This week Dr. Lakshmi Iyer, Acting Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Research and Professor for the Department of Computer Informations systems was selected as an AIS Sandra Slaughter Service Award recipient. The Sandra Slaughter Service Award was established in 2014 and was granted for the first time in 2015. This award recognizes longstanding members who have provided leadership and service within the association. Renamed in 2015, the award honors Sandra Slaughter, who served as Region 1 Representative on the AIS Council until her untimely death in 2014. Nominees for the Sandra Slaughter Service Award have made significant contributions to the association through activities such as (but not limited to) the following: past Council positions (sitting Council members are not eligible to win this award); association committees; journal editorial boards; conference involvement; SIGs, chapters, or colleges.
Dr. Iyer has been involved in community-engaged outreach and scholarship that furthers the role of women in IT (wiit.uncg.edu). She is the founder and Director of the “IT is for Girls” at UNCG, an outreach program for middle and high-school girls that aims to increase their awareness about education and career paths in computing. She has received funding from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), National Center for Women in IT, Lincoln Financial, and from other foundations to offer STEM events for young women. The related initiative also includes the Triad Tech Savvy event (http://greensboro-nc.aauw.net/techevents/triad-techsavvy/) sponsored by AAUW which is now expanded to the STEM3 program (for 2017) to include the medical/healthcare and music fields. The “IT is for Girls” and “Triad Tech Savvy” programs have served over 850 girls in middle and high-school in the Triad area and beyond since the women in IT inception in 2009. She is a member of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and received the Dr. Shirley Hall Award from AAUW Greensboro Branch in April 2011 for exemplary contribution to enriching STEM education for women. She served as the STEM coordination for AAUW Greensboro (2014-17) and also served as a co-chair of the Association of Information Systems (AIS) task force on Women in IS to enhance the outreach efforts of AIS to women in Information Systems (IS). She was awarded the National Center for Women in IT’s 2015 Educator Award. In May 2017, the AAUW Greensboro Branch established the Iyer Award to recognize a member whose work has enabled the Branch to make a lasting difference in its mission of service on behalf of women and girls. Dr. Iyer was the inaugural recipient of this award for her decade-long achievements in education for girls through Triad Tech Savvy and IT is for Girls.
Dr. Iyer joined the faculty in the Walker College of Business in 2017.
Dr. Iyer selected as an AIS Sandra Slaughter Service Award recipient
Dr. Iyer selected as an AIS Sandra Slaughter Service Award recipient