WICT Update

With the annual Women in Cable Telecommunications gala set for Wednesday, Nov. 15, in Washington, DC, now is a good time to get an update on this organization.

As it happens our colleagues at CableWorld—Seth Arenstein, in particular—beat us to the punch. In an exclusive article in the current issue, Arenstein outlines a new WICT initiative called “Tech It Out,” which aims to increase the number of women in cable’s technology sector.

There are several prongs to the WICT attack, according to CableWorld. One is to encourage middle school and college students to consider cable technology careers. Another involves mentoring, and a third is to encourage women already in cable to shift over to the technology side of the industry.

Arenstein reports that attendees at the Wednesday dinner will be the first to see a series of public service announcements (PSAs) produced by Black Entertainment Television (BET), one of the initiative’s three key partners. The others are the SCTE and the Cable and Telecommunications Human Resources Association (CTHRA).

WICT President Benita Fitzgerald Mosley told CableWorld that the context for this campaign includes the decline in the number of scientists and engineers—men and women—graduating from college. Increasing the number of women in engineering should theoretically provide a larger pool of talent for the cable industry. Top 50 CableWorld did its part in priming the pump for “Tech it Out” by inaugurating its “Most Powerful Women in 2006: Top Women in Technology.” Not surprisingly, this list of 50 includes recent Women in Technology (WIT) award winners such as Cox Communications Director, Video Engineering, Vicki Marts; Comcast SVP Systems Engineering Charlotte Field; and Advance/Newhouse Communications EVP, Strategy and Development, Nomi Bergman. As alert readers already know, we recount the stories of these WIT winners in one of the summer issues of Communications Technology. Stay tuned for more such coverage as this campaign unfolds. – Jonathan Tombes