Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

JPMC Contributes $15,000 to Support It Girls Program

Thursday, September 5, 2013, By Diane Stirling
Share
CommunitySTEM

itgirlsovernightJP Morgan Chase & Co. has provided a $15,000 sponsorship for this year’s It Girls Overnight Retreat, an event created by the School of Information Studies (iSchool) to engage, inspire and celebrate high school women and their potential in technology.

This fall marks the third annual It Girls Overnight Retreat, which has attracted 150 junior and senior high school girls from 32 high schools and seven states to the iSchool for a two-day event akin to a “slumber party meets hack-a-thon” weekend.

According to Joan McGovern, of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Community Engagement initiative in the Office of the Chief Information Officer, the company was motivated to sponsor the It Girls Overnight Retreat because the program aligns with the firm’s community engagement objective to recruit, retain and advance women in the STEM fields. JPMC’s Technology-University Collaborations Community Engagement program was started in 2012 to encourage underrepresented/female students to pursue STEM curriculum, McGovern says.

“After having conversations with the Syracuse University School of Information Studies, with whom JPMC has a collaborative agreement, the It Girls Overnight Retreat was identified as an initiative that would provide deep community impact,” she adds. “The sustainability and growth of the initiative is also an attractive feature, as we consider these students a talent source for our technology positions.”

Julie Walas Hyunh, undergraduate programs manager for the iSchool, and co-creator of the event with Dori Farah, recruiting specialist at the iSchool, says the program was developed to “create an experience that we hope will inspire young women to consider an education and career in technology. Our country is experiencing a deficit of female talent and interest in the STEM disciplines and the It Girls Overnight Retreat is proving to be a positive response to that problem.”

Of the 150 program participants thus far, 114 have graduated high school and have had a chance to apply to college, according to Farah. Of those 114 women, 80 percent chose to apply to Syracuse University, and almost half of that number applied to pursue a degree program in the iSchool. Altogether, the iSchool has welcomed 26 “It Girls” as matriculated students to date, she says.

As an innovative women-in-tech initiative, the It Girls program is in good company. JPMorgan Chase also has sponsored two other Syracuse University programs, “Women Lead” and “Aspirations in Computing,” both designed to attract high school women into tech curriculums, as well as similar events at two other colleges.

  • Author

Diane Stirling

  • Recent
  • Empowering Learners With Personalized Microcredentials, Stackable Badges
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Hope Alvarez
  • WISE Women’s Business Center Awarded Grant From Empire State Development, Celebrates Entrepreneur of the Year Award
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Dawn McWilliams
  • Rose Tardiff ’15: Sparking Innovation With Data, Mapping and More
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By News Staff
  • Paulo De Miranda G’00 Received ‘Much More Than a Formal Education’ From Maxwell
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Jessica Youngman
  • Law Professor Receives 2025 Onondaga County NAACP Freedom Fund Award
    Thursday, July 3, 2025, By Robert Conrad

More In STEM

6 A&S Physicists Awarded Breakthrough Prize

Our universe is dominated by matter and contains hardly any antimatter, a notion which still perplexes top scientists researching at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The Big Bang created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, but now nearly everything—solid, liquid, gas or plasma—is…

Setting the Standard and Ensuring Justice

Everyone knows DNA plays a crucial role in solving crimes—but what happens when the evidence is of low quantity, degraded or comes from multiple individuals? One of the major challenges for forensic laboratories is interpreting this type of DNA data…

Student Innovations Shine at 2025 Invent@SU Presentations

Eight teams of engineering students presented designs for original devices to industry experts and investors at Invent@SU Final Presentations. This six-week summer program allows students to design, prototype and pitch their inventions to judges. During the program, students learn about…

WiSE Hosts the 2025 Norma Slepecky Memorial Lecture and Undergraduate Research Prize Award Ceremony

This spring, Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) held its annual Norma Slepecky Memorial Lecture and Award Ceremony. WiSE was honored to host distinguished guest speaker Joan-Emma Shea, who presented “Self-Assembly of the Tau Protein: Computational Insights Into Neurodegeneration.” Shea…

Endowed Professorship Recognizes Impact of a Professor, Mentor and Advisor

Bao-Ding “Bob” Cheng’s journey to Syracuse University in pursuit of graduate education in the 1960s was long and arduous. He didn’t have the means for air travel, so he voyaged more than 5,000 nautical miles by boat from his home…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.