Baldwin Wallace University’s Jodi Tims Appointed Chair of ACM Women’s Group
October 11, 2017, New York—ACM-W, the Association for Computing Machinery’s Council on Women in Computing, today announced that Jodi Tims, Professor of Computer Science at Baldwin Wallace University (US), has been named Chair. Concurrent with the announcement of Tims’s appointment, ACM-W announced that Natasa Milic-Frayling, Professor of Data Science at the University of Nottingham (UK), has been named Chair of the ACM-W Europe Committee, and Arati Dixit, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Savitribai Phule Pune University (India), has been tapped as Chair of the ACM-W India Committee.
ACM-W supports, celebrates and advocates internationally for the full engagement of women in all aspects of computing, providing a wide range of programs and services to ACM members and working in the larger community to advance the contributions of technical women. ACM-W activities are organized around local chapters, regional Celebrations of Women in Computing conferences, and student scholarships.
ACM-W chapters foster a wide range of events including networking and mentoring opportunities, panel sessions, career fairs, and hackathons. Presently, there are more than 180 ACM-W student and professional chapters around the world. ACM-W Celebrations are regional conferences, typically involving keynote speakers, workshops, panels, student presentations and posters and career fairs. Attendees network, learn and share. ACM-W supports these events with funding (in partnership with Microsoft), website hosting, handling of finances and guidance based on years of practice. More than 30 ACM-W Celebrations took place around the world last year. ACM-W also provides a scholarship program that enables women students to attend important ACM research conferences.
“I am honored to be named Chair of ACM-W during this exciting time,” said Tims of her appointment. “In the last seven years, ACM-W’s membership, chapters, Celebrations and geographic reach have enjoyed phenomenal growth. In the near future, we hope to increase the number of ACM-W Professional Chapters and build a stronger ACM-W presence in regions such as Africa, South America, and China.”
Tims believes that more ACM-W Professional Chapters will address an important need for women practitioners, who can sometimes feel isolated. She also hopes that new Professional Chapter members will connect to local ACM-W Student Chapters to provide mentoring, internships, shared events and more.
Jodi Tims is a Professor of Computer Science, and Chair of the Department of Computer Science at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. Prior to becoming ACM-W Chair, Tims served as Vice-chair, and led ACM-W’s Celebrations initiative.
Natasa Milic-Frayling is Professor and Chair of Data Science at the School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham (UK). Prior to joining University of Nottingham in 2015, she worked as a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK. Before becoming Chair of the ACM-W Europe Committee, Milic-Frayling served on the ACM-W Europe Executive Committee.
Arati Dixit is an Associate Professor at the Department of Technology, Savitribai Phule Pune University and a visiting faculty member at PVPIT, Bavdhan. Prior to becoming Chair, Dixit served on the ACM-W India Executive Committee. She is the Vice-chair of ACM iSIGCSE (India Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education).
About ACM-W
ACM-W is the ACM Council on Women in Computing. ACM-W supports, celebrates, and advocates internationally for the full engagement of women in all aspects of the computing field, providing a wide range of programs and services to ACM members and working in the larger community to advance the contributions of technical women.
About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.