Black Girls CODE Founder’s Visit to Headline STEAM Recruitment Events
March 21, 2018
Kimberly Bryant
Old Dominion will host Kimberly Bryant, founder and CEO of Black Girls CODE, this month as one of the spring ODU Presents Lecture Series speakers. The lecture is part of a broader University initiative intended to shine a light on gender and racial inequalities in STEAM fields.
Black Girls CODE is a non-profit organization dedicated to introducing girls of color to the fields of technology and computer science with a concentration on entrepreneurial concepts. Since 2011, Bryant has helped Black Girls CODE grow from a local organization in the San Francisco Bay area to an international organization with chapters across the United States and in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The lecture is open to the public and will be held March 29 at 7 p.m. in the Ted Constant Convocation Center's Big Blue Room. To RSVP, visit the Office of Community Engagement's registration website.
Bryant's talk, "The Rising Tide of Diversity in Tech," will explore the need to create more pathways for girls of color to become leaders and innovators in science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) fields.
"Bryant is a pioneer in STEAM and a great role model," said Avi Santo, director of Old Dominion's Institute for the Humanities. "I think she has done a phenomenal job exemplifying the University's multidisciplinary investment in diversity, social entrepreneurship and innovation."
Bryant earned a reputation as a thought leader in the area of tech inclusion and has spoken on the topic at events such as TEDx Kansas City, the Big Ideas Festival and South by Southwest Conference and Festivals. She's received honors, including the American Ingenuity Award in Social Progress from the Smithsonian Magazine and a Champion of Change designation from the White House. Bryant was also recently recognized on Elle magazine's "Women in Tech" power list.
The larger multidisciplinary initiative, organized by the Institute for the Humanities, and called "Designing our Diverse Future: Addressing Gender and Racial Inequities in STEAM," seeks to highlight Hampton Roads efforts and opportunities to create pathways for girls of color to showcase their imagination, innovation and leadership abilities.
"It is exciting and gratifying to see so many stakeholders from across the University rally around this event," Santo said. "It goes to show how diversity and equity inform so much of our mission as an institution, regardless of our disciplinary specialties, and it opens up important conversations about how we might work together to address these issues collaboratively."
Prior to the lecture, the Institute for the Humanities will host a minicamp for middle school girls at the Lambert's Point Community Center on March 24. Each participant will create and take home a robot. The camp was designed by Avi Santo; Narketta Sparkman-Key, assistant professor in Counseling and Human Services; and Vukica Jovanovic, assistant professor in the Department of Engineering Technology.
"The minicamp takes a human-centered approach to teaching robotics by focusing on design thinking," Santo said. "The camp asks participants to envision themselves as problem solvers in their communities and to conceive ways that the robots they create would address community needs and values."
On April 13, the University will also host a stakeholder's summit that brings together thought leaders in our community that are invested in diversifying STEAM opportunities in the region, with a particular interest in addressing gendered and racial inequities. Angela Reddix, president and CEO of the Norfolk-based consulting firm ARDX and founder of the girl empowerment nonprofit organization Envision, Lead, Grow will be the keynote speaker.
"We'll have 30-40 participants at the summit, evenly divided among ODU and community leaders from education, workforce development, technology, public policy and the grassroots sectors," Santo said.
He noted that the goal of the summit is to identify local challenges and opportunities that can be collectively addressed and to begin assembling a collaborative action plan.
ODU Presents features multidisciplinary speakers that support the colleges' research initiatives and community outreach efforts.
