About
Bring IT On! is a three-day workshop hosted by the School of Informatics at Indiana University for undergraduate computer science students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Ten schools have been invited to nominate two students each to attend the workshop with all expenses paid.
Outreach
The purpose of this workshop is for the invited students to begin development on a K-12 outreach program for their school, using the one that has been created by the Women in Computing (WIC) group at Indiana University as a model. Our program, called Just Be, strives to educate young people about the true nature of computing, helps dispel common stereotypes, introduces exciting fields of computing, and gives K-12 students insights into how they can get involved in computing.
The workshop participants from each school will get a jump start on creating an outreach program that they can take back to their communities and that highlights the computing opportunities at their home institution. The Just Be creators and presenters will be on hand to provide guidance and share their experiences giving presentations to school groups and their advice about how to create, fund, advertise, maintain and sustain a viable outreach program. We will dissect our presentation, slide-by-slide, and explain what we are trying to accomplish at each stage. Time will be allotted for the participants to actually start creating slides for their own presentations, using Just Be as a template. There will be time for each pair to practice their presentation and to deliver it to the group as a whole.
Networking
A secondary goal of the workshop involves connecting HBCU students with each other and with Indiana University students and faculty. Participants will have an opportunity to network with computer science students from nine other HBCUs and faculty from Indiana University's School of Informatics, Department of Computer Science, and School of Library and Information Sciences. The workshop also affords the participants a wonderful opportunity to meet and interact with our keynote speaker, Dr. Juan Gilbert from Auburn University, who is renowned for his work in the mentoring of young computer science researchers from underrepresented groups.
Into the Future
This workshop will give the participants a glimpse of what lies ahead should they decide to continue their study of computing in graduate school. The program includes a structured information session about the challenges of graduate studies and another that highlights various research activities, many of them multi-disciplinary, that are currently underway at Indiana University, giving the students a sense of the numerous directions they might choose to pursue. Tours of the campus, the computing facilities, and the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center are planned, as well as fun social activities in the evenings.
Bring IT On! in the News
- IU Press Release, Sep-6-06 (pdf)
- National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT) blog, Sep-12-06
- IU Home Pages, Sep-29-06 (pdf)
- WFIU radio interview of Suzanne Menzel, Oct-20-06
- Indiana Daily Student (IDS) article, Oct-23-06 (pdf)
- School of Journalism article, Nov-02006 (pdf)
Contact Us
For general information, please write to us at IUBringITOn@gmail.com. The workshop co-chairs are Kay Connelly (email) and Samantha Foley (email), the project manager is Jennifer Trueblood (email), and the travel coordinator is Joseph Cottam (email).
The organizers are divided into three committees, each of which is responsible for the events on one of the three days. The committee chair is listed first:
Friday: Suzanne Menzel (email) and Jennifer Franko (email)
Saturday: Katie Siek (email), Tonya Stroman (email), and Tammy Toscos (email)