Bridging the Gender Gap: Celebrating Women in Computing at Farmingdale

Hello all,

This week I want to give a shoutout to Farmingdale State College's initiative for Women in Computing.

One of the faculty leaders, Dr. Ilknur Aydin posted about the recognition the initiative received on her LinkedIn page, and since she and I are connected (Dr. Aydin previously taught at Plattsburgh) it came across my feed.

There are so many ways that we can take action to support and empower a diversity of employees and students in SUNY. Obviously I think SUNY WIT is a terrific approach, but that's not the best fit for every campus.

The initiative clearly has campus investment, faculty support, and enthusiastic student participation. Congratulations to Farmingdale!

"Women in Computing Initiatives at FSC
Led By: Mary Villani, DPS and Ilknur Aydin, PhD

This ongoing research initiative, led Mary Villani, PhD and Ilknur Aydin, PhD focuses on improving the experience and retention of women in Computing programs at Farmingdale State College. Despite overall growth in enrollment, the gender ratio in computing remains 90% male to 10% female.

To address this imbalance, the project implements and studies the impact of several targeted initiatives — including summer (re)orientation programs for women in computing, women-centric field trips to conferences and industry events, and the active support of the Supporting Women in Computing (SWiC) student club. These programs aim to foster a sense of community, confidence, and belonging among women in computing disciplines such as CPIS, Computer Science, Security Systems Technology, and Computer Security Technology."

This is the last Weekly Wisdom for a while, I'll be taking a winter break until after the new year.

Wishing you all some joy and peace however you celebrate the winter holidays and I'll be back in 2026.

All the best,
Holly