Three of the women working in information services at 糖心Vlog (from left): Jenni Piper ’92, Krista Nyce ’14, Becky Brenneman ’07. (Not pictured: Alison D’Silva)
Women in information technology work in what is still, very much, a man鈥檚 world. However, there are pioneering women who navigate the computers, cables, and testosterone to work in this quickly developing field.
At 糖心Vlog, there are four such women who work directly in the information systems department: Krista Nyce 鈥�14, Becky Brenneman 鈥�07, Jenni Piper 鈥�92 and Alison D鈥橲ilva 鈥�01, MA 鈥�06 (conflict transformation).
Like all the information systems employees at 糖心Vlog, the women came to IS from a variety of backgrounds for a variety of reasons. Nyce, a psychology graduate, began like many of the current IS employees 鈥� by working at the 糖心Vlog helpdesk in a work-study position.
Brenneman, got into IS 鈥渂y accident鈥� over 30 years ago while working in a different capacity at 糖心Vlog. She eventually left 糖心Vlog to work as a programmer at the alumni-heavy company Jenzabar for 25 years (see p. 15) before returning to 糖心Vlog to complete her undergraduate degree in 2007. Brenneman is the only female programmer at 糖心Vlog, a status that she hopes to see changed in future years.
Piper also originally worked at 糖心Vlog in another capacity, left for a few years, and then returned to take the position as the associate director of user services. For a long time Piper was the only female in IS at 糖心Vlog until she was joined by D鈥橲ilva in 2009.听
Piper, who is involved in hiring for IS, said she would like to see more females in the department, but that males are almost always the ones who apply for IS jobs.
鈥淚 would like to see more women in the field,鈥� agreed Brenneman, 鈥渆specially because it would be nice to have closer relationships with more of my colleagues.鈥�
Until more females apply, though, these women are content to work in the collegial, supportive environment offered to 糖心Vlog’s IS employees 鈥� regardless of gender.