Women in Tech Virtual Panel: Altered Environments, New Opportunities

Event: Virtual Panel – Altered Environments, New Opportunities
Date: Thursday, September 10, 2020
Time: 4-5:30 p.m.

Thank you for joining us for a dynamic conversation exploring ways that women can adapt and thrive during this period of unprecedented change. Our inaugural event featured a keynote delivered by an expert in remote workplaces, followed by a diverse panel sharing perspectives on finding and sustaining success following the (overnight) pandemic-driven shift to a virtual workplace. Topics include:

• Optimizing effectiveness in a virtual environment
• Unique challenges women are facing during this period – in the workplace, at home, in society
• Advancement and innovation

Key takeaways from the panelists:

• You have to speak up and ask – don’t disappear in the world of Zoom and remote work
• Continue to look for career and leadership opportunities in the midst of challenges and change
• Empathy is important as a people leader. Take a moment for gratitude.
• We need to find the time to continue to have conversation on diversity issues and bring in more voices

Please consider joining our mailing list to stay informed of future events:

---

Moderators

Bios

Judy Olson

Judith Olson is the Donald Bren Professor Emerita of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Irvine.  For over 30 years, she has researched teams whose members are not collocated, summaries of which are found in her most cited paper, “Distance Matters,” (Olson & Olson, 2000) and her more recent book, Working Together Apart (Olson & Olson, 2014). 

Professor Olson is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering. In 2015, Larry Page, co-founder of Google, was quoted in the book Innovations saying that the course that influenced him the most when he was an undergraduate was a course Professor Olson taught on human-computer interaction.

Van Williams

Van Williams, VC Strategic Technology Initiatives, oversees technology for UC Santa Cruz, a $900M UC campus with locations in Santa Cruz, Silicon Valley and around the Monterey Bay area. Van supports a staff of 250 talented humans within the IT function. His operational support portfolio includes Research and Innovation, Technology Enhanced Education, Cyber Risk, Enterprise Resource Planning, Business Process Optimization and Strategic Technology Corporate Partnerships.

Previous to UCSC, Van worked at New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he was chief information officer. He spent more than 15 years there, working in a multitude of roles including chief technology officer and senior director of enterprise operations and solutions. Van has proudly had one failed startup and has worked as an independent consultant for a number of years.

He holds an MBA in Finance, Entrepreneurship and Marketing from Stern. He has a bachelor’s degree from NYU where he majored in classical civilization (Latin and Ancient Greek) and minored in Chemistry. His training and experience mean he has a deep understanding and love of the liberal arts, science, technology, and business. Having worked in both private and public universities he is devoted to higher education’s role as a key driver of innovation and productivity in creating a healthy society.

Jenn Stringer

Jenn Stringer is currently the Associate Vice Chancellor for IT and Chief Information Officer for the University of California, Berkeley. She is responsible for the strategic oversight of campus-wide IT and reports both to the Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost (EVCP) and the Vice Chancellor for Administration (VCA). Before becoming CIO in 2020 she served as the Deputy Chief Information Officer and Assistant Vice Chancellor for IT and prior to that she was the Chief Academic Technology Officer where she was responsible for bringing together Educational Technology, Research IT, Digital Learning Services, and the Center for Teaching and Learning to serve faculty and support student success.

Before coming to Berkeley she was the Director for Academic Technology Services at New York University and Director of Educational Technology at Stanford University School of Medicine. She is a leader, technologist, librarian who is passionate about the role of technology and access to information as a strategic enabler to support the academic and public missions of institutions. She believes that technology can and should be a force for good in the world.

Katie Chappell

Katie Chappell is the Manager of Communications and Training in the Office of Information Technology (OIT) at UCI. In her role, she is responsible for communications across the organization, including communications strategy and planning for large IT projects and technology changes impacting campus, as well as oversight of OIT’s WordPress services and ZotPortal. She is passionate about telling stories that inspire and motivate, and in transforming complex concepts into accessible information for end users. 

Katie has spent most of the last ten years as a writer, marketer and digital communications strategist in higher education. Her work has earned a Platinum Award in Best Use of Social Media/Technology from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and her mobile app strategy was named Most Innovative in Communications by Modo Labs. Katie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, and a Master of Arts degree in professional communications.

Debra Richardson

Debra Richardson is the Professor Emerita of Informatics and founding Dean of Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at UC Irvine. While she recently retired as a full-time professor, her dedication, leadership and impact continue to make a difference. Debra is focusing almost exclusively on Computer Science Education, in particular K-12 teacher preparation and California CS Education Policy. She is especially concerned about expanding and ensuring equitable access to computer science for all students—particularly for girls, students of color, and low income students who have traditionally lacked access to computer science instruction and resources. She is a member of the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) leadership team. She chairs the Computer Science Teachers Associate Advisory Council. She serves as Steering Committee Chair for Access alliance for California Computing Education for Students and Schools (ACCESS) which is dedicated to advocating for high-quality K-12 computer science education in California. She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from UC San Diego and Ph.D. in computer science from University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Shohreh Bozorgmehri

Shohreh Bozorgmehri is the divisional director of Student and Academic Services at the University of California Irvine’s Office of Information Technology (OIT). She focuses on transformative technologies that elevate students and faculty’s academic experience through strategic partnership and innovative methods. Shohreh is an advocate of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), founder of Women in Technology at UCI (WIT UCI), and is an inaugural member of the systemwide UC Women in Technology Committee. She received UCI’s 2020 Dynamic Womxn Award and an honorable mention for launching OIT’s Accelerating Innovation initiative through University of California’s 2020 Larry L. Sautter Award Program. Shohreh has delivered presentations about Inclusiveness in Tech at the University of California Technology Conference titled, “Transformation Strategies to Diversity, Retrain, and Grow Workforce by Advancing the Most Junior Talent” and “Supporting Inclusive Teams: Tools and Practices”.