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Illinois Senator Barack Obama mentions ChicTech at a meeting of the National Center for Women & Information Technology in Washington, D.C. in May, 2006.

ChicTech (pronounced "sheek-tek") is a grass-roots initiative to generate interest in computer science among Illinois high school girls. It is a collaborative effort between the department, UIUC alumni, and the volunteers in ChicTech as well as a joint endeavor between UIUC and other colleges within the state of Illinois.

Treating girls across the state to pizza luncheons, the all-volunteer ChicTech team travels to Illinois high schools explaining and demystifying the field. They give girls a glimpse of life as a student in CS and explore the exciting and challenging career options open to graduates. Their presentation also confronts stereotypes of the male-dominated field-debunking myths, citing success stories and sharing personal experiences. The presentation is designed to resonate with the younger girls, sparking their interest and moving them toward further exploration. The presentations also promote the Technical Ambassadors Competition.

ChicTech visits are supported by a grant from NSF entitled Building Communities (grant CNS-04-20505). Related activities, such as TAC, have received additional support from Morgan Stanley, State Farm Foundation, Microsoft, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, and Electronic Arts.

2007/2008 High School Visits

School	Visited by	Visit Date	School Official
Central High School	WCS	9.7.2007	Diane Ecker
Plainfield South High School	Rich Miller, Alumnus	10.23.2007	Robert Hillegonds
Plainfield North High School	Rich Miller, Alumnus	10.25.2007	Vicki Morrow
Von Steuben High School	Pam Marino, Alumna	10.25.2007	Susan Kwan
Bartlett High School	WCS	11.02.2007	Mary VanSlyck
Downers Grove - South High School	Carole Long, Alumna	11.02.2007	Diane Ignash
University Laboratory High School	WCS	11.09.2007	Vivianne Vil/Sam Smith
Oak Park and River Forest High Schools	David Burns, Alumnus	11.16.2007	Mary Howie/Doug Allee
University Laboratory High School	WCS	11.16.2007	Kathleen Booth
Neuqua Valley High School - Blue Campus	Rich Miller, Alumnus/Liwei Wang	12.7.2007	Darcy Hutzler/Susan Janes
Urbana High School	WCS	12.14.2007	Paula Rogers/Glenna Rogers

ChicTech presentation

• 2007/2008 ChicTech Visit Presentation: [PPT]
• 2007/2008 ChicTech Visit Presentation - Co-ed: [PPT]

Related links and contacts

• Outreach Coordinator: LaSonya Harris (lharris2@uiuc.edu)
• ChicTech Student Coordinator: Samantha Chan (sdchan@uiuc.edu)
• Technical Ambassadors Competition (TAC)
• Games 4 Girls
• Women in Computer Science
• Women in Engineering
• Building Communities website: Currently offline
• National Center for Women and Information Technology
• ACM's Committee on Women in Computer Science (ACM-W)

Promotional Materials

• ChicTech Brochure (pdf)
• ChicTech Invitation (pdf)
• ChicTech Poster (pdf)
• ChicTech Alumni Brochure (pdf)

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Last Modified December 17 2007 12:46:47.