The influence of established women in IT — specifically Florence Hudson and Melissa Woo — encouraged a librarian to apply for a position in Information Technology Services at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
A hands-on approach to planning the IT Leadership conference developed a strong collaborative network that also helped grow attendance.
Paying attention to the pros and cons of the 2016 conference guided the planners in modifying their approach to the upcoming October 2017 conference and its focus on diversity and inclusion.
A main goal for future IT Leadership conferences focusing on women and diversity in IT is providing attendees with practical ways to change their campuses

Dority Baker, Marcia L.

English

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Publications from Information Technology Services Information Technology Services
2-13-2017
Women in IT: Be the Change
Marcia L. Dority Baker
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, mdority_baker2@unl.edu
Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/itspubs
Part of the Computer Engineering Commons, Computer Sciences Commons, and the Electrical
and Computer Engineering Commons
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Information Technology Services at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
It has been accepted for inclusion in Publications from Information Technology Services by an authorized administrator of
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln.
Dority Baker, Marcia L., "Women in IT: Be the Change" (2017). Publications from Information Technology Services. 1.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/itspubs/1
 
http://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/2/women-in-it-be-the-change  
 
Women in IT: Be the Change 
Authors: 
by Marcia Dority Baker  
Published: 
Monday, February 13, 2017  
You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small 
things go in the right direction. 
—Alvin Toffler  
 
