Throughout the school year we host a wide range of fun activities (like frisbee night) to encourage a sense of community and connection.
About This Group
The Circle of Computing Women (CCW) was built to create opportunities for female students where they can be encouraged, supported, guided and mentored to foster and spark interest in computing careers. Due to the precipitous decline of women in computing over the last 30 years there are very few women in computing fields. The shortage of women in computing fields reduces opportunities for socialization among women and creates a feeling of vulnerability and disconnection from the group at large. We have created a circle of computing women to help foster an atmosphere of support and encouragement.
The Circle of Women group provides:
- Community for women
- Tiered Mentoring Plan for women involving industry professionals, graduate students and undergrads
- Tutoring for women
- Programming and creative opportunities to put computer science skills to work
- Annual gathering acknowledging students and mentors
Past Group Activities
Through the Circle of Computing Women we have hosted several activities to encourage women in computing. And, we secured a Sandbulte grant for this project.
- Watched the movie “Hidden Figures”.
- Participated in the NMU programming contest with a group of six students and two faculty in 2016 and 11 students and three faculty in 2017 to Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI for a day long programming contest.
- Attended the MinneWIC conference in Minneapolis, MN where our students won several awards for research.
- Knitting events with food and knitting supplies. Math Faculty Bethany Kubik heads this group. Knitting is highly mathematical.
- Game and pizza night where students and faculty got together played games such as dumb charades, and jeopardy.
- Frisbee and pizza night.
- Bowling before finals.
MinneWIC Regional Computing Conference
MinneWIC is the ACM-W Celebration of Women in Computing for the Upper MidWest. We call it MinneWIC from the native american word "Minne" that means water.
This regional meeting will bring together students, faculty, and computing professionals from across Minnesota and neighboring states to:
- Share experiences and strategies for recruiting and retaining women in computing fields
- Explore issues common to women working in these fields
The goal is to provide an opportunity for young women to explore career opportunities in computing, and to network with women from academia, industry and government.
This celebration is part of a nationwide effort to address the alarming decline of women choosing computer science professions.
Contact Information: