Women in Technology

When she started college, Simone Tezzo thought her future included a career in nursing. However, she soon found her passions lay within technology. As she refocused her goals, she had a plethora of educational options from which to choose. It was UNC Charlotte’s College of Computing and Informatics and its reputation as a place that attracts top scholars and students in the field that ultimately inspired Tezzo to join Niner Nation.

“Learning about CCI is what definitely confirmed that I wanted to come here,” Tezzo said.

The only child of a Congolese-American family from Asheville, North Carolina, Tezzo transferred to Charlotte as a junior and will graduate in fall 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science with a concentration in web and mobile app development.

Tezzo is just one of the thousands of women who have felt empowered to pursue careers in computer science within CCI in recent years. Due in large part to the college’s focus on creating an engaging, supportive environment for women interested in the industry to pursue their educational journeys, UNC Charlotte is at the forefront of creating more opportunities for women in computing, just one facet of the college’s dedication toward supporting democracy in technology.

CCI senior Simone Tezzo has found support and community in CCI.

Over the past ten years, the enrollment of female students within CCI has quadrupled. And women just aren’t enrolling — they’re pursuing their careers and completing their studies at a high rate. CCI undergraduates who are women currently have an 83.7% six-year graduation rate compared with a 73.4% rate for all CCI students. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, UNC Charlotte leads the way in the state when it comes to graduating female computer science students across bachelor’s and master’s degrees combined.

“Between thoughtful mentorship and encouraging female students and scholars to pursue their tech-oriented dreams both inside and outside the classroom, UNC Charlotte has made it a priority to make the computing and technology industry more welcoming and equitable,” said Bojan Cukic, CCI dean.

It’s no secret that computer science historically has been a field with more men than women, a reality that can unfortunately nudge away some women with an aptitude for computing and related fields. Cori Faklaris, an assistant professor of software and information systems, explained she was interested in technology when she started college, but ultimately pursued a career in journalism before making the decision as an adult to follow her passion for computing.

“As an undergraduate, one reason I did not go into computer science right away is because there were those negative stereotypes,” Faklaris said.

Years later, Faklaris embarked upon entering the field of computer science by taking her technical expertise and skills gained from supporting newsrooms with the use of digital journalism tools and platforms into the field of user-interface design. She earned her first master’s degree in human-computer interaction from the Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing in Indianapolis before earning a second master’s degree and ultimately a Ph.D. in human-computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon University.

Now a scholar of human-computer interaction, Faklaris directs the Security and Privacy Experiences (SPEX) research group within CCI, where she and her students study how people’s lived experiences and relationships with one another affect their approaches to cybersecurity. Through her teaching and research mentorship, Faklaris reinforces the philosophy that women’s lived experiences can allow them to provide unique insights into how products and services are developed and designed that might not otherwise be brought up if women didn’t have a seat at the table.

“Between thoughtful mentorship and encouraging female students and scholars to pursue their tech-oriented dreams both inside and outside the classroom, UNC Charlotte has made it a priority to make the computing and technology industry more welcoming and equitable.”

– CCI Dean Bojan Cukic

“Women bring a different perspective, and it’s a very valuable perspective… you see the world differently,” said Mary Lou Maher, the CCI professor of software and information systems who was recognized by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) with its 2023 Harold and Notkin Research and Graduate Mentoring Award for her work mentoring and supporting women and minorities in computing fields both locally and nationally.

To illustrate that unique perspective, Faklaris uses the example of the development of safety and identity verification features in ridesharing applications like Uber and Lyft. “Having inclusive voices in the room is important. If you have a woman in the development team who’s grown up always being cautioned to protect her safety due to her gender, you’d automatically go to that place mentally,” Faklaris explained. “That’s when having that perspective in the room is so important. Of course we can encourage people to speculate and brainstorm about lots of different types of threats that our designs may face, but sometimes there’s no substitute for lived experience.”

Assistant Professor Cori Faklaris confers with students during class.

It’s one thing to encourage women to begin their studies in a field, but recruitment alone isn’t sufficient if those women choose not to see their studies through due to a lack of support. Luckily, CCI students are able to join a number of faculty-mentored student organizations designed to provide women with a sense of belonging, including UNC Charlotte’s own chapters of GirlsWhoCode and the Association of Computing Machinery-Women (ACM-W), as well as groups like Women In CyberSecurity (WiCyS). These organizations are proactively introduced to all CCI students during “Computing Professionals,” the professional development course all CCI students are required to take as undergraduates.

“It was definitely a worry for me at first, wondering if I was going to fit in and find support being a woman and knowing most of my courses were male-dominated,” said Tezzo, who is a member of GirlsWhoCode and ACM-W in addition to being president of Charlotte Hack. “That’s why it’s been really good to have clubs like GirlsWhoCode and ACM-W, so that women like me in the college can come together and feel supported.”

UNC Charlotte and CCI also demonstrate their dedication to supporting gender diversity in computing and technology by hosting events like the annual Women in Data Science conference led by the School of Data Science, which will take place March 21, 2024. Earlier that month, UNC Charlotte’s GirlsWhoCode chapter will host a hackathon event where female students can show off their computing skills and learn from female industry professionals from the Charlotte Region Society for Information Management Chapter. CCI also provides financial support for students to attend local events such as the Fleurix Celebrate Women+ In Technology conference, which over 100 CCI students were able to attend thanks to the college.

Another facet of CCI’s successes in encouraging women to pursue careers in technology is its philosophy of having “a growth mindset about our students and what they’re capable of,” Faklaris said. “People might come in our doors with unequal opportunities in the past or unequal mentorship, but we really strive to use effective teaching methods and to create active learning opportunities. That way, we help students lay a foundation for growth and success.”

“It’s good to know you have people like you and that you’re not alone,” said Faklaris. “It’s wonderful. I never feel like I’m alone here, and I hope that none of our students ever feel that way either.”

“I’ve definitely been able to find a community within the college.” 

– Simone Tezzo, CCI senior

Tezzo shared how her experiences interacting with fellow female computer science students as well as with her inspiring professors – many of them women – throughout her time at CCI have only reinforced her belief that this is the right field, and the right University, for her.

“Seeing them and all the work that they’ve done has really motivated me, and reassured me that this is what I want to do,” Tezzo said. “I’ve definitely been able to find a community within the college.”