Friday, April 1st, 2016
Our conference aims to contribute to and disrupt the mainstream “diversity in tech” discourse: it takes a critical perspective and decenters the dominant “bootstraps” narrative (which puts the onus of responsibility on underrepresented groups and individuals) and instead foregrounds the practices and structures that undergird the tech industry’s lack of diversity, especially the underrepresentation of historically racialized groups.
The conference is organized in five parts: (1) keynote speeches that will give a snapshot of the current challenges and proposed solutions for increasing diversity in tech; (2) a panel of experts that will unpack the “business case for diversity,” which is used to rationalize the need for increasing diversity in tech; (3) a panel of experts that will discuss the “education-tech pipeline,” which is used to explain the underrepresentation of minorities in tech; (4) a demo presentation session by tech startups CEOs and engineers whose solutions attempt to tackle the very systemic issues we will be discussing throughout the conference; and (5) a poster session / networking reception that will allow attendees to become familiar with current research by graduate students and also allow attendees to network.
At the heart of the conference is the belief that increasing diversity in tech has the potential to improve the livelihoods of families and communities of color. In order to foster strategies for realizing this potential, the conference aims to: (1) provide students, leading professionals and organizers, community members of color, and their allies, with language and concepts for organizing their efforts to increase diversity in tech; (2) spotlight the contributions of people of color to the tech industry; and (3) help bridge the gap between academia, industry, and community-based activism.
The conference is organized in five parts: (1) keynote speeches that will give a snapshot of the current challenges and proposed solutions for increasing diversity in tech; (2) a panel of experts that will unpack the “business case for diversity,” which is used to rationalize the need for increasing diversity in tech; (3) a panel of experts that will discuss the “education-tech pipeline,” which is used to explain the underrepresentation of minorities in tech; (4) a demo presentation session by tech startups CEOs and engineers whose solutions attempt to tackle the very systemic issues we will be discussing throughout the conference; and (5) a poster session / networking reception that will allow attendees to become familiar with current research by graduate students and also allow attendees to network.
At the heart of the conference is the belief that increasing diversity in tech has the potential to improve the livelihoods of families and communities of color. In order to foster strategies for realizing this potential, the conference aims to: (1) provide students, leading professionals and organizers, community members of color, and their allies, with language and concepts for organizing their efforts to increase diversity in tech; (2) spotlight the contributions of people of color to the tech industry; and (3) help bridge the gap between academia, industry, and community-based activism.
Event Location:
The David Brower Center
2150 Allston Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
Schedule
830am - 5pm
830am-9am
Registration and Continental Breakfast
900am-930am
Welcome: Overview of Initiative and Outline of Conference
Center for Latino Policy Research
930am-10am
Keynote: Snapshot on Racial Diversity in Tech
Orson Aguilar – President of The Greenlining Institute
We will outline the conference by addressing the following questions: What is the status of people of color in (and outside of, but in relation to) the tech industry? What are some frameworks that are central to the tech industry’s diversity efforts and why, in very general terms, might they be problematic? Moving forward, what are some of the most important systemic challenges and opportunities for increasing racial diversity in tech?
10am-1130am
Panel: Unpacking the "Business Case for Diversity"
This panel examines the business case for diversity, which is the common rationale behind efforts to increase diversity in tech companies. What exactly is the business case for diversity, given the fact that tech companies have been very profitable for most of their existence without being diverse? What would diversity efforts look like if we replaced the business case with “people/communities” as the primary rationale for increasing diversity in tech? What are the strengths and limitations of centering profit as the primary rationale for improving racial diversity in tech?
Speakers:
Dolores Inés Casillas – Associate Professor for the Chicano/a Studies Department at UC Santa Barbara
Karla Monterroso – Vice President, Student Programs of CODE2040
Veronica Murillo – LinkedIn’s North America Sales Product Consultant
1130am-1pm
Panel: Education-Tech Pipeline
This panel discusses the lack of racial diversity in the education-tech pipeline, which is commonly cited as a primary cause for the lack of diversity in the tech industry. Rather than focusing on individuals or communities (e.g. students of color failing to pursue or succeed in STEM education or communities of color undervaluing education), panelists will focus on systems and structures that prevent students of color from making it through the pipeline and discuss current efforts to “fix” this pipeline. What is the role of nonprofits, coding boot camps, and startup accelerators in this pipeline? What are some positive and negative effects of re-shaping policies to specifically fund STEM education?
