On the masthead

At this week’s faculty meeting of our Media and Games Network (MAGNET), we did a recap of the gender related events at last week’s Oculus Connect meeting. And we decided that we need to take a more pro-active stand on the need for men and women to work together toward gender parity in our field.

MAGNET already does a fair bit in this direction. It hosts Girls who Code, Black Girls Code, and other events that help to encourage young women to enter fields that require facility with software engineering.

But now that is going to be an explicit part of our mission — on the masthead, if you will. After all, why should the United States of America be a backwater among the industrial nations, capable of attracting only 50% of its potential workforce to 21st Century jobs?

Interestingly, due to vacations, sabbaticals, conferences, and other events, none of our female MAGNET faculty were in town this week. All of the people pushing for this new direction today were men.

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