“As the U.S. becomes more scientifically complex and its job market more technology-driven, the national need for a larger, more diverse, science-and computer-literate and skilled workforce becomes more acute.”

About the Collaborative for Gender Equity

Mentoring and Mythbusting: Cultivating Gender Equity in Emerging Technologies (National Science Foundation Advanced Technology Program Award # 0703149) takes a multi-faceted approach toward encouraging high school girls to pursue careers in cutting-edge technologies. This collaborative for gender equity—a partnership between staff at CORD (www.cord.org) and Moraine Valley Community College's Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (www.cssia.org)—is designed to dispel myths about girls' abilities in science and technology, provide the tools for mentoring programs to take root, disseminate information about high-tech careers and the coursework needed to succeed in them, and foster the development of a classroom culture conducive to gender equity. Research shows that girls will not succeed if they do not believe that they can succeed. Thus, woven as an inextricable part of the fabric of this project is the need for the recognition and reversal of explicit and implicit biases in all project stakeholders. The three project activities designed to accomplish this are the development of: 1) Mentoring Program Coordinator Training workshops; 2) an Online Mentoring Toolkit; and 3) a 6-week, online professional development course, Fostering Gender Equity in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Classroom.

Project Team:

Ann-Claire Anderson, Project PI
Sr. Research Associate, CORD

Margaret Semmer, Project Co-PI
Dean of Career and Technical Education, Joliet Junior College

Erich Spengler, Project Co-PI
Director/Principal Investigator, NSF Regional Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance, Moraine Valley Community College

Angela Spyropoulos, Workshop Coordinator/Facilitator and Coordinator of the Women in Technology Mentoring Program, Moraine Valley Community College

Bonnie Rinard, Content Developer
Research Associate, CORD

Advisory Board

Norma Alvarado, Director, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies,
North Orange Community College

Lori Cesario-Farraj, GIS Analyst, Argonne National Laboratory and
Moraine Valley Community College Women in Technology Program Mentor

Karin Cygan, Project Manager, Initial Electronics and Moraine Valley Community College Women in Technology Program Mentor

Adrian Erb, Department Head of Mechanical & Architectural Drafting, Long Beach City College

Salvadora Gonzalez, Mathematics Faculty,
Central New Mexico Community College

Mary Pat Liggio, PI, NSF STEM Pioneer Project and Women's Center Coordinator, Tidewater Community College

Libby Livings-Eassa, Tech Prep Coordinator, Indian River Community College,
and President, Florida Career Pathways Network

Chrys Panayiotou, Chair of Electronics Engineering Technology, Indian River Community College