Speakers:
Juanita Berber – Level Playing Field Institute's SMASH program Graduate
Jacob Martinez – Founder and Executive Director of Digital NEST
Vianey Muñoz –HackBright Academy Graduate
Omar Ruvalcaba – Assistant Professor of Psychology at CSU Northridge
1pm-2pm
Lunch
2pm-330pm
Panel/Demos: Proposed Solutions from Within
Entrepreneurs, engineers, founders present their startups.
Eutiquio “Tiq” Chapa – Program Manager at Stanford University’s Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative
Laura Gómez – CEO & Founder of Atipica
Andrea Guendelman – Co-Founder and CEO of BeVisible.soy
Diego LaFuente – CEO & Founder of Abogadazo, Inc.
330pm-400pm
Keynote: 'Diversity in Tech: What We've Already Lost'
Nicole Sanchez – Vice President of Social Impact at GitHub
400pm-500pm
Research Poster Session, Networking Reception
Graduate students present relevant research. Attendees network in an informal setting.
Héctor Beltrán – Ph.D. Candidate, U.C. Berkeley Department of Anthropology
Lucy Carrillo – Ph.D. Candidate, U.C. Irvine Department of Anthropology
Blanca Gordo – Senior Researcher, International Computer Science Institute
Registration and Continental Breakfast
900am-930am
Welcome: Overview of Initiative and Outline of Conference
Center for Latino Policy Research
930am-10am
Keynote: Snapshot on Racial Diversity in Tech
Orson Aguilar – President of The Greenlining Institute
We will outline the conference by addressing the following questions: What is the status of people of color in (and outside of, but in relation to) the tech industry? What are some frameworks that are central to the tech industry’s diversity efforts and why, in very general terms, might they be problematic? Moving forward, what are some of the most important systemic challenges and opportunities for increasing racial diversity in tech?
10am-1130am
Panel: Unpacking the "Business Case for Diversity"
This panel examines the business case for diversity, which is the common rationale behind efforts to increase diversity in tech companies. What exactly is the business case for diversity, given the fact that tech companies have been very profitable for most of their existence without being diverse? What would diversity efforts look like if we replaced the business case with “people/communities” as the primary rationale for increasing diversity in tech? What are the strengths and limitations of centering profit as the primary rationale for improving racial diversity in tech?
Speakers:
Dolores Inés Casillas – Associate Professor for the Chicano/a Studies Department at UC Santa Barbara
Karla Monterroso – Vice President, Student Programs of CODE2040
Veronica Murillo – LinkedIn’s North America Sales Product Consultant
1130am-1pm
Panel: Education-Tech Pipeline
This panel discusses the lack of racial diversity in the education-tech pipeline, which is commonly cited as a primary cause for the lack of diversity in the tech industry. Rather than focusing on individuals or communities (e.g. students of color failing to pursue or succeed in STEM education or communities of color undervaluing education), panelists will focus on systems and structures that prevent students of color from making it through the pipeline and discuss current efforts to “fix” this pipeline. What is the role of nonprofits, coding boot camps, and startup accelerators in this pipeline? What are some positive and negative effects of re-shaping policies to specifically fund STEM education?
Speakers:
Juanita Berber – Level Playing Field Institute's SMASH program Graduate
Jacob Martinez – Founder and Executive Director of Digital NEST
Vianey Muñoz –HackBright Academy Graduate
Omar Ruvalcaba – Assistant Professor of Psychology at CSU Northridge
1pm-2pm
Lunch
2pm-330pm
Panel/Demos: Proposed Solutions from Within
Entrepreneurs, engineers, founders present their startups.
Eutiquio “Tiq” Chapa – Program Manager at Stanford University’s Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative
Laura Gómez – CEO & Founder of Atipica
Andrea Guendelman – Co-Founder and CEO of BeVisible.soy
Diego LaFuente – CEO & Founder of Abogadazo, Inc.
330pm-400pm
Keynote: 'Diversity in Tech: What We've Already Lost'
Nicole Sanchez – Vice President of Social Impact at GitHub
400pm-500pm
Research Poster Session, Networking Reception
Graduate students present relevant research. Attendees network in an informal setting.
Héctor Beltrán – Ph.D. Candidate, U.C. Berkeley Department of Anthropology
Lucy Carrillo – Ph.D. Candidate, U.C. Irvine Department of Anthropology
Blanca Gordo – Senior Researcher, International Computer Science Institute
