Dr. Amardeep Kahlon named WIT director

We’re proud to announce that Dr. Amardeep Kahlon has accepted the position of Women in IT (WIT) program director. Dr. Kahlon has been involved in computer science education at the undergraduate level since 1990. In addition to this new leadership role, Dr. Kahlon is a professor at ACC in Computer Science and Information Technology, serves on the board of the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN), and is the Director of the Fast Track to Success grant. The appointment of Dr. Kahlon will allow us to offer more opportunities and support for our WIT students.

“Through specialized workshops, a speaker series, and wraparound supports, we are committed to increasing diversity in computing.”

As a first generation South Asian immigrant, she is passionate about issues related to minorities and is deeply committed to broadening participation in computing. Dr. Kahlon references a 2017 report from The National Center for Women in Information Technology as a compelling reason for programs such as WIT. According to their data, women accounted for only 26% of the computing workforce. While this disparity causes concern, she recognizes an even bigger challenge:

“Only 3% of the computing workforce were African-American women, only 5% were Asian women, and only 1% were Hispanic women. The lack of diversity in computing stares us in the face.”

Challenges aside, the demand for Information Technology workers is strong, and Dr. Kahlon sees an opportunity to increase the number of women in these positions. She is excited to be able to offer support to women as they pursue an IT career.

“There are projected shortages of millions of computing jobs by 2026. If we don’t make genuine and far-reaching efforts to bring women into computing, we are essentially cutting our available workforce in half!”

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Kahlon for stepping into this important role. If you want to learn more about the Women in IT program, visit our WIT website.