What’s Up With The Red Chair?

A red chair was a key player in the 17th annual Women in Information Technology Conference, held March 4 in the Memorial Student Center on the Texas A&M University campus. The conference is hosted by the Center for the Management of Information Systems (CMIS) at Mays Business School. The theme, “Big Data,” focused on the variety of data collected, processed and analyzed in our world today, as well as the consumer perspective, such as reward programs generated from data collection.

The attendees were encouraged to find ways to promote women in technology. The red chair was unveiled at the front of the room as a symbol inviting men and women to “sit” and acknowledge the need for more diversity in technology. In addition, CMIS engaged student volunteers this year to assist in the Hour of Code at the elementary through high school levels in the Brazos Valley.

In attendance were about 144 people, a mix of current students from Texas A&M, Blinn College, Prairie View A&M, Tarleton State, MIS professionals and CMIS advisory board members. CMIS board members sponsoring various aspects of the event included Exabyte Members – ConocoPhillips, GM, HP, Noble Energy, Phillips 66 and Shell; Petabyte Members – Anadarko, Chevron, ExxonMobil, National Instruments, PwC and USSA; Terabyte Members – Charles Schwab, Deloitte, Marathon Oil and Southwest Airlines; and WIT Conference Sponsor Goldman Sachs.

Continue reading on Mays Impacts.