I still vividly remember how it all started. Four women were grouped together as “technologists” and tasked with completing the Diversity and Inclusion Certificate Program (DICP) capstone project. I’d like to believe that fate brought the four of us together. I was excited, invigorated, and full of ideas. Initially, I pitched the idea of hosting a "Women in Tech" podcast to highlight the experiences of women in the tech space. But, as we brainstormed together, an unmet need began to unfold. We noticed that there wasn’t a platform at UCSF to bring together women in technology to share ideas, learnings, skills, opportunities for innovation, and ultimately, to help one another navigate this ecosystem. I knew immediately that implementing a pilot program would be a bigger undertaking, but I was drawn to this bold vision. With three other strong women beside me, nothing seemed too big of a challenge. What started as a daunting DICP capstone experiment turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
Clockwise from top left: Panelists Kay Burke, Sara Murray, Shannon Weber, Kevin Souza, and Pranathi Sundaram; event materials and WIT@UCSF logo buttons; Kat Li and Sarah Ngo at booth; audience members at the panel discussion; Rosemary Yau, Clarice Estrada, Alyssa Tecklenburg, Ana Buenaventura, Sarah Ngo, and Suria Sadat at booth; Jenica Cimino and Sarah Ngo at booth.
On Thursday, October 10th, WIT@UCSF held a panel discussion on gender equity in technology at the UCSF Sharecase conference at Mission Bay.
We convened five speakers, Kay Burke, Sara Murray, Kevin Souza, Pranathi Sundaram, and Shannon Weber, from areas like informatics, governance, and management who were in a diverse range of roles and vantage points within our organization. They discussed topics including recruiting a diverse group of employees, how to support professional development of people who are underrepresented in technology, and using the lens of diversity...
I do not know how to code. The languages I know are Spanish, French (both clumsily), and English (less clumsily), not JavaScript or Python. Can I set up a server or trouble shoot network issues? Only if you want more issues. Do I consider myself a technical person? That’s a complicated question.
At what point does one consider oneself “technical?” And what does that even mean? I recently attended the UCTech Conference in Santa Barbara and attended a Women in Tech panel in which the Associate CIO at UC Davis, Meggan Levitt said something that resonated with me:
“The word ‘technical’ was used against me in my early career to single me out as an employee without a STEM degree and somehow less deserving of the term. I decided right then to build a computer from scratch (without YouTube!) to prove to myself that a Spanish major can be technical too! Now, as a manager and leader in my organization, I know there are many paths to becoming technical—libraries, teaching and finance for example. I welcome employees that can learn new technologies to...