2023-2024 President: Jamie Huber Ward

Dr. Jamie Huber Ward is the 2023-2024 president of the WEPAN Board of Directors, who are responsible for defining WEPAN’s mission and for providing overall leadership and strategic direction to the organization according to its bylaws, policies, and procedures. 

Huber Ward is a social scientist and Associate Director of Higher Education with the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) at the University of Colorado Boulder, and considers WEPAN a sister organization to her home institution. She also worked closely with Liz Litzler, NCWIT’s external evaluator, who is a longstanding and engaged WEPAN member and who provided encouragement and inspiration as Huber Ward began connecting to the WEPAN network.  “I’m a huge believer in collective impact and organization working together to lift each other up and holistically amplify the work that they are doing, so getting involved with WEPAN was a natural fit for me.”  

She sees her role as president as a relatively simple one. “I lead the board in supporting the wellbeing of the organization and to support WEPAN leadership and staff so they can continue to thrive in doing the exceptional work that they are doing. The specifics of what this entails might vary depending on the context of the times - as you might guess, right now a lot of discussion is taking place on how to best support WEPAN members as they engage in broadening participation efforts.”

Her goals as president have been to leave WEPAN with a solid strategic plan to intentionally guide the work taking place to advance the organizational mission, working in tandem with Past President Beth Anne Johnson and President-Elect Rochelle Williams. Johnson began the process when preparing for her presidency by meeting with all WEPAN staff and board members, which kicked off this strategic planning process. 

“My goal is to have a finalized strategic plan by the end of my presidency, allowing President-Elect Rochelle Williams to begin implementing more formalized documentation and processes to better serve WEPAN staff and the organization as a whole.”

As her presidency winds down, she would like her legacy to be one of fostering WEPAN’s collaborations and partnerships with other organizations or corporations that have a vested interest in broadening participation in STEM fields. “That way we can all work together, amplify one another’s work, and have greater collective impact.”

Huber Ward firmly believes organizations like WEPAN are crucial, specially in today’s political and social climates.

“Organizations like WEPAN are so important for two reasons. First, they are the drivers of social change to work toward ensuring people of all backgrounds have access to educational and professional opportunities in engineering, technology, and other STEM fields.

Second, they provide a foundation of support for people of marginalized identities who are currently working in these fields and provide opportunities for them to connect and grow—both professionally and personally—so they don’t feel so alone and isolated.”