to make this happen.

Thank you,

Francis Nikolaus

Thank you - I think providing role models for all students is so important.  You can't do what you can't imagine.

We know women have the abilities.... it's time to train the next generation by example with the vision to utilize those abilities to their fullest!

Where are the pictures posted? Are they in the classroom, or online? Do students find pictures? I think your method of finding local women is most powerful. You can also order or print a deck of cards or a poster of Notable Women in Computing from this site: https://www2.cs.duke.edu/csed/wikipedia/cards.html

Primarily the posters are on bulletin boards on campus and at partner sites (nonprofits and K-12).  Thanks for the information on the deck of cards

Extremely well done and highly relevant in all respects.  In my past career in HR this would have fit in perfectly with our endeavors to diversity and hire more women to fill positions which had been filled primarily  by males. Way to go Pam, et al!