The Center for Women in Technology
CWIT & SITE Alumni
CWIT & SITE Alumni…Be Social!
Keep in touch with UMBC and special Alumni events through UMBC’s Retreiver Net!
Any changes in your professional career or contact information? CWIT would love to hear from you! Email Crystal at with any updates.
Any good news or life updates to share for the next edition of the semi-annual CWIT Newsletter? Email them to Crystal.
Announcements:
Good news! CWIT has been awarded a NSF grant to create a scholars program for transfer students, called T-SITE, (modeled after the CWIT Scholars Program). If you know anyone looking to transfer to UMBC in the Fall from a Maryland community college, please direct them to the CWIT web site (www.cwit.umbc.edu/tsite), and encourage them to apply. These T-SITE Scholars will be integrated into the CWIT Scholars community much like the SITE Scholars have been in the past.
Read this cool story written about the award: http://www.csee.umbc.edu/2012/
CWIT’s second annual “Spring Into Leadership: What’s Your Story?” event is coming up on Wednesday, April 4, from 6:30-8pm in the University Center Ballroom. CWIT’s largest event of the year will be attended by UMBC students, faculty, staff, and industry professionals in IT and engineering fields.
The event will be inspiring, engaging, and a great networking opportunity for everyone involved. The Keynote Speaker will be Wendy Martin, Vice President of Advanced Information Solutions (AIS) and Washington Operations for Harris Corporation’s Government Communications Systems (GCS).
More information about the event can be found on the CWIT web site (www.cwit.umbc.edu/industry) and on the registration page. If you can attend, please register online by April 2 at http://bit.ly/
Please send any updates to be included in the Fall 2011 edition of the CWIT newsletter. Please email Katie Glasser () with any professional & personal updates since May 2011 (e.g. promotions, career changes, degrees earned, awards/accomplishments, moves, marriages, babies, etc.) that can be shared with the rest of the CWIT community in the newsletter! I need all updates by Friday, December 9th. (Dec ’11)
The Fall 2011 newsletter will be highlighting the 10th Year Anniversary of the CWIT Scholars Program. In order to represent CWIT’s awesome legacy, we would like to have a few quotes from some of the alumni looking back on your experience here in CWIT and what it has meant to you over the years. We would love to have at least 4-5 contributors, so please think about it and send your thoughts to by December 9th. It can be a short or long as you would like, but only about the first 50-100 words will fit in the newsletter. (Nov ’11)
Please look at your calendars to see if you have the morning of Saturday, March 3rd available. That is the date of the next Scholar Selection Day! We need your help with selecting the new class of CWIT Scholars, so we am looking for volunteers to help with the student/alumni panel and the serve on interview teams. In the past we have needed about 2-3 alums for the panel and about 10 alums for the interview teams. If you are interested in helping out, please email ASAP with your availability and preference and I can answer any questions you may have. If you volunteer, the time commitment will most likely be from about 9:30-12:30pm on that day, with an optional free lunch at 12:30pm. (Nov ’11)
This academic year is the 10th Anniversary of the CWIT Scholars Program! This is a great accomplishment and we definitely feel the need to celebrate and honor our expanding network of CWIT & SITE Alumni (now over 50 strong!). We are planning special VIP events exclusively for the CWIT & SITE Alumni just before our annual Scholars Reception on October 4th, 2011: 5-5:30pm – UMBC Roof-top tour from the top of the Administration Building; 5:30-6:00pm: “Tea with the Dean” in the Fireside Lounge…Invite your favorite faculty member!; 6:00-8:00pm: CWIT’s Annual Scholars Reception…Featured speakers: President Freeman Hrabowski, Dean Warren DeVries, three graduating seniors in CWIT, and one CWIT Alumna. RSVP here: goo.gl/40bBH. (Sept ’11)
This Fall, we have plenty of other opportunities for CWIT alumni to give back to the CWIT community while also having the chance to promote your company/organization to a large group of talented UMBC IT and engineering students. Our Alumni needs for the CWIT Fall events are outlined here. Please make some room in your schedule to give back through any of the events on that sheet. Go to the Industry Volunteering Opportunities form to volunteer or submit your regrets. The first event begins on September 8th – we ask that you please complete the survey by August 31st. (Aug ’11)
We are always looking for more high-quality Industry Mentors for our junior and senior CWIT Scholars. We are particularly looking for professionals who have been in industry (or graduate school) for 3+ years and who know the potential value and impact a mentoring relationship can have. If you are interested, or just want to find out more, please indicate so on the Industry Volunteering Opportunities form. (Aug ’11)
We are planning an orientation seminar for the 2011-2012 CWIT Peer Mentors (or BigWITs) in the evening on September 8th. I would like to bring in one or two alumni that have had valuable mentoring relationships and/or have been mentors for others. If you have an inspiring story you would like to share with the younger CWIT Scholars, I would love to have you come for part of this training session to speak about your experiences and answer questions the young mentors might have. If you are interested, please indicate so on the Industry Volunteering Opportunities form. (Aug ’11)