FAIRNESS MATTERS FORUM 2015

Celebrating a new generation of bold innovators

 

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Thank you for joining the Level Playing Field Institute on December 8th in recognizing the work of those who are leading the charge to close the gap in access and opportunity in STEM for underrepresented communities and celebrating the accomplishments and promise of the next generation of innovators.

This year, Fairness Matters Forum focused attention on the vast disparities in access to computer science courses in California public high schools, based on findings from LPFI’s recently released report “Path Not Found” and the interventions to create a more diverse tech ecosystem.

For social media coverage of Fairness Matters Forum, search the hashtag #FairnessMatters15

Thank you to everyone who joined us & we look forward to seeing you next year.

 

Keynote Speaker
Screen Shot 2015-11-16 at 9.47.47 PMDr. John Silvanus Wilson Jr.

Dr. Wilson is the 11th President of Morehouse College, the nations’ only private, liberal arts institution dedicated to the education of African American males. During his tenure, he has worked to position Morehouse College as a leading force in STEM education with Morehouse being a leader in producing students who go on to earn advanced degrees in science, engineering and medicine.
His career in education began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he served for 16 years in various leadership roles.  His career lead  him to George Washington University (GWU) where he served as executive dean of the university’s Virginia campus and associate professor of higher education in the Graduate School of Education. Dr. Wilson earned a master’s degree in theological studies and education and a doctorate in education from Harvard University.

Lux Award Honorees
223c99b Dr. Dan Garcia

Dan serves as an advisor to a broad range of organizations and initiatives  working to broaden participation in computing science,  including the Association for Computing Machinery’s (ACM)  Education Board, Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles Development Committee, College Board’s AP Computer Science; Technology Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS), SRI’s Principled Assessment of Computational Thinking (PACT), Level Playing Field Institute’s Summer Math and Science Honors Academy (SMASH), and CS PCK’s Advisory Board. He has also presented at ACM’s Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education annual conference very year since 2001.

Dan recently co-developed a computing course for non-computer science majors titled “CS10: The Beauty and Joy of Computing (BJC)”. This redesign earned a “Bears Breaking Boundaries” curriculum design award, a Lockheed Martin broadening participation grant, and was twice chosen as a national pilot for the new Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles course. In the spring of 2013, the course had more women than men in it, marking the first time in recorded history, an introductory computing course at UC Berkeley achieved that distinction.

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Erica Baker

Erica is a Senior Engineer at Slack Technologies and advocate for diversity and inclusion in tech, and expanding access to tech education. Erica’s career in tech began fourteen years ago doing domain administration for the University of Alaska Statewide System, before becoming a Googler in 2006. Erica’s role grew and shifted within Google, growing from Support Technician to Site Reliability Engineer. She joined Slack in 2015, where she focuses on Build and Release Engineering. Erica is on the Advisory Boards for Atipica and Hack the Hood, and is a Tech Mentor for Black Girls Code.

Fairness Matters Forum 2015 is hosted by #blackbirds and sponsored by Twitter.

Thank you to all our corporate sponsors for your support.