History of WICS
Women in Information and Computer Sciences (WICS) was established in 1995. Dr. Debra Richardson, longtime advisor of WICS, was teaching a class of about 100 ICS students, and only 6 of them were women. Seeing that there was both a huge gender gap in the ICS school and a retention issue with females in ICS, Dr. Richardson and one of her graduate students decided to form WICS. Back then, meetings were merely a small group of girls getting together for lunch a few times a year as a means of support.
WICS has grown quite a bit since then. With a much bigger group involved and more succession planning, WICS has become a strong organization dedicated to encouraging women to pursue the computer science field and providing them with the support to achieve these goals. As of 2023, with 13 board members and 4 committees (external affairs, internal affairs, community outreach, and marketing), WICS is able to make a larger impact on female ICS students and support them while they build up their careers in the technological field.
Janay NunezSoftware Engineer, Google
I also learned a lot about leadership and working with others, both from being led and then learning what I liked/disliked from that.
Katie KhuSoftware Engineer, Expedia Group
I wanted to join WICS because I was originally a Pharmaceutical Sciences major who decided to switch to Computer Science, and I had no idea how I would navigate this whole new world.
Katie YehSoftware Engineer, Intuit
I was able to get valuable advice from existing members of WICS and they became some of my closest friends, who I still keep in touch with even after college.