(Frauenförderung am Departement Informatik)

Transcription

1 Forum for Women in Computer Science Frauenförderung am Dept. Informatik ETH Zentrum IFW, ETH Zürich CH-8092 Zürich Tel: Fax: ff@inf.ethz.ch Forum for Women in Computer Science (Frauenförderung am Departement Informatik) August 2001 Contents 1. Mission Statement 2. History and Resources 3. Personnel a. Present Personnel b. Past Personnel 4. Activities a. Attracting more female students b. Activities for female students in the department c. Activities for female assistants in the department d. Activities for female students and assistants in the department / Networking 5. Public Relations a. Publications b. Articles about the Forum for Women in Computer Science c. Talks and Posters 6. Our Vision 1. Mission Statement The Forum for Women in Computer Science aims at increasing the number of female computer science students, which has traditionally been very low at ETH Zurich. The percentage of women among students has stagnated around 5% for many years, but has recently increased to almost 10%, which we hope is at least partly due to our efforts. In particular, we offer one-week full time computer science introductory courses to female high school students who are at most two years away from their Matura (high school graduation). These courses referred to as Schnupperstudium Informatik take place twice to three times a year, with participants each. Since their introduction in the summer of 1999, around 150 students have taken part in the Schnupperstudium. Apart from abundant positive feedback from the participants, the courses appear to have a positive effect on women enrolment: The percentage of first-year female students in the winter term 2000 increased to almost 15%, from 9% in the two previous years, and between 0% and 7% in the past decade. At the same time, the absolute number of female first-years has doubled from 21 to 45, with one in three of these women having taken part in one of our Schnupperstudium-courses.

2 Forum for Women in Computer Science 2 In addition to recruiting more female students, we are developing measures that aim at decreasing the proportionally high dropout rate among female students. Among these are social activities such as women meetings (once per term), and video films shown in cooperation with the student body VIS; student-to-student mentoring programmes and other professional networking events; and finally, encouraging active involvement of female students in our projects, e.g. as webmaster, as teaching assistants, as mentors, or as partners in developing new ideas and programmes. As a result of our PR activities during the past year, we are becoming increasingly well-known and receive more and more interview requests from newspapers and student information bodies. Similarly, we receive an increasing number of requests for talks and knowledge transfer from other institutions interested in increasing the number of women in science and technical subjects, both from within ETH (other departments) and from other universities/teaching bodies. The Forum for Women in Computer Science is the only body of its kind at ETH; no other department has a body solely devoted to increasing the number of female students and supported by the department, e.g., by reducing the assistants teaching load and providing the necessary logistics. 2. History and Resources The Forum for Women in Computer Science was called into existence in 1993 by two assistants (i.e., PhD students) of the department, and has since been maintained by a number of different assistants, always two at a time (either two women or one woman and one man). Since the summer term of 1999, the activities in the Forum are being fully accredited by the department, i.e., they are now equivalent to a teaching assistantship. This means that the two assistants teaching load is decreased significantly. In addition, the department has been offering administrative support to the Forum since October The Forum also receives logistic support from the department (e.g., regarding the use of computers, computer rooms and other facilities; software support, etc.), and all of the Forum s student staff are paid out the department s T.A. funds. However, apart from the funding of student staff, the Forum does not receive any funding for its day-to-day expenses. Instead, these are covered through external sponsors usually large companies that are acquired independently from the department. The Forum receives significant support from other assistants and students of the department who act regularly as lecturers and teaching assistants in our courses. In particular, the complete programming course in the current Schnupperstudium (3 7 September, 2001), which constitutes around half of the schedule is taught by members and students of the Technology and Education group (Dr. Werner Hartmann). 3. Personnel 3a. Present Personnel Assistants: Zsuzsanna Lipták Institute of Theoretical C.S. Hannes Kruppa (until 9/2001) Institute of Scientific Computing Marc Langheinrich (from 10/2001) Institute of Information Systems Professor: Ueli Maurer Institute of Theoretical C.S. Administration: Sile Hasler Department of C.S. Webmaster: Christina Pöpper undergraduate student