Key Takeaways 
 The influence of established women in IT — specifically Florence Hudson and 
Melissa Woo — encouraged a librarian to apply for a position in Information 
Technology Services at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. 
 A hands-on approach to planning the IT Leadership conference developed a 
strong collaborative network that also helped grow attendance. 
 Paying attention to the pros and cons of the 2016 conference guided the 
planners in modifying their approach to the upcoming October 2017 
conference and its focus on diversity and inclusion. 
 A main goal for future IT Leadership conferences focusing on women and 
diversity in IT is providing attendees with practical ways to change their 
campuses. 
When was your last life-changing experience? Mine was in November 2015, when I 
attended the "Opportunity That Scales: Women Advancing the Future of Information 
Technology and Computer Science" event at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), 
an IT Leadership conference for the Nebraska community and beyond. I was curious to 
see what "women in IT" looked like, as I have been involved with technology for a 
number of years but could name just a handful of women who fit that description. 
Listening to speakers Florence D. Hudson of Internet2 and Melissa Woo of the University 
of Oregon sparked in me a decision to change careers.  
I served as a librarian for 10-plus years at the University of Nebraska College of Law. 
Following the event I decided to apply for a job at Information Technology Services (ITS) 
at UNL to become like the women in IT who shared their leadership journeys, advice, 
and energy on the conference stage. In February 2016 I was offered the position of 
assistant director of Academic Technologies at UNL-ITS. The first six months of my new 
position involved learning on the job and observing how the organization operates. I am 
thankful to the many ITS people who answered my questions, updated me with the 
background of projects, and volunteered me for things I did not know about!  
UNL-ITS Responds to a Need 
According to Mark Askren, vice chancellor for IT and CIO, Office of Information 
Technology Services, at UNL, the IT leadership conference is a grassroots response to 
the need for more women in information technology. It started as an idea in 2014 from 
the Nebraska alumni of the Information Technology Leadership Program (ITLP, from 
MOR Associates), an active group of ITS staff who wanted to continue leadership 
conversations on campus. This idea, coupled with the topic of inclusiveness at the 
Internet2 global conference Askren attended, led to the next on-campus conference in 
November 2015, "Opportunity That Scales."  
The momentum from "Opportunity That Scales" laid a solid foundation for future 
growth. Like any event planning, it takes a lot of work to prepare for the event. We were 
tasked with creating a national conference in nine months. I was asked to participate in 
the conference planning by Amy Metzger, the assistant director of IT Strategic Sourcing, 
who had co-chaired the prior year. We also recruited Mary Sutton, the IT manager at the 
UNL College of Education and Human Sciences. We purposely asked women to serve as 
co-chairs for a conference on women in IT, then built a strong conference committee 
that represented many voices and departments within UNL-ITS. One important goal was 
to collaborate with the University of Nebraska ITS departments (five campuses total), so 
we quickly identified our cohorts at UNO (Omaha), UNMC (Medical Center), UNK 
(Kearney), and Enterprise Systems (University of Nebraska Central) and asked them to 
partner with us for a successful conference.  
We organized the planning committee into sub-groups responsible for specific 
conference tasks: Communication and Marketing, Education and Programming, 
Financial, Logistics, Registration, Sponsors and Vendors, Partners and Outreach, and 
Volunteers. Given our conservative conference budget, we decided to charge a nominal 
registration fee to pay for the site rental and food costs. We viewed this as seed money 
to create a sustainable conference and, more importantly, demonstrate value of the 
conference content. Attendee feedback after the conference confirmed this decision:  
"This was one of the best conferences UNL has organized so far. Perhaps it is because it 
was not 'free'…. I think this made everyone who attended have a very different demeanor. 
People were more engaged, focused, and serious about participating."  
With the short timeframe to host the IT Leadership conference, we decided to solicit 
speakers for the event instead of requesting program proposals. This worked out well 
for several reasons:  
 We met a number of people on and off campus we would not have connected 
with via a traditional conference call for program proposals. 
 Word-of-mouth communication to share information and solicit speakers or 
programs proved effective in growing the conference. Because we spent time and 
effort in brainstorming program ideas, talking to people, and contacting 
organizations and groups outside our usual circles, the power of connections and 
introductions magnified in ways we did not expect. 
 Since we hand-picked our speakers and presentations, the committee crafted the 
programming on specific topics that built on leadership, inclusiveness, 
unconscious bias, recruiting, retaining and promoting a diverse workforce, and 
women in tech. 
A word of caution from the programming committee: planning a conference on a short 
deadline is stressful. The agenda and speakers had not been confirmed when we opened 
registration for the conference because we wanted people to take advantage of the 
early-bird rate; we should have waited another week. This early opening had a cascading 
effect on the flow of the event because we did not ask attendees during registration 
which programs interested them. Not knowing potential attendee numbers made 
scheduling the breakout sessions a challenge, one highlighted in the survey responses 
complaining that programs were not scheduled in appropriately sized spaces.  
Initially, the committee listed all the things we like about conferences and decided to 
build a conference around those characteristics: dynamic speakers, networking 
opportunities, a variety of program topics that relate to a big picture, movement (no 
one wants to sit all day in a conference room), engaged attendees, and positive energy. 
Going forward, we now know to review conference deltas such as gauging interest in 
programs during registration and confirming all speaker schedules with calendar invites.  
About the Conference 
The "IT Leadership Conference — Opportunity That Scales: Women Advancing the 
