West Long Branch, N.J. (January 31, 2016) Monmouth University’s IEEE/ACM Student Chapter has been awarded a National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) Student Seed Fund gift of $3,000. This gift, sponsored by Google.org, will be used to create an Association for Computing Machinery Committee on Women in Computing (ACM-W) chapter on campus. Student chapters of ACM-W serve to increase recruitment and retention of women in computing fields at the university level, and will offer students activities and projects that aim to improve the working and learning environments for women in computing.
Women in Computing (WIC) groups, such as ACM-W, can increase women’s confidence and enjoyment of their technical studies, help reduce feelings of isolation, dispel common myths and stereotypes, and empower students to actively recruit and mentor other women.
“We are excited about and so appreciative of Google.org and NCWIT’s efforts to help us establish our own ACM-W campus chapter, and look forward to it becoming a resource for the community and neighboring community colleges” said Jamie Kretsch, chair of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering and advisor of the IEEE/ACM Student Chapter. “We are thrilled to work with NCWIT, and appreciate the wealth of support structures and initiatives they have developed to encourage more gender diversity in computing”.
Monmouth University is a member of the NCWIT Academic Alliance, which brings together representatives from academic computing programs at more than 400 colleges and universities across the country. Charged with implementing institutional change in higher education, the Academic Alliance provides feedback on NCWIT programs, contributes and adopts effective practices, and serves as a national agent of change.
Monmouth University offers a variety of computer science and software engineering degrees, including two undergraduate programs that are ABET accredited. Programs offered include B.S./M.S./Minor in Computer Science, B.S./M.S./Certificate in Software Engineering, and an M.S. in Information Systems.
