Diversity/Careers In Engineering & Information Technology

History & overview

In 1993, publishing executive Roberta Renard saw the need for a publication focused on technical careers for groups traditionally underrepresented in technology. Renard Communications was founded, and Diversity/Careers in Engineering & Information Technology was launched in September of that year.

Today, Diversity/Careers and its companion website, www.diversitycareers.com, serve engineering and IT professionals who are women, African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Native Americans, people with disabilities and members of other diversity groups. Readers turn to Diversity/Careers for information on a marquee list of corporations, government agencies and NGOs seeking to recruit seasoned professionals and recent college graduates.

Diversity/Careers publishes six bi-monthly professional issues and two semi-annual minority college issues a year. Subscriptions, electronic or hard-copy, are free to qualified engineers, information technology professionals and small business owners. Additional copies are distributed at diversity-focused technical conferences and career fairs nationwide.

In 2004, Renard Communications was certified as a woman-owned business enterprise by the Women Presidents� Educational Organization-NY (WPEO, www.womenpresidentsorg.com). WPEO is the regional affiliate of the Women�s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC, www.wbenc.org), which is the largest third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the United States.

What Diversity/Careers covers

Articles cover career issues for experienced and new-grad engineers and information technology professionals in the diverse technical workforce. All articles feature technical pros who are members of minority groups, women or people with disabilities. Additional features look at the career implications of emerging and established technologies in industries from aerospace to financial services. All articles include interviews with diverse technical pros working in industry, government and other organizations.

Supplier diversity coverage is aimed at minority/women-owned entrepreneurs and business leaders in technical fields, and technical pros who are thinking of striking out on their own.

Request editorial calendar and deadlines

Leadership

Roberta Renard is the founder and publisher of Diversity/Careers in Engineering & Information Technology.

Renard grew up in the New York metro area, and earned a BA in political science and education from the University of Denver (Denver, CO). After graduation, she taught high school in New Jersey, and was a social worker in New York City�s Harlem.

She attended the Alliance Fran�aise in Paris, and lived in France for several years. After she returned to New York, she worked for Hayden (now Penton) Publishing, where she started Career Extra, a career-focused newspaper for engineers, for which she won Hayden�s annual award for �outstanding contribution to the company,� the first woman to do so. After six years, she moved to a management role at Cahners Publishing, where she created EDN Career News.

In 1993, she left Cahners to start her own workplace diversity magazine for technical women and minorities, Diversity/Careers in Engineering & Information Technology, and www.diversitycareers.com, the companion website to the magazine.

In addition to running her publishing company, Renard is an active philanthropist, contributing to a variety of organizations from educational institutions to global health initiatives.

Kate Colborn started writing about careers in technology in 1984, for publications including Career Extra, a recruiting supplement to Electronic Design magazine, EDN Career News; Datamation; EE Times; Computerworld and Dow Jones Employment Weekly.

When the publication of the Hudson Institute�s Workforce 2000 study of the changing demographics of the U.S. working population focused the attention of the corporate world on workforce diversity issues, Colborn covered technical workforce diversity for EDN Career News and Datamation. When Roberta Renard started Diversity/Careers in 1993, Colborn became its editor-in-chief.

Colborn attended Radcliffe College and has a bachelors degree in speech and dramatic arts from the University of Iowa.

Awards & honors

Founder and CEO Roberta Renard serves on the the Board of Visitors of the Albert Dorman Honors College of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark, NJ), to which she was elected in 2001. She is also a member of the fund-raising committee. In 2011 the graduating seniors gave her an award for exceptional support in appreciation of her significant and longstanding contributions to the school. In 2012, Renard Communications, the parent company of Diversity/Careers, was named NJIT Outstanding Corporate Partner.

Editor-in-chief Kate Colborn is the 2006 recipient of the Diversity Leadership Award presented by the Los Angeles chapter of the Women�s Transportation Seminar (WTS).

For its long-time association with the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA), Diversity/Careers was recognized as a Media Partner during BDPA�s 25th annual national conference in 2003.

The New Hampshire Champions of Diversity organization named Renard Communications a 2002 Champion of Diversity in the media category. The company was recognized for its �commitment to embracing diversity and elevating the value of human diversity in New Hampshire� because of its coverage of employees at companies with local operations, including Verizon, Fleet Bank and BAE Systems.

Social Responsibility

Renard Communications endows ongoing scholarships for female students in technical majors at the Albert Dorman Honors College at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The college enrolls more than 500 exceptional students preparing to become leaders in their fields. NJIT is a public scientific and technological research university on a 45-acre campus in Newark, N.J. NJIT was chosen for the endowment because of its commitment to educating inner city, minority students and women, especially in technical fields such as engineering, architecture and information technology. In appreciation for ongoing support from Renard Communications, in 2010 the Albert Dorman Honors College established the Roberta Renard Student Council Office in Fenster Hall to serve members of the Albert Dorman Honors Council.

Renard Communications has provided full four-year scholarships at the University of Denver to three minority women.

Renard Communications has made a major gift to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra to support its Early Strings Program, through which NJSO musicians provide hands-on violin instruction to nearly 600 second- through fourth-grade students in Newark Public Schools.

Renard Communications is a patron of the Greater Newark Conservancy, which strives to improve the quality of life in urban areas through environmental revitalization, education and economic development. The Greater Newark Conservancy's Education Program offers a myriad of hands-on environmental lessons every year to students throughout Newark with topics from earthworms to oil spills.

Renard Communications is a corporate sponsor of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, the state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The mission of the NJCH includes the goal of fostering cross-cultural understanding.

Renard Communications is involved in global health initiatives through its support of organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF.

Contact Information

Roberta Renard, CEO & Publisher    Email: publisher@diversitycareers.com

Renard Communications
197 Mountain Avenue
Springfield, N.J. 07081

Tel: (973) 912-8550
Fax: (973) 912-8599
Website: www.diversitycareers.com

Kate Colborn, Editor    Email: editor@diversitycareers.com

Diversity/Careers (editorial office only)
9 Mason Hill Road
P.O. Box 28
South Tamworth, NH 03883

Tel: (603) 323-8224

Jordan Weiss, Director of Advertising Sales    Email: jordan@diversitycareers.com

Renard Communications
197 Mountain Avenue
Springfield, N.J. 07081

Tel: (973) 912-8555

Marcia Siegendorf, Circulation Manager    Email: circulation@diversitycareers.com

Renard Communications
197 Mountain Avenue
Springfield, N.J. 07081

Tel: (973) 912-8550