Grow in Diversity
Event Information
Description
Update: tickets selling out fast! Food will be available on a first come, first serve basis. Feel free to bring a friend, mentee, or anyone who might enjoy this!
In honour of Anita Borg, a computer scientist and passionate advocate for females in computer science, Grow in Diversity is a panel discussion on key soft skills for teaching and working in a diverse environment. Come have a bite to eat, meet others, and expand your soft skills! We also have swag to give out as a thank you.
We will bring together an awesome panel of speakers from across the industry and academia in order to discuss questions such as: What soft skills are important to learn in university in order to work in a diverse environment? How do values from different cultures affect teaching and learning? How can we make education more accessible to people of different gender, age, or backgrounds?
We will also be taking questions from the audience via the hashtag #growindiversity, so bring any questions you have and post on Twitter! We welcome smartphones, just keep them silent please.
The event is planned as follows:
5:30 - 6:30 pm : Food & mingling
6:30 - 7:30 pm : Panel discussion
7:30 - 8:30 pm : Networking
Our moderators will be Lora Oehlberg & Gabriela Jurca:
Lora Oehlberg, Assistant Professor in Computer Science at the University of Calgary
http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~lora.oehlberg
Lora Oehlberg is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. Her research is in Human-Computer Interaction, and focuses on interactive tools and technologies that support creativity, innovation, and multi-disciplinary collaboration in domains such as interaction design, maker communities, sustainable product design and health care.
She is is the director of the Curio Lab, and a faculty member in the iLab—the University of Calgary's human-computer interaction research lab. She also is affiliated with the Ward of the 21st Century (W21C)—a non-profit research and innovation initiative to design and develop better health care services.
In addition to supervising Computer Science students, she also supervise students in the Computational Media Design (CMD) program.
Gabriela Jurca, MSc in Computer Science
http://pages.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/~gajurca/
Gabriela Jurca is one of the organizers of Grow in Diversity, along with Carrie Mah and Maryam Elahi. She has a BSc in biochemistry, BSc in computer science, and is currently pursuing a MSc in computer science. She is interested in bioinformatics, data mining, and social network analysis. She has also been part of winning teams in programming competitions. such as Risco in the Apps for Alberta competition in 2015, and Funiverse in the Microsoft Imagine Cup Canada (Games Category) in 2014.
We have a wonderful line of panelists attending:
Nancy Arthur, Professor & Associate Dean Research, Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary
werklund.ucalgary.ca/educ_info/profiles/nancy-arthur
Dr. Nancy Arthur is Professor in Counselling Psychology and the Associate Dean of Research in the Werklund School of Education. As a former Canada Research Chairholder (2004-2014), her research is focused on preparing professionals for working across diverse and international employment contexts. She is keenly interested in influences on people's career development and how we can foster work and learning transitions that are respectful of diversity and social justice.
K. Sarah Dillman, High Fidelity Wraparound Evaluator at McMan Youth, Family and Community Services
For the last 15 years, Sarah has had the privilege to work with all kinds of people from all walks of life, in all kinds of social service fields. She has created, implemented, facilitated and evaluated various programs with at-risk people in the United States and Canada, as well as educational programs for college, work places, and youth. She has been on the edge of a brand new government funded program that was a collaboration of six different social service agencies working together to evaluate and eradicate youth homelessness in Hamilton, ON. Sarah is currently working as the Evaluator for the Calgary High Fidelity Wraparound Collaborative. This is one of 20 programs provided by McMan that evoke positive changes and improve the quality of the community. Sarah has worked with groups as small as four and as large as forty-five, leading and mentoring them in skill development and implementation of ideas and programs in light of their goals and the needs apparent in the community.
Amy Giang, CEO of Lube Town
Amy Giang (BSc ’00) is a former computer science graduate turned entrepreneur. After graduation she worked as a technical lead, developing tactical control stations for unmanned aerial vehicles for the military. Realizing a passion for business, Amy became a partner in an automotive mechanic shop. From there she founded two real estate companies and three express oil change maintenance stores known as Lube Town. Lube Town won the Service Excellence award and is also the recipient of the 2015 and 2016 Consumer Choice Awards. As member of the Rotary Club, Amy enjoys giving back by volunteering her time on community projects.
Kylie Toh, Founder of Chic Geek
Kylie is passionate about building community, inspiring confidence in women, and leading by example. She's the founder of Chic Geek, a Calgary-based non-profit building community for women at the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship. Through its mentorship program, technical workshops, speaker and networking events, Chic Geek encourages more women to be makers, builders and creators leveraging technology to change the world.
Jolanta Warpechowska-Gruca, MSc in Computer Science & Independent Contractor
linkedin.com/in/jolantawarpechowskagruca
Jolanta Warpechowska-Gruca was born in Poland and came to Canada in 1991. She has a Master of Science Degree in Computer Science from the University of Calgary and an undergraduate degree from Warsaw University in Poland. Throughout most of her professional life she has been involved in post-secondary education. For fifteen years she worked at DeVry Institute of Technology in Calgary, and currently she works as an independent contractor developing and teaching IT courses both at the Continuing Education University of Calgary and at SAIT.
She is passionate about adult education, online learning, and helping others reach the top of their potential. When she is not teaching or learning new trends in IT, she is creating one of a kind jewellery and accessories as an owner and designer of Jolanta Fashions.
