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Tech Leader Visier Donates to Local Universities to Support STEM Education
Vancouver, BC and San Jose, CA |
Donations part of corporate-wide Visier Gives initiative, which encourages employees to give back to their communities with four paid days off for volunteer activities each year
Visier, the leader in Workforce Intelligence, has made a series of donations to Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Applied Sciences (SFU) and the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Science/Department of Computer Science (UBC) to encourage students to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and the advancement of women in STEM-related fields. These donations are part of a corporate-wide giving program, Visier Gives, that encourages employees to give back to their communities supported by four paid days off for volunteer activities each year. The labor shortage facing technology companies in British Columbia and around the world is well documented. In Canada alone the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC) projects that 182,000 skilled IT workers will be needed by 2019, with another 36,000 by 2020. By teaming with two world-renowned local Universities, Visier aims to foster an interest in STEM, leadership, and entrepreneurship amongst youth and to help remove barriers to full participation STEM careers by women. “While the race to out-innovate with new ideas and products fuels the technology industry at large, the competition between companies is fought most pervasively on the talent front lines,” said Ryan Wong, President & CTO, Visier. “Innovation and ideas come from people. Knowing the potential of STEM, we’ve decided that a key cornerstone of our Visier Gives program will be to encourage more youth, and especially young women, to explore their interest in STEM.”
Visier Partners with SFU Faculty of Applied Sciences to create opportunities for youth, especially for girls, to explore STEM careers
In partnership with SFU, Visier will support the following programs:
SFU Technovation: A 12-week competition (running from January to May each year) that invites local girls aged 10-18 to work in teams with tech industry mentors to learn how to code and develop an app that addresses a local community issue. Selected finalists then move on to compete in the Technovation World Pitch Summit held in the Silicon Valley.
Science AL!VE: A student-run, non-profit science education program based at SFU, that encourages, inspires and exposes youth of all backgrounds to STEM through hands-on and interactive activities. Science AL!VE reached over 9,500 youth in 2015 through classroom and on-campus workshops, summer camps, year-round girls clubs, and many community outreach programs.
Try/CATCH (Computing and Technology Conference for Her): A one-day event organized specifically for high school girls from grades eight to twelve, with the objective of fostering curiosity about computing science and engineering, and providing basic knowledge to serve as a foundation for more advanced skills.
Annual WiCS-WiE hackathon: An intense 12 hour ideation and coding competition between students from across the Faculty of Applied Sciences. Industry members participate as team mentors and judges.
“In order to convince more women to pursue careers in STEM, it is crucial that we provide opportunities for young girls to engage in fun activities that help to counter stereotypes surrounding STEM fields. Visier’s commitment to fund programs that engage and inspire the next generation of women to pursue STEM has the potential to benefit society as a whole by increasing the diversity and innovation of those in the STEM fields,” says Dr. Lesley Shannon, NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering (BC/Yukon), Associate Professor, School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University.
Visier Teams Up with UBC Faculty of Science to Support Computer Science Undergrads
In partnership with UBC, Visier will support the following programs:
Visier Project Kickstart Fund: Visier has made a donation to start a new Project Club to encourage Computer Science undergraduate students to create new projects, whether on their own or as a team.
Visier Service Award in Computer Science: A service award has been created for undergraduate students pursuing a degree in Computer Science which will be chosen by the Department of Computer Science for students in good academic standing who have demonstrated excellence in fields such as community service, student leadership, and volunteerism.
Visier Service Award for Women in Computer Science: An award for a female undergraduate student applying to pursue a degree in Computer Science. The Award is intended for female students in good academic standing who have demonstrated excellence in fields such as community service, student leadership, and volunteerism. Preference is given to students who are engaged in activities and projects in the areas of non-profit or encourage other young women to pursue an education in computer science.
Visier Support of GIRLsmarts4tech Workshops: Visier will provide bursaries for girls that cannot afford workshop fees and will support volunteers.
“Our department is very grateful to Visier for its generosity, helping to promote and strengthen diversity and outreach, which are extremely important goals for us,” says Chen Grief, Professor and Head, Department of Computer Science, The University of British Columbia.
About Visier
Visier’s purpose is to help people see the truth and create a better future—now. Visier was founded to focus on what matters to business people: answering the right questions, even the ones a person might not know to ask. Questions that shape business strategy, provide the impetus for taking action, and drive better business results. Visier delivers fast, clear people insight by using all the available people data—regardless of source. With best-practice expertise built-in, decision-makers can confidently take action. Thanks to our amazing customers, Visier is the market leader in Workforce Analytics with 5,000 customers in 75 countries around the world. Media Contact: Julie Galla visier(at)sparkpr(dot)com