Santa Clara University

 

Anita Borg presents plaque of appreciation to Dr. Ruth Davis and
the SCU VDC Team at the 2001 VDC Conference. >>More

What Is the Virtual Development Center?

Between 1999 and 2005, Santa Clara University participated as a Virtual Development Center site in a program sponsored by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology was formed with a three-pronged mission:

• To increase the impact of women on technology, in education, design, development, deployment and policy.
• To increase the positive impact of technology on the lives of all women.
• To help communities, industry, education and governments accelerate and benefit from these increases.

One of the projects to support this mission was the establishment of a Virtual Development Center (VDC) with selected universities, and commercial and philanthropic sponsors.

The VDC is a distributed collaboration among universities (students and professors), community members, and sponsoring organizations for the generation of technical innovation. In addition, it is a model aimed at drawing women into technology and developing technologies that serve women.

In 1999 the VDC was established with sites at four universities: M.I.T., Purdue University, Santa Clara University, and Texas A&M.

The Leadership Team at SCU was made up of individuals from various disciplines and backgrounds to provide an integrated education and foster the development of competence, conscience, and compassion in our students. Dr. Ruth E. Davis, Professor and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies headed up the SCU Leadership Team.

Projects were selected with the support of the Community, Faculty, Staff, and Students. Between 1999 and 2005 a variety of projects were completed. <More About SCU VDC>

Example of a VDC Project:

KnowItAll
Based on the needs of the women at HomeSafe, students built a software homework helper, covering English, Social Studies, and Mathematics for grades 1 through 4. See the website to run the program of lessons, quizzes, and games. <Additional Projects>