3 Forum for Women in Computer Science 3 3b. Past Personnel Assistants: Brigitte Hösli 1993 Andrea Kennel /1995 Nora Sleumer 3/1995 2/1997 & 3 9/1999 Ulrike Stege 9/1995 2/1997 Bettina Kemme 3/1997 9/1998 Hans-Martin Will 3/1997 9/1998 Gabriele Neyer 3/1999 2/2000 Oliver Bröker 9/1999 2/2000 Zsuzsanna Lipták 3/2000 present Hannes Kruppa 3/2000 present Professors: Prof. Jürg Nievergelt (until 9/2000) Institute of Theoretical C.S. Prof. Ueli Maurer (since 10/2000) Institute of Theoretical C.S. 4. Activities (in detail: March 1999 present) 4a. Attracting more female students Schnupperstudium Informatik: A one-week course (full-time) for female high school students who are at most two years away from their Matura (high school graduation). The course includes an introduction to programming (up to now: Turbo Pascal; from Sept. on: Java), information about the computer science curriculum at ETH, intensive contact with students of the department, talks about different areas of computer science (by assistants), a meeting with a female computer scientist from industry, a social event, a campus tour, and sometimes a visit to a company. We supply all course material, which has been especially developed for this event (see Publications). The course is free of charge, though high school students interested in participating have to submit a formal application, including a one-page description of their interest in computer science. The first Schnupperstudium took place in the summer of We offer the course two to three times per year. o August and September 1999: 30 participants each o March 2000: 32 participants o August and September 2000: 22 participants each o March 2001: 30 participants Mittelschülerinnentage: This one-day event was initiated at the Department for Computer Science in Its organization has since been transferred to the ETH Rektorat, and it now takes place once a year. It offers female high school students the possibility to visit ETH for one day, during which they get the opportunity to see two departments of their choice. Our department participates for two half days each year. We pick up the group of visiting high school students at the main building, and offer them a three-hour programme, during which they can find out about computer science in general, about computer science studies at ETH, as well as take part in a mini-programming course. The total numbers for the past three years were: o 1999: 105 participants o 2000: 81 participants o 2001: 90 participants

4 Forum for Women in Computer Science 4 4b. Activities for female students in the department Vordiplom nicht bestanden und jetzt? Meeting for female first-year students who have failed their exams, with the aim of exchanging information with more advanced students, 31 Oct Hardware Crash Course for first-year students, organized by Regina Bischoff and Mirjam Tolksdorf, two advanced students who cooperate closely with the Forum for Women in Computer Science, one mixed course and one women-only course, the women-only course took place on 1 Feb Mentoring programme for female first-year students preparing for their first exams in October 2001: three mentees were allocated to one mentor, a female student who has already passed one or two undergraduate exams. Organized by three students, Regina Bischoff, Mirjam Tolksdorf and Christina Pöpper, May c. Activities for female assistants in the department Female assistants nights take place irregularly at one of the assistant s house. The last such meeting took place on 31 July d. Activities for female students and assistants in the department / Networking The Forum for Women in Computer Science acted as a client in one of the department s regular courses. Seven groups with 4 to 5 students each worked on projects designing ideas for the Forum s web pages. Winter term 1999/2000. We set up an information board in the main building of the department (IFW) in May We established a mailing list frauen@inf.ethz.ch, which has been in operation since June Round Table for women with Prof. Anita Jones, Current Vice Chair of the US National Science Board, Former Director of the US Dept. of Defense, Science and Technology Program, 19 June Visit at IBM Research Laboratory in Rüschlikon, aimed at establishing contacts between women at the Dept. of Computer Science of ETH Zurich, the Dept. of Computer Science of the University of Zurich, and women at IBM Research, 6 July frauen@inf: Women s Meeting at the department, aimed in particular at first-year students, 27 Nov frauen@inf: Women s Meeting at the department, 14 May Film session Fucking Amal, jointly with VIS, 19 June 2001.

