Dear Women & Hi Tech Members, Sponsors, Partners, and Friends:
Happy New Year! 2019 represents Women & Hi Tech’s 20th year as a non-profit organization and successfully effecting change to advance women in STEM in Indiana. Founded in 1999 by an academic at Indiana University and a scientist at Eli Lilly, Women & Hi Tech exists to change the landscape of women represented in STEM to be equally inclusive to all. As such, throughout this year, we will provide our signature programs and events (e.g., Executive Women’s Forums, Passport to Hi-Tech, Ignite Your Superpower (IYS), OperationAll, Spring and Holiday Networking events, the Fall Retreat in French Lick, IN, and more) with a particular focus on our theme of "Celebrating Our Past and Investing in Our Future".
In addition to celebrating our past 20 years of supporting women and girls in STEM in Indiana, Women & Hi Tech has pledged to invest in our future by providing $20,000 of scholarships to female STEM students in Indiana - via our “#WHT20for20” campaign.* Women & Hi Tech will also host our official 20th Anniversary Celebration Event, which is scheduled on Friday, August 16, 2019. Scholarships will be presented to the “#WHT20for20” award winners during our 20th Anniversary Celebration Event.
Many of you have joined us for our biennial signature event, the Leading Light Awards (LLAs), where we recognize the contributions and achievements of female STEM students and professionals in our community. As a follow up to the 2018 LLAs and in preparation for the 2020 LLAs, we intend to celebrate our past 20 years by highlighting our own members who have advanced the cause and careers of women in STEM in Indiana through their contributions to Women & Hi Tech.
Accordingly, we would like to introduce you to our first edition of the new Women & Hi Tech newsletter entitled Grown from STEM. As a celebration of this, our 20th Anniversary year, Grown from STEM will feature short biographies of Women & Hi Tech Board members who have made a significant impact in our community through their contributions to this organization. In doing so, we hope to shed some light and provide real-life examples of the different roles, organizations, and industries where women in STEM make an impact, and the paths they took to get there. In this inaugural edition of Grown from STEM, we highlight our President, Darcy Lee, and the CEO of Pass the Torch for Women Foundation, Deb Hallberg, who is an Emeritus Board member of Women & Hi Tech.
In their professional lives, Darcy and Deb possess expertise in the area of Business Development for STEM organizations, such as an agency that serves clients in STEM or a law firm that protects STEM technologies. Please enjoy our first edition of Grown from STEM, where Darcy and Deb provide their perspective on the past evolution and future growth of Women & Hi Tech and the advancement of women in STEM in Indiana.
Kind regards,
Angela B. Freeman, Esq.
Women & Hi Tech President-Elect and 20th Anniversary Committee Chair
presidentelect@womenandhitech.org
*For more information on sponsoring a scholarship, please contact Rebecca Bormann, our Corporate Engagement Director at corpsponsor@womenandhitech.org.
