Valerie Barr

Digital Library

ACM Distinguished Member

USA - 2019

Press Release

Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award

USA - 2016

citation

For broadening the impact of ACM-W, increasing its effectiveness in supporting women in computing worldwide, and encouraging participation in ACM.

Valerie Barr is an exceptional leader of the ACM-W, providing a strong leadership example to those responsible for project efforts of ACM-W. She has sought out and built strong partnerships with organizations that share ACM-W's mission to better realize its goals. She has also developed relationships with industry to support ACM-W's work. She has worked to establish ACM-W internationally as a key partner in addressing issues of underrepresentation of women in the computing field.  During her tenure, ACM-W Europe and ACM-W India were developed or expanded significantly.  ACM-W Celebration conferences have spread to new venues including many in Cuba, Canada, England and Puerto Rico.

Valerie works tirelessly for the benefit of both ACM-W and ACM, making appearances at various conferences and important ACM events. She develops opportunities for ACM and ACM-W to shine as organizations that will support computing professionals in all aspects of their career, encouraging students, faculty, and those in industry to become members. She is a truly effective representative of ACM and ACM-W, deserving of recognition for her outstanding contributions.

Press Release

ACM Senior Member

USA - 2009

ACM Recognizes 2019 Distinguished Members for Educational, Engineering and Scientific Contributions to Computing

ACM has named 62 Distinguished Members for outstanding contributions to the field. All 2019 inductees are longstanding ACM members and were selected by their peers for a range of accomplishments that have contributed to technologies that underpin how we live, work and play.

"Each year it is our honor to select a new class of Distinguished Members,” explains ACM President Cherri M. Pancake. “In everything we do, our overarching goal is to build a community wherein computing professionals can grow professionally and, in turn, contribute to the field and the broader society. We are delighted to recognize these individuals for their contributions to computing, and we hope that the careers of the 2019 ACM Distinguished Members will continue to prosper through their participation with ACM."

The 2019 ACM Distinguished Members work at leading universities, corporations and research institutions around the world, and hail from Canada, China, Germany, Ireland, Qatar, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States. These innovators have made contributions in a wide range of technical areas including artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, computer engineering, computer science education, cybersecurity, graphics, and networking.

The ACM Distinguished Member program recognizes up to 10 percent of ACM worldwide membership based on professional experience as well as significant achievements in the computing field. To be nominated, a candidate must have at least 15 years of professional experience in the computing field, 5 years of continuous professional ACM membership, and have achieved a significant level of accomplishment, or made a significant impact in the field of computing, computer science and/or information technology. In addition, it is expected that a Distinguished Member serves as a mentor and role model, guiding technical career development and contributing to the field beyond the norm.

2016 Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award

Valerie Barr was named recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award for reinventing ACM-W, increasing its effectiveness in supporting women in computing worldwide and encouraging participation in ACM. Barr, a Professor at Union College, has been uniquely effective in turning good ideas about how to increase the participation of women in computing into tangible programs that yield measurable results.  When she first joined the Association for Computing Machinery’s Council on Women in Computing (ACM-W) in 2005, she launched a scholarship program. Barr and others believed that if more young women could attend major computer research conferences, they would be encouraged to continue in the field. Since its inception in 2006, the program has expanded the horizons of numerous young women internationally and has continued to grow. Because of Barr’s adeptness at conveying her vision to funders, the program is 100% supported by industry contributions. Last year, the ACM-W Scholarship Program distributed $40,000 over 40 awards.

ACM-W’s dedicated and hard-working volunteers share a central goal of bringing women together for mentoring, networking, and other career-enhancing activities. Since becoming the Chair of ACM-W in 2012, Barr has been a driving force in more than tripling the number of ACM-W chapters around the world, from 50 to 180 today. One strategy that led to this growth was the introduction of special networking events in which colleges and universities with ACM-W chapters would invite students from neighboring colleges and encourage them to establish ACM-W chapters on their own campuses.   ACM-W Councils in Europe and India oversee activities in their respective regions.  Another notable area of growth during Barr’s tenure as Chair has been a significant increase in ACM-W Celebrations, small conferences in which women from specific geographic regions come together for career fairs, industry panels and technical presentations. Celebrations events have expanded to Cuba and the Philippines, and one event is tailored specifically for community college students. Last year, 25 ACM-W Celebrations took place around the world.

ACM-W members especially look forward to Connections, a monthly newsletter Barr instituted that is sent to 36,000 people each month and is considered a “must read.”

The Outstanding Contribution to ACM Award recognizes outstanding service contributions to the Association. Candidates are selected based on the value and degree of service overall, and may be given to up to three individuals each year.