Million Women Mentors – Texas 2017 Stand Up for STEM Awards Announced

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 12/8/2017

Austin, Texas: Today the Texas Girls Collaborative Project presented five Million Women Mentors® Stand Up for STEM Awards to recognize individuals and organizations in Texas advancing women and girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The Million Women Mentors – Texas (MWM-TX) Stand Up for STEM Awards recognize and elevate the work of incredible mentors, companies and organizations within Texas.

BP America received the MWM-TX 2017 Corporate Stand Up for STEM Award, recognizing the company’s commitment to mentoring women and girls, increasing the diversity of those pursuing STEM careers, and retaining women who enter the STEM workforce. BP’s leadership in supporting STEM education programs nationally is a model for other companies. BP’s partnership with Rice University’s Drone Camp, the founding of the OTC Energy Challenge, and the Energy Education Initiative in collaboration with the Associate of Science Technology Centers are great examples of BP’s demonstrated passion, support and engagement to engage diverse students in STEM. In addition, BP’s internal activities such as job sharing, longer maternity leave policies, and the Women Business Resource Group and mentorship programs showcase BP’s commitment to the retention of women in the STEM workforce.

The Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas was awarded the MWM-TX 2017 Education Stand Up for STEM Award in recognition of their demonstrated commitment to engaging STEM mentors and role models in programs encouraging women and girls to pursue STEM careers, increasing the diversity of those pursuing STEM careers, and retaining women and girls who enter the STEM education pipeline. The exciting new Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas STEM Center of Excellence and longstanding summer and weekend programs to engage girls in STEM are models for others to follow with 86% of participating girls expressing increased interested in STEM and 91% of girls reporting increased confidence in STEM.

Dr. Reagan Flowers received the MWM-TX 2017 Education Stand Up for STEM Award, recognized for her longstanding dedication to mentoring girls and students underserved in the STEM space through her organization, C-STEM (Communication-Science-Technology-Education-Mathematics) Teacher and Student Support Services, Inc. Dr. Flower’s impact on girls through C-STEM and engaging them from preK through 12th grade in areas such as robotics, computer programming, debate, photography and more is inspirational. Others can learn from her efforts and her ability to engage over 60% of girls in C-STEM programming.

Dr. Carol Fletcher, Deputy Director of The University of Texas at Austin Center for STEM Education, received the MWM-TX 2017 Individual Mentor Stand Up for STEM Award for her dedicated service and passion for encouraging women and girls to pursue STEM careers. Dr. Fletcher’s efforts to educate and inspire the computer science education community and to ensure equitable practices to broaden participation for women and students of color are having impacts across the state. Summing up Dr. Fletcher’s passion, Michelle Rinehart shares in the award nomination that “she relishes the role of being the chief ambassador of CS for All in Texas and never passes up an opportunity to evangelize to parents, educators, industry leaders, or policy makers the moral imperative of equitable and inclusive CS opportunities for every Texas student, no matter their gender, race, or zip code.”

Mrs. Mariam Manuel, Instructional Assistant Professor / Master Teacher for the teachHOUSTON at the University of Houston has been awarded the MWM-TX 2017 Individual Mentor Stand Up for STEM Award for her mentoring and inspiration to young girls taking STEM course in high school. As described by Jo Hamilton with the UTeach Institute, “young women she taught have shared stories about how Mariam changed the course of their lives by empowering them to take challenging STEM courses in high school.” A former student, Ana, shares she is now studying biomedical science at Texas A&M University with a 3.95 GPA, crediting Mrs. Manuel’s interventions “as the beginning of this fearless and unshakeable drive to be the best that I could be."

The awards were presented at the Texas Women and Girls in STEM Summit hosted by the Texas Girls Collaborative Project at The University of Texas at Austin campus.

About Million Women Mentors – Texas (MWM-TX) and the Texas Girls Collaborative Project (TxGCP):

The Million Women Mentors® (MWM) movement supports the engagement of millions of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) mentors (male and female) to increase the interest and confidence of girls and women to persist and succeed in STEM programs and careers by 2020. MWM is the movement that aims to change the face of women and girls, their career choices and advancement. Texas is one of 43 states with pledges with the Texas Girls Collaborative Project (TxGCP) leading the MWM-TX steering committee. www.txgcp.org/million-women-mentors/

TxGCP connects non-profits, K-12 schools, higher education institutions, companies, organizations and individuals across the state of Texas committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in STEM. Led by the Women in Engineering Program (WEP) at The University of Texas at Austin, TxGCP provides forums, curriculum, best practices and resources to foster collaborations, build capacity of participating organizations, and create a state-wide network of informed and connected informal and formal STEM educators and advocates. www.txgcp.org

Contact:

Tricia Berry
Collaborative Lead, Texas Girls Collaborative Project, www.txgcp.org
Director, The University of Texas at Austin, Cockrell School of Engineering, Women in Engineering Program, www.engr.utexas.edu/wep
512-471-5650
triciaberry@utexas.edu