Anna Truelove entered first year at UNC feeling lost and confused. Now as a junior, she’s helping to guide and support women in technology.
Truelove is a member of the planning committee that's organizing Women in Tech Week 2019, a program through the Department of Computer Science at UNC. The committee holds a series of events pertaining to diversity in computer science and technology.
According to the Department of Computer Science’s online statement, UNC CS Women in Tech Week aims to start a conversation about ways to support women in tech and make the tech environment at UNC a more open and accepting community.
The events include a talk from Capital One Bank on March 28 that will discuss how to negotiate internship and job offers in tech, and a Tech Lunch Bunch on March 27 that will give the opportunity to network with industry experts from Google, NCINO, United Healthcare and Capital One.
“I think it’s important for everyone to see that just because women are not the majority in tech does not mean that they don’t belong in tech,” said Hope Woodhouse, event coordinator for the Department of Computer Science.
This is the third year of the Women in Tech Week at UNC, which started because a student in the UNC Women in Computer Science organization wanted to make the tech environment a more accepting community.
“There are just so many ways that you can get discouraged by not seeing people like you in the same room, whether that’s a classroom or a company, and we just want to ensure females do feel supported so that they continue on this path and do not feel discouraged because nobody looks like them in the room,” Woodhouse said.
Though the event is targeted toward people interested in technology, Woodhouse said the event is open to anyone who wants to support people in technology. Everyone, regardless of major, is encouraged to attend.
“It’s been through meeting these other women in the department and other people who are students that I’ve gained more confidence, I’ve gained more knowledge in my computer science classes and stuff like that, so I’m hoping it’ll increase the confidence of a lot of the female students here,” Truelove said.
