Women across IST at Penn State are creating a ‘culture of empowerment’

Flanigan serves as a cyber project manager at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she manages a portfolio of almost 300 people. She is also a mom of four children.

“As a leader, you are asked to wear many hats,” she said. “The only way to truly be successful in finding balance while accomplishing outcomes is to develop and invest in a second team; the next generation of leaders. It would be hard to find a successful leader that operates on any teams of one.”

Her leadership abilities were apparent long before motherhood. While a student in the then-School of IST, she launched the idea for what would become Pro Expo, the college’s fall career fair.

“What I wanted to do was help fill the gap between IST’s internship requirement for students and the industry partners who were in need of this talent,” she said.

That first Pro Expo featured approximately 20 companies and 60 attendees. With this year’s event welcoming 72 recruiters and more than 1,000 students seeking internships or full-time employment, the event has outgrown its initial home on campus and is now held at the Nittany Lion Inn.

“Getting exposure, learning professional etiquette and gathering data about prospective employers are critical tools as young students are navigating their academic careers,” she said. “It will inform the decisions they make from electives, projects and research, as well as give them that broader exposure of what’s out there.”

Years later, at Booz Allen Hamilton, Flanigan was working as a deputy project manager and looking forward to the arrival of her third child. Then, right before she left for maternity leave, she was offered a promotion.

“It made me feel valued for my aptitude and my accomplishments,” she said. “Knowing that my leadership saw that I had long-term potential versus a short-term out-of-office was important, as well as the investment, empowerment and recognition of my abilities.”

Like Flanigan, Marina Medvin, class of 2006, has built a successful career and is embracing her role as both an advocate for women in the field and as a mother.

While she earned her law degree after graduating from Penn State — and has become an award-winning attorney and media legal analyst — she regularly draws on the technical foundation she built in the College of IST.

“I remember first thanking my lucky stars for my technology background when an FBI ’10 Most Wanted’ fugitive was being prosecuted for fraud involving technology, among other things,” she said.

While the gender gap in the legal industry isn’t nearly as high as it is in science, technology, engineering and math fields, women still represent just 38% of lawyers nationally, according to the U.S. Census.

Medvin has ignored the gender gap as she climbed up the ranks in her career, focusing on herself and her own abilities.

“I didn’t think about being a woman; I thought about being successful,” she said. “I didn’t worry about anyone else’s ‘domination’ and instead I concentrated on my own path to dominance. My state of mind made me stronger and made me a true contender.” 

She instills these values in her young daughter, whom Medvin considers her life’s greatest accomplishment.

“Family is the most important part of [my] life, and being able to balance my work and my family gives me the greatest sense of joy,” she said.

She passes lessons that she shares with her daughter on to current and future students — especially women — in the College of IST, with this advice:

“Be you. You are who you are. Love yourself. Embrace yourself. Concentrate on your strengths. Don’t let insecurity enter your mind. Don’t restrict yourself. Unleash yourself onto the world. Think strong and you will be strong.”

An opportunity to be excellent

Lynette Yarger, associate professor of IST, has devoted her research career to exploring the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in the information technology workforce. Her findings have influenced not only the workplace, but the end-user perspective as well. She came to Penn State as an educator after working a number of years in the communication technologies industry and earning her doctorate degree.