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NC State Women in Tech Leadership Team Mardecia Bell, Donna Petherbridge,Jill Sexton, Debbie Carraway

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NC State Women in Tech Leadership Team Mardecia Bell, Donna Petherbridge,Jill Sexton, Debbie Carraway

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During the past 12 months, the Women in Tech Leadership Team has excelled in both leadership and service by continuing to provide opportunities for community gatherings, providing leadership and presentation opportunities, and contributing to a sense of belonging for women within the IT community with virtual meetings during the pandemic.  These women realized the power of working together, and wanted to help create a community where they could pave the way for emerging IT leaders and to help create a community for women across campus in IT who are often in scattered teams often composed of mostly men. This team is composed of members with diverse backgrounds, experiences and ages united by a common interest in making the technology field more inclusive, diverse and supportive of women. This team’s impact goes beyond the presentations and meetings that we do; the Women in Tech Leadership Team is now consulted by OIT in diversity, equity and inclusion conversations and we are also actively helping to share and advertise open job positions within the IT community, taking a more proactive approach to recruiting women in IT.

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Maru Gonzalez, Becca Zuvich, Chris Genwright

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Maru Gonzalez, Becca Zuvich, Chris Genwright

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Because higher education positions have historically been male-dominated, women are often overlooked or dismissed as unqualified, particularly within STEM and leadership fields. In response, this team developed a Candidate Evaluation Tool with the overarching aim of mitigating bias in the hiring process by helping to ensure that every candidate is evaluated by the same clear and consistent metrics. By taking the initiative to improve equity in the hiring process, this team demonstrated leadership and service to both the college and university. In addition, the members of this team have served on a variety of other equity-related endeavors at the departmental, college, and university level across the realms of research, teaching, and extension.

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Her impact can be seen through the introduction of the Intercultural Development Inventory program at NC State. Dr. Helms Pickett has made numerous presentations to organizations and institutions to showcase the efforts of our campus’s goals towards inclusion and has authored a book providing guided devotionals to help individuals manifest their power through faith. To see an individual who uses her story to uplift and motivate others while recognizing the power of everyone’s individual narrative is a person manifesting power.  Much of the work that she has done to advance the success of woman-identified individuals on campus has been done out of a desire to see success flourish in all people. She values the opportunity to share the wisdom and experience she has gained to help other women build a path through the complex environment of higher education into a unique and fulfilling journey of enlightenment, opportunity, and engagement.

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Karen has spent the past year, and prior several years, developing and growing the University Advancement (UA) Taskforce for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (T.I.D.E.).  This past year she and the T.I.D.E. taskforce have worked collaboratively with campus partners and groups, including Wolfpack Women in Philanthropy, to develop professional development opportunities for our UA colleagues that focus not only on women’s diversity but diversity at large. Karen serves as Treasurer and a part of the executive team of NC State’s African American Faculty and Staff Organization (AAFSO), serving with this group to help advocate issues concerning employment, recruitment, retention, professional advancement, equity, fairness and the quality of life for the African American community at NCSU.

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Over the past 12 months, she has served as a staff lead for the Wolfpack Women in Philanthropy (WWiP) Leadership & Advocacy committee and has worked to increase women’s participation on boards at NC State. Within that time she has worked to connect WWiP with nine NC State boards in the last 12 months and 13 boards since June 2020. She has continued to stay active as a current co-mentor to a group of Black female students through the Chancellor’s Leadership Development Program and serves as Vice Chair for University Advancement Taskforce for the Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee.  Not only do we hear it from our current students, but our women alumni have developed strong relationships with Latasia and have found ways they can get involved and give back.

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She has written poetry for women, led a dance club and helped the food science club with the dairy bar during the state fair for at least 18 hours.  This has an impact on women's equity because she's leading a club that is helping women be comfortable in their own bodies and giving them the opportunity to show their talents to an audience. She also presents issues that women have to deal with through poetry and the poetry audience.

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Dr. Kwon, research assistant professor in Zeis Textiles Extension, is a leader in the field of female first responder personal protective equipment (PPE). According to a recent NFPA study, 8% of firefighters in the US are women, but 75% of them lack properly fitting PPE. Dr. Kwon and her counterpart at Florida State University recognized that the research they were conducting was only on the male form. They decided to change that.  As her work demonstrates the significant differences between bodies and how that relates to the fit of protective equipment, other types of PPE, such as masks, ballistic protection, etc.,  beyond firefighter turnout gear can be examined to determine whether changes in design should be made will provide better function and protection for women who use this equipment. This could mean a more inclusive, functional environment for women in laboratories, industrial sites, healthcare facilities and military and police roles.

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She fosters community and collaboration in her time with the women and allows them to share with one another.  She also invites MAC Program women alumni to come back to meet with current students to share their experiences.  Bonnie acknowledges she does not have all the answers and coming together can often reach a better conclusion.  Bonnie’s commitment to mentorship, service and advocacy for women has an immeasurable impact on students.  Her example of how she conducts herself and the consistency of her leadership in these ways exhibits to students that they too can be successful in academia and the workplace after graduation. She instills confidence into her students that they have an ally and someone who believes in them.  She speaks not only to women, but also to the men in the MAC Program.  In doing so, she is molding future male leaders as to the benefit of female business leaders.

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Dr. Stapelmann’s leadership is one of her very admirable skills but her desire to see people succeed is equally impressive. I have noticed how Dr. Stapelmann likes to collaborate, whenever possible, with the other few women renowned in our field. She has also chaired the NC State University chapter of Women in Nuclear; a society that seeks to increase women's equity in Nuclear Engineering. She insists on meeting with every female member when they leave the department in order to give them career advice and potential opportunities. Likewise, when students are contemplating leaving the department or find the workload overbearing at times, she takes the time to offer her support and encouragement to carry on. Compared to any other mentor, Dr. Stapelmann is an incredible adviser; but she also stands out among the crowd by giving women hope of becoming one of the best in our heavily male-dominated field since she has already illuminated the path.

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This past year she was invited by the SACNAS x 500 Women Scientists organization to participate in an invited panel presentation “Fighting the Mom Penalty in the COVID Era: How to Push Scientific Institutions to Ensure Caregiver Scientists Can Thrive at Work.” Dr. Gayles’ exemplary scholarship on issues of equity and inclusion coupled with her strong record of leadership and mentoring experiences led to her appointment in August 2020 as the Senior Advisor for Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to align with the college's commitment to transform the college into a more diverse, inclusive, and supportive community for learning. For the past year and a half, she has led a task force to articulate its core values, along with a shared vision and mission, to guide the work required to meet the charge.