Diplomacy Begins Here: Women Who Rock the World Summit

Global Ties U.S. and its members, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, are hosting a series of Diplomacy Begins Here Summits across the United States to bring together local, national, and international leaders from the business, government, and nonprofit world.

The Cleveland Council on World Affairs (CCWA) celebrated women in leadership in Northeast Ohio through the Diplomacy Begins Here: Women Who Rock the World Summit on Thursday, June 28, at the Drury Plaza Downtown. In partnership with Global Ties U.S. and the U.S. Department of State, CCWA welcomed local leaders in civil society, government, and business, along with leaders in international exchange programming throughout the country, to highlight our region's public diplomacy initiatives and specifically how women have played a key role as Citizen Diplomats.

The morning keynote was given by Dr. Marla Perez-Davis, Deputy Director of NASA John H. Glenn Research Center.

Dr. Marla Perez-Davis

She highlighted some of NASA's work and discussed women in STEM and presented some interesting statistics.

Next, Dr. Evalyn Gates, former CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, moderated a panel title Women in STEM.  The panelists were Feowyn MacKinnon, Head of School of MC (squared) STEM High School and Dr. Marla Perez-Davis, Deputy Director, NASA Glenn Research Center.

Dr. Marla Perez-Davis, Feowyn MacKinnon and Dr. Evalyn Gates 

See video and photos of the Women in STEM panel

If not STEM, where are bright students headed?

I’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon over the last few years and recent events have added more data to the thesis.

We all know that the US is lagging in producing students in STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – disciplines. This will lead to a huge competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace.

At a recent City Club speech, Adobe co-founder Chuck Geschke told how Adobe was having a very difficult time finding properly educated people from the US to fill their science and techie positions. They have to go overseas to find enough candidates.

At local NEOSA events and from direct conversations with people in the tech business it is apparent that companies are desperately seeking talented programmers, engineers and other STEM-type people.

When are schools and parents and students going to do something about this? When companies are fighting over a single Dot Net developer for example, don’t you think the educational system (public or private) would work to produce graduates with these skills. High-paying, white-collar jobs are just waiting for applicants.

Read the other interesting trend and listen to the One Minute Podcast