5 Forum for Women in Computer Science 5 5. Public Relations 5a. Publications Informatikerin eine vielseitige Zukunft, by Bettina Kemme and Hans-Martin Will, 5 th edition, May Can be downloaded from our webpages at Course Material Schnupperstudium Informatik, by Oliver Bröker, Gabriele Neyer, Nora Sleumer. Technical Report ETH no. 334, January An updated edition (edited by Hannes Kruppa and Zsuzsanna Lipták) can be downloaded from our webpages at Erfahrungen und Gedanken zur Frauenförderung in der Informatik, by Jürg Nievergelt und Nora Sleumer, Informatik Spektrum 23 No. 6, pp , December Schnupperstudentinnen, by Zsuzsanna Lipták and Nora Sleumer, Visionen (journal of computer science students at ETH), March Frauen in der Informatik, by Hannes Kruppa, Perspektiven 4/2000 (journal for high school students in Switzerland), autumn Our webpages at were first established by Bettina Kemme and Hans-Martin Will (under a different URL). They were significantly changed and updated in the winter 1999/2000 by Zsuzsanna Lipták, and are at the moment being completely redesigned to appeal to a wider audience, in particular to students, and to better serve as a means of information and a forum for discussion. The new webpages will be online around the end of October b. Articles about the Forum for Women in Computer Science Most of these articles can be downloaded form our webpages at 1. Articles solely about the Forum for Women in Computer Science, or in particular about the Schnupperstudium: Article about the Forum for Women in Computer Science in: Magazin der Universität Zürich Nr. 3/99 * Bulletin der ETH Zürich, Nr. 275 Gender Studies. Arbeit Geschlecht Identität, Nov Begehrte Ingenieurinnen, Weltwoche Nr. 38/1999, 23 Sept Informatik weibelt in den Schulen, ETH intern, 23 Sept Informatikerinnen braucht das Land, detailed study of the Schnupperstudium as part of a diploma thesis in journalism and applied linguistics, Höhere Fachschule für Angewandte Linguistik, Sept Informatik-Schnupperwoche, Visionen (journal of computer science students at ETH), Sept Schnuppern an der Informatik, ETH Life, 2 March Das Ziel heisst 50 Prozent Frauen, Tagesanzeiger, 10 March Articles about women and computer science in which the Forum s activities feature prominently, along with other institutions: Computer mögen Mädchen, CASH, 25 Aug IT-Fachkräftemangel Frauen braucht das Land, Update (Beilage der Schweizerischen Informatik-Revue), Sept Frauen an die Mäuse, FACTS, 11 Jan

6 Forum for Women in Computer Science 6 Karriere-K(l)ick, Espresso, April In der Not setzt man auf die Frau, Weltwoche Nr. 19/2001, May Maus sucht Frau Frauen in der Informatik, Schweizerische Informatik-Revue Nr. 3/2001, July c. Talks and Posters Conference on Advancing Women in Science and Research ( Frauenförderung in Wissenschaft und Forschung: überholter Ansatz oder zukunftsweisende Politik? ) Center of Excellence Women and Science (CEWS), Bonn. Participation with poster session about the Schnupperstudium, 28 May Talk Frauenförderung am Departement Informatik der ETH Zürich (Zsuzsanna Lipták), Informatik-Kolloquium des Instituts für Informatik, Universität Stuttgart, Germany, 24 June Talk in the Gleichstellungskommission (Committee for Equal Rights of Men and Women) at ETH presenting the activities of the Forum for Women in Computer Science (Zsuzsanna Lipták), 28 June Several informal meetings with persons interested in increasing the number of women at their departments throughout 2000 and Our Vision Our vision is to increase the percentage of diplomas by female students to nearly 50%. We are, of course, aware that this is a very ambitious goal. We will continue offering the Schnupperstudium twice a year, and plan to establish it as a well-known bi-annual event in the ETH calendar, with dates made public at least one year in advance in order to facilitate student registration and improve its visibility. We are currently writing a concise manual on the organisation and implementation of the course, in order to facilitate knowledge transfer to other institutions as well as within the department. In addition, we will continue to participate in the Mittelschülerinnentage as a second measure to attract female high school students to our department. We are in the process of increasing our activities for students and our presence in the department. We are planning to invest more into activities aimed at keeping those female students who have taken up computer science. As part of this, we want to investigate in detail the curricular statistics relating to female students (registering for exams, failed exams, passed exams, dropout numbers etc.), and look into possible causes for the rather high dropout rate among female students, preferably in cooperation with social scientists. The activities that we are developing at the moment include two mentoring programmes: one for first-year female students, with more advanced female students as mentors, and another for advanced female students as mentees and women from industry as mentors. We are starting coordinated activities with the computer science department of another German-speaking university (Universität Stuttgart, Germany). We plan to jointly collect research material on the subject, in particular reliable statistics from other institutions. Furthermore, we are jointly investigating means to minimize the organisational overhead of events such as the Schnupperstudium. The Gleichstellungskommission (Committee for Equal Rights of Men and Women at ETH) is planning to recommend other departments with low female enrolment to follow our example. For this we are developing knowledge-transfer-tools such as brief descriptions and short talks on our activities on the one hand, and detailed written documentation on the other. Zsuzsanna Lipták, August 2001