[ACM-W] Empowering Leadership: Computing Scholars of Tomorrow Alliance Announces Mentoring Program for Minority Students

[Ann Redelfs]

Empowering Leadership: Computing Scholars of 
Tomorrow Alliance Announces Mentoring Program for 
Minority Students

Protégés and Mentors Encouraged to Join

For Immediate Release

The National Science Foundation-supported 
"Empowering Leadership: Computing Scholars of 
Tomorrow" Alliance (EL Alliance) has launched its 
online mentoring program designed to connect 
undergraduate and graduate minority students from 
research universities across the country with 
national leaders in the computing fields. 
Protégés and mentors are encouraged to sign up at 
http://www.empoweringleadership.org.

Protégés and mentors are matched based on the 
protégés' preferences as well as on the 
experience and qualities of a mentor. Mentors 
share knowledge and lend encouragement to their 
protégés, help them meet others in the computing 
community, and guide them to opportunities for 
personal and professional growth, such as 
scholarships, internships, and conference 
opportunities. The Internet-based mentoring 
program provides protégés and mentors with an 
accessible, supported environment to stay in 
touch and discuss issues of interest to the 
students, such as career options, coursework, 
opportunities for extracurricular experiences, 
and areas of concern.

The EL Alliance, composed of dozens of leading 
universities, professional societies, 
laboratories, research centers, and corporations, 
also involves students in research opportunities, 
in-person meetings at national conferences and 
workshops, and support to keep the students 
excited, motivated, and connected to a broader 
community as they pursue computing careers.

Students are important contributors to the EL 
Alliance-their feedback on programs and input on 
their own experience and goals help guide EL 
Alliance activities. Minority scholars in 
computing disciplines at tier-one institutions 
are scattered so sparsely across the country that 
they may be the only one, or one of very few, 
minority students in their classes. Relevant and 
consequential support networks, critical to all 
students, often do not exist for minority 
students due to a lack of peers with whom they 
can identify, or role models, or minority 
leaders. The EL Alliance's national network of 
formal and informal resources, support, and 
encouragement, developed with the active 
involvement of students and national leaders, is 
a vital community for minority scholars and for 
the country.

About the EL Alliance
http://www.empoweringleadership.org

The EL Alliance is led by Rice University, and 
engages underrepresented minority students in 
computing disciplines at majority institutions in 
a nationwide network. The network, composed of 
dozens of leading universities, professional 
societies, laboratories, research centers, and 
corporations, involves students in research 
opportunities, professional development, 
mentoring programs, and support. The EL Alliance, 
benefits from the leadership and vision of 
several of the nation's top universities, with 
the active engagement of dozens of diverse 
partners and a plan for ongoing evaluation and 
feedback, particularly from the students involved.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.cse.ohio-state.edu/pipermail/acmw/attachments/20071231/d27fdb8b/attachment.html