Girls at the Grace Hopper Conference

About Us

WICS Mission

Women in Computer Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin is a non-profit organization dedicated to building a network community of women in Computer Sciences. WICS's mission is to encourage and support women in computing through outreach, professional development, academic initiatives, and social events.

Today WICS's goals are to :
  • Academically support women in Computer Science
  • Professionally support women in Computer Science
  • Emotionally/socially/personally support women in Computer Sciences
  • Encourage women to join/remain in the field of Computer Sciences
  • Raise awareness about women in Computer Sciences
  • Support all UT students in Computer Sciences
  • Support UT's Computer Sciences department as a whole

Creating a priority list will make it easier for the organization to focus on events that will really follow the goals of WICS.


The New and Improved WICS!Fall 2007

Starting fall 2007 every female computer science/pre-computer science major at the University of Texas is a member of our chapter of WICS. Automatically. No dues, no forms, no kidding! The way WICS is now organized, members decide on these priorities by their envolvement. The president is also an elected active member who has been a previous officer or head of committee who manages Head of Committee meetings. Head of Committees can be member who chooses to take on the responsiblity of an event or area.


Women programing in 1940's
Brief History

Yvonne De La Pena and Kristine Bergsli initiated the University of Texas student chapter of The Association for Women In Computing(AWC) in October 1999. Their hope was that one day every woman who came to the University of Texas to study computer sciences would in some way participate in the organization. The organization grew rapidly, and in the first year AWC had approximately 100 members.

In 2003, the organization changed its name to Women in Computer Sciences, and joined the circle of other organizations promoting women in science fields at the university, all belonging to a higher organization called Women in Natural Sciences. Women in Computer Sciences was first recognized on May 18, 2003 by the creation of its bylaws. In the first year of its existence as Women in Computer Sciences, the organization has made its presence known in the Computer Science community at the university. At the same time, there was a national concern for the number of females enrolled in the major and the organization slightly modified its goals to address this issue. The current officers, head of commitees and active members are continuing to work toward this goal.



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