2023 SIGCAS Awards-Call for Nominations

The SIGCAS Awards Committee is seeking nominations for the two annual SIGCAS awards: the Making A Difference Award and the Outstanding Service Award. Please consider nominating individuals for one or both. Links to nomination forms are given below. Please submit nominations by July 14, 2023. SIGCAS Making a Difference Award This award is presented to […]

Outstanding Service Award (2021)–Barbara Boucher Owens

Barbara Boucher Owens retired in 2012 from the Computer Science Department at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. She has been in the computing field since 1967 when she worked at IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, NY and later in San Jose, California, in the area of Computer Assisted Instruction. She began her teaching career in […]

Making a Difference Award (2021)–Deanna Kosaraju

Deanna Kosaraju is the Founder and CEO of Global Tech Women. Currently she also works in technology running eCommerce Projects for Ariat International, Inc. She also manages programs for the annual Women Transforming Technology Conference (WT2) the last 6 years. Prior to Global Tech Women, Deanna was the Vice President of Programs for the Anita […]

Outstanding Service Award (2015) — Vaibhav Garg

Congratulations to Vaibhav Garg, Director of Information Security Awareness, Visa Inc., for receiving the 2015 SIGCAS Outstanding Service award. Under Dr. Garg’s direction as SIGCAS Newsletter editor, the quality and publication schedule of the newsletter have improved dramatically. The publication is now serving the SIGCAS community and all who are interested in learning about and […]

Making A Difference Award (2015) — Gloria Childress Townsend

Congratulations to Gloria Childress Townsend, Professor of Computer Science at DePauw University, for receiving the 2015 SIGCAS Making A Difference award. Dr. Townsend has demonstrated her commitment to her women students through exemplary teaching and mentoring, and has shared her work through numerous conference presentations, papers, and grant-writing. As a member of the leadership team […]

Outstanding Service Award (2012) — Elizabeth “Beth” Hawthorne

Elizabeth Hawthorne is a Senior Professor of Computer Science at Union Community College and is a member of several ACM Special Interest Groups including SIGCSE, SIGCAS, SIGITE, and SIGSAC as well as the IEEE Computer Society, where she is listed in the annual Women in Engineering Directory. Beth is actively engaged in many ACM activities, […]

Making A Difference Award (2012) — Starr Roxanne Hiltz

The SIGCAS Making a Difference Award is given annually to an individual nationally recognized for work related to the interaction of computers and society. The recipient is a leader in promoting awareness of ethical and social issues in computing. The recipients of this award and the award itself encourage responsible action by computer professionals. For […]

Outstanding Service Award (2011) — Carol Spradling

Carol has tirelessly and effectively represented SIGCAS interests on the ACM Education Council, and has made connections between SIGCAS and important figures in the CS Education community.   She recently worked hard on crafting the ACM CS2013 Curriculum Social & Professional Issues Knowledge Area – it was due to her hard work and stellar reputation that […]

Making A Difference Award (2011) — Oliver “Ollie” Smoot, Jr.

Ollie has been at the forefront of ensuring appropriate standards of use and conduct in computing for over four decades.  He has achieved high honor for his work in Information Technology standardization, and is a valued and respected senior colleague in computing policy efforts. Mr. Smoot is widely known for his humorous first foray into […]

Outstanding Service Award (2008) — Herman Tavani (Interview)

I sat down with SIGCAS 2008 Outstanding Service Award recipient, Dr. Herman Tavani a few weeks ago to chat about his long-standing relationship with SIGCAS. Our conversation started out with a simple question, how long have you been a member? Answer, 14 years. And with that, the stories, the friendships, and his hopes for SIGCAS […]

Making A Difference Award (2009) — Jim Thatcher (interview)

On March 28, 2008, the Association for Computer Machinery’s Special Interest Group for Computers and Society (ACM SIGCAS) conferred the 2008 Making a Difference Award on Dr. Jim Thatcher. Dr. Thatcher’s work in the area of assistive technologies has spanned four decades, and has enabled many blind and visually impaired individuals throughout the world to […]

Outstanding Service Award (2006) — Keith Miller (Interview)

Earlier this spring, I conducted a “virtual interview” with my friend and colleague Keith Miller. We passed the writing token (as Keith calls the passing of drafts back and forth between writers) a couple of times and our conversation went something like this: [Q1]: Looking back, what was it that first sparked your interest in […]

Outstanding Service Award (2005) — Chuck Huff (Interview)

[Q1]     Looking back, what was it that first sparked your interest in computer/information ethics? [A]:      It was a recognition on my part that two research areas of mine could be combined to help us understand this area.  I was interested in what is now called “social nformatics” in Europe and also in how […]

Making A Difference Award (2005) — Simon Rogerson (interview)

[Q1]: Looking back, what was it that first sparked your interest in computer/information ethics? [A]:   Having spent many years in industry working on systems development in a variety of programming, analysis and project management roles I had my usual set of battle scars and medals borne out of trying to get systems to work […]

Making A Difference Award (2004) — Eugene Spafford (interview)

[Q1]: Looking back, what was it that first sparked your interest in computer/information ethics? [A]:    I really do not remember.   I think it was when I was working on a project related to my PhD, and someone mentioned to me that I should be careful about what I claimed for my work (on […]

Making A Difference Award (2003) — Don Gotterbarn (interview)

[Q1]: Looking back, what was it that first sparked your interest in computer/information ethics? [A]:   In the mid 70’s I left teaching philosophy and went into computer consulting with no academic training in computing. I was amazed at the kinds of critical projects I worked on. I, like my colleagues in the industry, loved […]

Making A Difference Award (2003) — Jim Moor (interview)

[Q1]: Looking back, what was it that first sparked your interest in computer/information ethics? [A]:   I came to appreciate the practical impact of computer ethics in the early 70’s when I was doing logic programming for student applications. As a programmer I realized that I could “observe” and record what students were doing on […]

Outstanding Service Award (2002) — C. Dianne Martin (Interview)

[Q1]: Looking back, what was it that first sparked your interest in computer/information ethics? [A]:   I took a special topics course in Computers and Society in 1970 under Ron Becker at the U of Maryland. From that point on, it became a passion for me. [Q]:   In the June 2001 Computers and Society […]

Making A Difference Award (2001) — Ben Shneiderman (interview)

[Q1]: Looking back, what was it that first sparked your interest in HCI? [A]:   My background was in traditional computer science, technically oriented but I always had a very eclectic outlook on life.  My parents were journalists and my sister an English professor, so the human condition was very much part of my outlook; […]

Outstanding Service Award (2000) — Tom Jewett (Interview)

[Q1]: I noticed on your online biography that you first earned a bachelor’s degree in music.  I can relate, having earned a bachelor’s degree in history before moving in to the world of computing as a professional.  Looking back, what was it that first sparked your interest in computing, and do you think non-traditional paths […]