IWITTS Executive Director Donna_Milgram Interview [63:30]

In this podcast we interview Donna Milgram, Executive Director of Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science (www.iwitts.com , www.womentechworld.org ). Donna and IWITTS.com provide the tools to successfully integrate women into male-dominated careers via workshops, publications, products, e-strategies and technical assistance.

Gordon: Hi Donna, welcome and thanks for joining Mike and I, before we get into the great details, can you give us a quick overview of IWITTS and a little bit of IWITTS history?

See www.iwitts.com and www.womentechworld.org and www.womentechstore.com

Mike: Can you tell us a little about your background?

Donna discusses basic bio, IWITTS history, etc

Gordon:  What is some of the work your organization is doing that could help National Science Foundation technology centers and projects??

Donna discusses the WomenTech Portal and the CalWomenTech Project along with several other IWITTS projects.

See http://www.iwitts.com/html/womentechportal_home.html and http://www.iwitts.com/html/calwomentech_summary.html

Mike: Gordon and I both have daughters (Gordon has 2 and I have 1) so we are very interested. How are girls doing? Are they going into these technical fields?

Donna discusses the facts that #s are still small and the AAUW Tech-savvy study. Research shows interventions make a difference including proactive recruitment.

Donna also discusses the Discover Engineering" program http://www.iwitts.com/html/017anderson.pdf

Gordon: My 15 year old is really excited about computer science - it is not engineering but similar. Any information on CS?

Donna discusses the TWiCE program http://www.iwitts.com/html/052bair.pdf

Mike: Now you do not just focus on engineering and computer science. What other fields do you provide information on?

Donna discusses the focus on emerging technology, type of technology does not matter because principles are the same

Gordon: Many community college technology programs would like to have more women entering their programs but they just do not sign up. How do we change this?

Donna discusses several methods and opportunities to recruit women.

Mike: Many of our technology programs find that the women who do enroll tend to drop out, how do we improve retention of women in technology programs?

Donna discusses several methods and opportunities to retain women.

Gordon: How can people get more information about the work you are doing and how can they get in touch with you?

See www.iwitts.com and www.womentechworld.org

CalWomenTech Community College Sites 2007

-     City College of San Francisco, Digital Home Integration Technology certification

-    San Diego Mesa College, Geographic Information Systems Program

-     Canada College in Redwood City, CA, 3-D Animation and Video Game Art Program

-     El Camino College in Torrance, CA, Air Conditioning Refrigeration Program

All four colleges will receive free, intensive training and assistance on recruiting and retaining women in their technology programs for the next 4 years. 4 to 6 more colleges from California will be selected via a competitive process end of 2007.