Computing club challenges gender roles

Computing is not just for geeks -- or men, for that matter.\nThat's what Women in Computing at IU, an organization sponsored by the School of Informatics, says.\nMembers of the group will be joining more than 2,000 technology experts and educators from all over Indiana at the annual Indiana Computer Educators conference Friday at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis to spread their message. \nMembers will present their Just Be K-12 program that focuses on "de-mystifying and de-geekifying" computing and science careers.\n"(Students) usually conjure up images of a male socially challenged nerd working in isolation at a computer," Suzanne Menzel, a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, said in a news release. "We show them pictures of real computer people at work, at play, and that they can just be themselves and still be computing professionals."\nThe program is entirely run and organized by students in Women in Computing. It has been presented at middle schools and high schools throughout the Midwest and at local and national conferences.\nMenzel said computer science has less to do with programming than most people think.\n"The programming is just the end product," she said. "What we really do is we think about a problem and how to solve it, and then express it in programming language. You have to be creative."\nAt the conference, WIC members will also learn about new technological trends and how they can be implemented into IU courses.\nLaura Hopkins, outreach coordinator for the Department of Computer Science in the School of Informatics, will join Menzel in the Just Be presentation.\n"One of the best things about the Just Be program is that it tears down the stereotypes," said Joe Stuteville, the School of Informatics' media-relations director. "It has opened the curtain to the opportunities that are available to women and minorities."\nStudents in WIC come from various computer-related academic disciplines, including computer science, informatics, library and information science, and university information technology services. Before this year, WIC was completely student-run and -organized. \nOther Just Be presenters include graduate student Tonya Stroman and undergraduate Jennifer Trueblood, both of whom agree it's not always easy being a minority in the field of computer science.\n"I walked into an advanced-level logics class and one student asked me what I was doing there," Stroman said. "He said I didn't look very logical."\nOften the only woman in her computer-science classes, Stroman said being a member of WIC helps her feel like she's not alone.\nSimilarly, a man told Trueblood that if she took an entry-level computer science course that he knew she wouldn't be able to get an A because it would be too difficult.\nBut this kind of resistance doesn't stop the Women in Computing. Last October, Trueblood and Stroman were involved in a three-day workshop called Bring It On, which brought together students from minority-serving institutions around the country. They taught the students about opportunities for graduate school and how to create their own outreach programs like Just Be. \n"(Bring It On) was a great experience for me; I had never done anything like it before," Stroman said.\nStudents in WIC work together with faculty to create panel discussions on different subjects, including careers and internships. They also have student-organized brown-bag lunches every month where they discuss recent research and share advice and experiences.\nMenzel said the nation's interest in computing has declined -- faster for women than it has for men.\n"The issue of women in any scientific field is important," Trueblood said. "(WIC) is a support group for women. It's great to know that there is a group, if I have a problem, I can go to"