Fostering More Women in STEM. Let’s Get Involved!
May 2023
Nvolve Newsletter Issue 6
Deltek Volunteers Make a Difference: Thank You for Supporting Nvolve!
By Faye O'Brien - Nvolve Founder and President
Since its beginning, Nvolve has relied on a core group of committed companies whose employees serve as mentors, coaches, and advisors.
One of our earliest and most active partner companies is Deltek, a global software and information solutions company with a strong commitment to community service and women’s career development.
Deltek employees are part of the backbone of volunteers who support Nvolve’s scholars. Along with their technical expertise, they bring a wealth of real-world experience with career development, communication, and leadership.
Many volunteers are also active members of Women@Deltek and other Deltek employee resource groups dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion. All are committed to supporting the next generation of women in STEM.
Deltek supports Nvolve with financial contributions and provides employees with paid time off for volunteer activities. Many employees are also personal financial donors.
Past and present Deltek employees serve Nvolve in multiple roles:
Evelyn Osmond serves on Nvolve’s advisory board and has been instrumental in nurturing the relationship between Deltek and Nvolve.
Phil Saunders recruits and organizes the coaches who lead technology projects and training opportunities.
Priyanka Andrew, Sarah Dickinson, Prithvi Mulchandani, Karen Palino, and Megan Wheaton serve as technical coaches, sharing their first-hand experience with information technology, software development, project management, and user-centered design.
Molly Morawski guides the scholars who create the Nvolve newsletter and helped with its initial design.
Sarah Dickinson, Chris Lawton, Jeneé Schrule, Evelyn Osmond, and Lisa Rabideau mentor our scholars.
Deb Fitzgerald, retired Deltek CIO, serves as an officer on Nvolve’s board of directors, leads scholar career planning and preparation initiatives, and develops speaker sessions for Nvolve’s alumnae.
Additional Deltek volunteers pitch in whenever Nvolve needs them; for example: conducting mock interviews to help graduating seniors prepare for their job search.
Sincere thanks to our Deltek volunteers for always coming through for Nvolve. We appreciate your passion and generosity.
Nvolve's Multi-Year Mentorship Program Creates Lasting Connections and Inspires Future Female STEM Professionals
By Vikki Munuo - Nvolve Social Media Intern
Mentoring is at the heart of Nvolve’s mission. Since its founding, Nvolve has provided 65 scholars with 70+ mentors and 1,600 hours of one-on-one mentoring.
“Our multi-year mentorship program is based on pairing each Nvolve scholar with someone who has been there before and can share her experiences in ways that instruct. We have been able to grow, organize our volunteer-based mentorship program, inspire our mentees, and foster a unique, hands-on learning experience for all involved,” explains Sherri Boyd, Director of Operations at Nvolve.
Nvolve prides itself in creating a platform for diverse connections and by actively seeking mentors with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Nvolve mentors are female professionals with academic and/or professional STEM experience. They are engineers, scientists, software developers, healthcare providers, researchers, technical project managers, and more. They work in the private sector, government, universities, and independent research firms.
Nvolve’s mentoring program goes a step beyond providing information about a particular field or industry to addressing the more abstract shared experiences of women in STEM. It focuses on “growing wisdom” to help Nvolve scholars shift, stretch, frame, and reflect while setting effective long-term strategies for life and work.
New mentors are often nominated by current Nvolve mentors or learn about Nvolve through LinkedIn or through Nvolve’s corporate sponsors. The next step for new mentors is to sign up on the Nvolve website for a 30-minute information session, where prospective mentors learn about the curriculum, roles and responsibilities, and the level of effort involved. Next comes the onboarding process, which takes about 4 hours.
Once onboarded, each new mentor is paired with an Nvolve scholar. Mentor/scholar pairs meet twice a month during the academic year. Nvolve provides a framework for pairs to build a meaningful relationship and accomplish specific development goals, including focusing on monthly themes and activities. Nvolve also supports mentors with mid-semester 1-on-1 check-ins.
Interested in learning more about becoming an Nvolve mentor? Please visit our website (www.NvolveMe.org) and sign up for an informational session.
NVCC Women in STEM Club: Empowering Female Students to Pursue STEM Degrees and Careers
By Michaela Strizencova and Judy Marouf - Nvolve Scholars
Northern Virginia Community College is among the largest community colleges in the United States, home to almost 53,000 students spanning six campuses. Our campus, in Annandale VA, previously lacked an active organization created to strengthen women underrepresented in STEM degrees and careers. We began discussing this need when we became friends in a biology laboratory. Deciding to act on this opportunity, we became the change that we wanted to see.
Already aware of the drastic gender gap in the US STEM workforce, we wanted to see the statistics for our own school. According to the NVCC Factbook, 54% of enrolled students were female in the 2020-2021 academic year. However, we noticed a clear disparity in STEM-related degrees, where female students comprised only 17% of engineering students and 21% of computer science students.
Often, these statistics become apparent in our classroom experiences, when we find ourselves among the only female students in STEM courses. Working in predominantly male spaces can create many challenges. Having a community that connects STEM women is valuable in overcoming the obstacles that come with pursuing these disciplines.
We believe that an effective way to combat this disparity is to develop a peer support group for women and share resources that equip our members with tools for long-term success.
Despite being undergraduate students with minimal experience organizing groups, we teamed up and created the NVCC Women in STEM club — and the results so far have been remarkable.
We hold weekly meetings that include engaging presentations, activities, and – most important — a space to network. Amassing over 110 members in the first month, our club provides opportunities to connect with like-minded women, uplift each other through our individual pursuits, and share a safe place to express the challenges we face as STEM minorities.
Beyond our rapid growth, our notable successes this semester include organizing and facilitating a computer science workshop with experienced women in tech, hosting Nvolve founder Faye O’Brien as a guest speaker on the topic of Imposter Phenomenon (with an exciting turnout of 40+ attendees) and inviting an NVCC alum to speak about her STEM journey. We feel confident that this is only the beginning!
UMD's Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Hosts Open Dialogue on Imposter Syndrome
By Ana Baide - Nvolve Scholar
To celebrate Women's History Month in March, the University of Maryland's Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) chapter invited Faye O'Brien, founder of Nvolve, for a casual chat about imposter syndrome. The event was organized by SHPEtinas, an arm of SHPE that accelerates Latina advancement in all STEM fields.
Latinas are generally underrepresented throughout STEM. For example, the University of Maryland is proud to have one of the largest computer science programs in the United States, but Hispanic students make up less than 5% of the program and Hispanic women make up an even smaller portion.
Imposter syndrome, the main topic of O'Brien's talk, happens when people doubt their skills and achievements, despite evident success. This feeling can be powerful among underrepresented groups, such as women and minorities in STEM. O’Brien's goal was to help SHPEtinas members learn how to recognize and combat imposter syndrome and understand how common it can be.
The Nvolve organization drives to encourage underrepresented groups in STEM and create a welcoming environment for them. By teaming up with groups like SHPEtinas, Nvolve helps even more students from different backgrounds succeed academically and professionally. And that means that the STEM community benefits from the fresh ideas and perspectives that are the hallmark of diverse groups.
Faye O'Brien's chat with SHPEtinas shows how committed Nvolve and SHPE are to tackling the underrepresentation of Hispanic women in STEM. By offering resources, mentorship, and chances to grow, both Nvolve and SHPE make a real difference in the lives of Latina students who dream of STEM careers.
