The Costa Rican headquarters of Texas Tech University has already opened the call for its programs for the academic formation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), which offers courses for people with or without academic experience who wish to enter In the area.
This is the Leadership Center for Women in STEM (W@TT), that opened in 2019 and in which 89 women have already participated. The academic offer includes introductory courses in web programming, data management with Excel, advanced data management with Excel, and basics of databases with SQL.
The inscriptions will remain open until March 11 and women interested in participating only have to send their resume and a letter explaining their motivations to prepare in one or more STEM branches to the email [email protected].
According to the University, the most basic courses do not require any type of experience or previous studies, but the more advanced levels do require different levels of previous formation. In general terms, they indicate “there are no more requirements than to have a computer and internet access”.
Accelerating the empowerment of women
Laura Barrera, Director of Student Recruitment and Marketing at Texas Tech Costa Rica, explained that the W@TT center works in two ways, “on the one hand, as a tool or vehicle to accelerate the empowerment of women both in soft skills and in technical issues in STEM areas, and on the other hand, in developing the professionals that the different Costa Rican industries are needing”. She also stressed that the main intention is “to support, at the country level, the inclusion of women in STEM areas.”
The profiles
The University explained that the center especially seeks to reach women who want to venture into science and technology, but who have not been able to complete their studies or who wish to complement them in search of employment options.
“The profile that the center is looking for is women who want to improve their knowledge and expand their skills to enhance their opportunities to find a job in one of these fields but who, for some reason, have not been able to finish a career or are finishing it and they need to get into a job position quickly”, they detail.
Texas Tech also keeps the Women Impact Tech contest open until February 25, which will promote projects “aimed at bringing women closer to science and technology or positively impacting communities”, no matter what stage they are in.
To participate, people only have to complete their form on the call page women-impact-tech.com, and send a video of two minutes maximum, in .mp4 format, with a presentation of their personal data, a brief explanation of the interest in the STEM area and the description of the project.
Options to be awarded
Winners will receive eight leadership mentoring sessions from Vital Voices, a global organization dedicated to this type of training. In addition, they will be given three coaching sessions on business strategy with HALO; four Design Thinking sessions (methodology aimed at finding solutions); and a scholarship for three courses at the W@TT Leadership Center.
