This session was a deeper dive update about IDEAL IT. There was time for Q&A, especially focused on some of the data and reporting that we are gathering about IDEAL IT, and the draft IDEAL IT three-year roadmap.
IDEAL IT is a CIO Council Strategic Program. It is a system of programs focused on diversifying recruitment, deepening inclusion and belonging, and increasing overall cultural awareness, competence, and understanding of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) across Stanford IT. IDEAL IT comprises six program currently:
- Neurodiversity in IT Program: A program with a dual focus on recruiting people who identify as neurodivergent and on education/building awareness of how we can all support neurodiversity in the workplace.
- Year Up Internship Program: A recruiting program focused on helping to “bridge the opportunity divide” with internship opportunities at Stanford for young people/alumni from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
- Accessible IT Program: A community focused on building awareness and allyship to advance digital accessibility and inclusion; partnership with Office of Digital Accessibility.
- Stanford Women in Technology (WIT+): An affinity group focused on community building, engagement, belonging, and support, with increased focus on career development and advancement, as well as allyship.
- Stanford People of Color in Technology (POC-IT): An affinity group with similar goals to WIT+, focused on community building, engagement, belonging, and support, with increased focus on career development and advancement.
- IDEAL IT Foundations: Strategic and program management support pillar; functions as incubator for new IDEAL IT programs, and facilitates learning programs such as #IAmRemarkable and Allyship at Work.
Conceived from the beginning as “IDEAL for the IT Community at Stanford,” the program seeks to align with and advance the Stanford IDEAL Strategic Plan and directions.
During the session and its Q&A, we also heard from:
- Sohanny Sandoval and Tuyen Luong, members of the Year Up Program Coordination Team, who described the Year Up partnership with UHR's Inclusive Talent Acquisition (ITA) program;
- Rodney Carter, one of the co-leads of IDEAL IT Foundations, who gave a brief overview of IDEAL IT data and reporting;
- Anne Pinkowski, one of the co-leads of the Neurodiversity in IT Program, who shared more about resources and support available for staff who identify as neurodiverse; and
- Hope Johnson, the Year Up Internship Program Lead, who described how we are working to "convert" Year Up interns to continuing staff at Stanford.
View a PDF of the slides from the session.
View a PDF of IDEAL IT: From A to Z (slides from the 2023 Unconference Lightning Talk).
