Penn Women in Technology Day a 'success'

Last year may have been the "Year of the Woman" but this year may very well be the "Year of the Woman Engineer." Penn Women in Technology Day, a program designed by the Engineering School to attract women applicants to the undergraduate program, concluded "successfully," according to Undergraduate Engineering Dean John Keenan. The program, which is in its third year, included a number of social activities, an overnight stay in undergraduate dormitories and tours of the campus and the Engineering School. "Historically, women haven't considered engineering as a career," Keenan said, adding that the purpose of PennWIT Day is "to make engineering as a career known to young women while they're in high school." According to Allison Carpenter, staff assistant for Engineering School admissions, only 22 percent of Engineering undergraduates are female. Anne O'Hara, the president of the Society of Woman Engineers, the student organization that helped to plan the event, said yesterday that PennWIT Day "makes the school more attractive to [the prospective students] because the women here are engineers and they're students and they're having fun and they're studying, just like everyone else." The Engineering senior said that although she does not mind being one of a few women in the school, she worries about "people who are discouraged." Carpenter said that this year was the first year that the applicants were invited to stay overnight, with over 40 of the participants accepting. "[Staying overnight] really has a tremendous effect on people's perspective of the University," Carpenter said. "Students seem to really just want to get a feel for the University, and that's why the overnight program is much better." O'Hara said that, in the past, many participants in PennWIT Day have chosen to enroll at the University, in part because of their experience with the program. O'Hara, Carpenter, and Keenan all said they expect this year's PennWIT Day to boost female enrollment in the Engineering School's next freshman class.