Future of Information Technology in Higher Education" took place November 7–8, 2016 
at the Nebraska Innovation Campus (NIC) in Lincoln, Nebraska. Keynote speakers 
included:  
 Karen Caitlin, the Women in Tech advocate 
 Donde Plowman, dean of the University of Nebraska's College of Business 
Administration 
 Brad McClain, social scientist for the National Center for Women in IT (NCWIT) 
 The podcast group, "#3Wedu: Women Who Wine in Education" 
The EDUCAUSE Women in IT Constituent Group hosted a live "Coffee and 
Conversations" program to kick off the conference. In addition, we invited speakers from 
University of Nebraska campuses, area businesses, and tech companies to focus on 
issues and opportunities for women in information technology.  
Conference attendees included about 280 women and men from 11 states, several 
university systems (faculty, staff, and students), and the business and tech fields.  
Takeaways 
Survey feedback is beneficial, just as hindsight is 20/20. The IT Leadership conference 
survey of seven brief questions via SurveyMonkey obtained 64 responses from the 281 
conference attendees. According to the survey results and informal conversation with 
attendees after the event, this year's IT Leadership conference was a success. One 
attendee responded with approval for:  
"Idea sharing with a group of passionate people, having space and time to focus on this as 
a need and identify opportunities to make things better."  
Conference pluses included:  
 the speakers (dynamic, engaging, and diverse), 
 networking opportunities, 
 conversations with peers, and 
 program topics (unconscious bias, women in IT, and leadership). 
While positive feedback is always welcome, the deltas help us make the good even 
better. The IT Leadership conference deltas included space limitations (more people in 
attendance than breakout rooms could handle), the Monday social event (not well 
attended or seen as necessary), and time to talk with colleagues (attendees wanted 
more of it). An unexpected but appreciated survey response was the request for action 
items to enable change:  
"Too many 'facts.' I know that women and more so, women of color, have a tough road 
ahead of them. Stop telling me how bad it is. Tell me what I can do to make a difference. 
What can I take home and start doing to make a change today?"  
A goal for next year's conference is more action items and ways to make change, along 
with programs that demonstrate how to create successful change in an organization via 
staff training or programs.  
We did receive general feedback on the food and location, but even better were the 
many topics suggested for the next conference, thoughts on how to keep the 
conversation going, and affirmation that the conference focus is necessary and 
appreciated. As one survey respondent noted, the most beneficial aspect of the 
conference was listening to external perspectives on diversity topics and hearing 
presenters echo feelings the attendee had been reluctant to voice.  
The CIO's feedback also confirmed the event's success and its continuation as way to 
make a difference, continue the conversation, and work together better to include 
women in IT. As we learned from the final conference program on unconscious bias, 
social change needs to occur in our society, our systems, and ourselves.  
Summing Up 
The IT Leadership conference started as a grassroots effort to continue a conversation 
on the UNL campus. While the topic of women in IT is not new, several national 
conferences such as the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference include it as a track or as focus 
sessions; it is a necessary conversation for higher education, business, technology, and 
our communities. As several of the conference speakers shared, an inclusive 
organization is more efficient, productive, and responsive to change. While our 
goal is to turn this small event into a larger conference, the impact of the conversation 
goes beyond the University of Nebraska. Spontaneous occurrences of women in 
technology events were hosted by fellow universities such as the University of 
Wisconsin–Madison, the University of Mississippi, and Virginia Tech. At a recent Women 
in Technology Meet-Up, we discussed how to include this conversation in local 
technology and education conferences. Our brainstorming ideas included a 
recommendation to conference chairs to include a Women in IT track, a request for 
program proposals on women in IT and similar topics, and scheduling networking time 
and/or informal meetings for people interested in meeting similar-minded individuals.  
Also of interest, Stanford University hosted the Global Women in Data Science (WiDS) 
February 3, 2017. The conference sold out by early January, but UCLA and others livecast 
the event. You can check the site for other WiDS events and sign up for the mailing list 
to learn about access to live-streaming of the other conference programs.  
Future Plans 
As the committee reviews the pluses and deltas of 2016 event, we are already planning 
for the 2017 conference, to be held again at NIC October 18–19. The big question is, 
how do we continue the conversation and maintain positive energy meanwhile? One 
idea is to use our monthly campus meetings, known as UNIT (University of Nebraska IT) 
to check in with ITS staff on a particular session topic. Another idea is to engage our 
Women in IT listserv to schedule brown bag lunches for networking and/or in-depth 
discussion of a conference session.  
As I review the conference committee notes and emails, I see potential networking 
opportunities we missed, sponsors who want to participate in 2017, campus 
departments and organizations to connect with, and outside groups such as K–12 
schools, tech companies, and local business with whom we need to share the 
conversation. For all the practicalities and benefits of technology, human relationships 
count the most. If we want to change the world — to build inclusiveness, increase 
diversity, and recruit, develop, and retain future leaders — we need to speak up and 
keep the conversation going. It's not enough to do the small things; we need to think 
big while headed along our chosen path to change.  
 
Marcia L. Dority Baker is an assistant director, Academic Technologies, Information 
Technology Services at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.  
© 2017 Marcia L. Dority Baker. The text of this article is licensed under Creative 
Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0.  
 


Women in IT: Be the Change

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&amp;context=itspubs

Women in IT: Be the Change

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

UNL | Libraries