Wednesday, November 18, 2015

DLL Storify of UNCF's Third Annual HBCU Innovation Summit in Silicon Valley -- Day 1 of 4, Wednesday 11/18/15

Last update: Thursday 11/19/15
From Wednesday 11/18/15 until Saturday 11/21/15, UNCF is hosting its third annual HBCU Innovation summit in Silicon Valley. As per the summit's press release:

  • "The goal of the summit is to empower students─ most of whom are Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology majors─ to chart their career paths within the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) industries by seeing first-hand the day-to-day operations of tech and innovation professionals, including networking opportunities with African-American tech employees and members of the Bay Area African-American Employee Network (AAEN). 
     
  • "The summit also provides a forum to address the gaps in tech diversity that exist in Silicon Valley. For instance, a 2011 report conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that African Americans represented only six percent of the STEM workforce, and according to data from the New York Times, the percentage of minorities working at Silicon Valley giants is even lower. Self-reported data from 11 of the major tech giants, according to CNET.com, reveals that less than 30 percent of their workforce is comprised of women. Of the participating HBCU students, more than 40 percent are women."
      
  • "UNCF aims to establish a consistent presence in Silicon Valley so that technology companies will think of HBCU students first as a pipeline of diverse and qualified talent for recruiting," said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, UNCF President and CEO. "Many of the nation's HBCUs are producing top-tier talent in the innovation economy, and this summit is a way to bridge the gap between these students and Silicon Valley employers."
More information about the summit can be found on its program page, e.g. schedule of events, list & photos of speakers, list of sponsors, and participating HBCUs.

The DLL Storify of tweets that were generated by participants who used hashtags = #HBCUInnovation and #UNCF appears at the bottom of this page. As usual, the DLL Storify is merely a "firehose" draft, i.e., it includes tweets in chronological order without comment or classification ... Storyfies of other #DiversityInTech events are listed in the DLL Archives.

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