This is the home of the Internet2 Inclusivity Initiative space.
Join the Internet2 Inclusivity Initiative (formerly Gender Diversity Initiative (GDI)) Mailing List!
Simply:
Send an email to pubsympa@internet2.edu
Subject line of SUBSCRIBE: i2i@internet2.edu.
Benefits include:
Access to the Inclusivity Initiative Wiki with news, resources, and success stories for shared best practices.
Inclusion in the Inclusivity Initiative sessions at our two anchor events, the Global Summit (Spring) and the Technology Exchange (Fall).
Opportunities to participate in specialty sub-groups and committees as they are formed.
FEATURED NEWS ITEM
Internet2 Inclusivity Award Winners reflect on their experience at Global Summit 2018 in San Diego.
Gladys Andino
I have been so honored to be one of 2018 Internet2 Inclusivity Award recipients. Having the opportunity to attend this meeting has been a valuable learning experience and very rewarding in so many ways. I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet and talk to so many leaders from the Internet2 community, as well with other professionals and students who were also in attendance. I enjoyed so much all the conversations, experiences, stories, and advice that was shared with me. Listening to their stories and lessons learned throughout their career has been so inspiring and motivating. I really appreciate the time and experiences that every person I met shared with me. I felt so welcomed and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be part of this meeting.
I had the opportunity to attend one of the tutorials (Grouper in Action: Access Management Strategies for Higher Education and Research Tutorial), as well as a variety of technical sessions related to "Solutions for Research and Education." Each of these sessions have broaden and further my knowledge and I am also excited I'll get the opportunity to share with my team at Purdue all that I have learned.
The opportunity for networking, learning, and also having fun, was amazing. I am very grateful for the strong role models, women and men, that I got to meet during this meeting, and so thankful for the other three super smart and strong women I got to meet and become friends with (Lisa, Manisha, and Stephanie).
Lisa Barry
Attending the 2018 Internet2 Global Summit was a wonderful experience. I felt deeply honored having been selected as a recipient of the Inclusivity Initiative Award. The conference covered a wide variety of topics related to the R&E community. As a Network Analyst, I attend several security and advanced networking seminars as well as a few trust and identity sessions. These sessions were relevant, explaining complex challenges, many of which my university is facing, and how others are overcoming these obstacles.
Not only was the conference full of informative sessions, it was also an excellent networking opportunity. I have met so many IT professionals from several different concentrations, many of which have offered their assistance should I ever need it. This conference was a wonderful way to gain an understanding of what other universities are doing to adapt to the evolving needs of their networks. The greatest compliment I can give is that this conference can serve all within the R&E community. There are those in attendance that have very sophisticated networks transferring large amounts of data to intermediate networks, looking for the next step to those who are looking for a starting ground. With such diversity in attendance, the exchange of ideas and knowledge occurs naturally and easily.
Stephanie Collins
First, I would like to extend my appreciation to the committee for reviewing and selecting my scholarship admission. I cannot express enough how rewarding the I2 Global Summit was. Although rewarding, it was also humbling. The discussions with many of the women in the technology community made me realize that I have been rather fortunate in my experiences. Although, through these conversations I reflected on these experiences and gained insight into what may be perceived as unconscious biases and how they may be influencing decisions made by myself and others without cruel intentions. The most valuable experience was connecting with the other awardees and forming friendships.
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Ana, Glenn, Sara, Urszula, and Taylor. They were extremely helpful during planning, attending and navigating my schedule. Dinner was extremely engaging and "it's a small world" rings true regardless of where you are. They made me feel welcome and helped ease any anxieties related to unfamiliar territory.
Discussions with Linda, Marla, Jennifer, Wendy and my fellow awardees were the most enlightening. These discussions throughout the week contributed to me questioning my experiences throughout life, digging into what has made me who I am today and thankful for those who have truly inspired, critiqued and praised me along my journey. They also motivated me to think more about how women are regarded in technology and beyond through their own perspectives and others, including other women and men. The culmination of these discussions sparks my curiosity of unconscious biases in relation to underrepresentation of women in technology, with respect to men and women.
Manisha Kanodia
The Internet2 2018 Global Summit was a one of a kind experience for me. I am sincerely thankful to Internet2 for providing me with such a great opportunity through the Inclusivity Initiative Award Program for women in IT. The sessions and the human networking I got to experience at this conference were exhilarating. I had not heard about Internet2 before this, and the exposure that I received in the three days of the conference has unveiled many aspects of the research and education community.
While the list of things that I learned at the summit is long, I would like to highlight some specific areas.
The "New IT Managers' Program" session by Educause. The training emphasized on the very key organizational skills such as interpersonal communication, time management, and project management, which are of relevance to practically any and every kin of work environment.
The screening of the movie "Bias" with an opportunity of meeting the director, Robin Hauser, was extremely thought provoking. I had only heard of the good things about Artificial Intelligence, but learning about how human beings' unconscious biases can negatively affect what gets fed into the AI algorithms was eye opening. I have been sharing my learnings from the movie with several people since then and plan to continue to do so.
The session "IT Centralization, Shaping Culture & Research Credibility: Success is Possible," really resonated with me as we are going through IT centralization at our university. It was interesting to see how similar challenges faced by other universities were overcome through collaboration and how success was achieved.
Understanding of Big Data. I do not necessarily have a direct work experience with Big Data, but hearing from the experts about it really peaked my interest in this topic, specifically how big data concepts apply to R&E community.
Male Allies and Advocates for Equity presentation. It was interesting to see universities working on initiatives such as developing Male Allies and Advocates which help us understand the context of gender inequity in academia and what steps we can take to narrow the gender gap.
In addition to the learning from all the sessions, I am grateful to have personally connected with many accomplished people from both academia and industry. I got to interact with my fellow awardees and I feel very humbled to share the award with these other wonderful women. I met leaders in technology such as Larry Smarr, Inder Monga, Louis Fox, Howard Pfeffer, and was taken away by their down to earth demeanor and modesty. Meeting with other women leaders was motivating because all of them were open to providing advice on different aspects of issues that related to women in leadership, particularly in context of managing a work-life balance. I am also very grateful to all the Internet2 organizers who meticulously organized this outstanding event while being very kind and helpful throughout the process.
I really look forward to giving back and enabling others at my university to experience this conference. As a female professional, this opportunity has empowered me to become more engaged in ensuring that inclusivity is promoted not only in IT, but in all areas, which will help us get past our biases.
