Shaowen Bardzell
Shaowen Bardzell, a professor of informatics at the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, has been named vice president at large within the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction Executive Committee.
ACM SIGCHI is the premier international society for all professionals, academics, and students interested in human computer interaction. It provides a forum for discussions on HCI through conferences, publications, communities, and a host of other services.
“I’ve accepted the position in part because it provides me the platform to engage in academic leadership in a way that aligns with my research and values,” Bardzell said. “I hope to be able to help advance access to computing for marginalized populations where marginalization results from any combination of physical, economic, sociopolitical, demographic, and epistemological barriers.”
In her role as vice president at large, Bardzell will focus on devising a SIGCHI plan to address the membership’s feelings of belonging and ownership of their professional organization in a collaboration with the Adjunct Chair for Inclusion Allison Druin, who is an associate provost for research and strategic partnerships at the Pratt Institute. She also will work on various inclusion and conference accessibility initiatives.
“Diversity and inclusion issues hit close to home,” Bardzell said. “I have considerable personal experience with diversity and inclusion issues. These have, I think and hope, sensitized me to the stakes, the experiences, and the subtle forms of marginalization. Any efforts to promote inclusivity in computing research and practice entails first the recognition that marginality manifests in different ways.”
SIGCHI is run by the Executive Committee, which oversees all operations of SIGCHI, including over 20 sponsored and over 40 in-cooperation conferences and publications among other things. Its president is Helena Mentis, and the executive vice president is Cliff Lampe.
“We’re thrilled that Shaowen has accepted this important position,” said Raj Acharya, dean of SICE. “Her research sits at the heart of one of the most important pillars of our school, and for her to be able to take such a high-profile role with such an important organization will help extend both her reach and that of SICE.”