AITES Hosts NSF Research on Gender and Engineering Program Retreat

On October 18-20, 2011,  AITES, in conjunction with the Center for Information Technology Impacts on Children, Youth, and Families at Virginia Tech hosted the Extension Service Projects of the National Science Foundation's Research on Gender in Science and Engineering Program Retreat at the Virginia Tech Inn. Along with AITES, participants included members of the National Girls Collaborative Project, Great Science for Girls, STEM Equity Pipeline, Girls RISE, Peer Alliance for Gender Equity, and ENGAGE. 


The retreat began on Tuesday evening with registration

   

A reception and scavenger hunt followed

 

A Virginia themed dinner followed with a team competition consisting of a test of NSF GSE knowledge.

 

The game involved popping balloons from another table if you got the question correct. The winner was the table with one remaining balloon.

 

 


The Peer Alliance for Gender Equity won and received a gift of a Virginia Tech hat and grilling apron. 



Activities began at 6am on Wednesday with Zumba or a morning walk around the Virginia Tech campus. Following breakfast, participants attended the first plenary session with Dr. Karen Bogenschneider from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her lecture entitled "Advancing evidence-based policy: Getting your research across to policymakers," gave the participants plenty to discuss during the talking circles that followed.






Following lunch, participants attended the second plenary session with Dr. Derrick Cogburn of both American University and Syracuse University. Along with retreat participants, colleagues of Dr. Cogburn joined his lecture entitled "Enhancing collaboration through accessible virtual communities," via teleconference. 



Talking circles and a reception followed Dr. Cogburn's lecture, with a dinner featuring an "Around the World," theme. Participants were greeted with paper cranes created from state maps, a flag centerpiece, and a disassembled world map puzzle. 

 

 

Dr. Tom McKlin from The Findings Group, LLC was the first plenary speaker on Thursday morning, and the last lecture of the retreat. His lecture "Evaluation as unifier," gave the participants plenty to discuss in the talking circles that followed. 


 


AITES extends our thanks to the plenary speakers, the Inn at Virginia Tech, and all of the participants for a wonderful NSF GSE Retreat!