Tech & Politics Speaker Series: Deirdre Walsh, Silicon Labs

This fall, Austin Tech Alliance is partnering with TX Votes to put together a speaker series called Tech & Politics on the first Thursday of every month on the campus of the University of Texas. This series will bring in speakers from the tech industry to speak about the importance of voting and civic engagement, especially as it relates to STEM. The program for the evening includes a short keynote, a fireside chat, and an audience Q&A. There will also be a booth to register to vote.

Our October speaker will be Deirdre Walsh, the Director of Marketing at Silicon Labs.

This series is focused on engaging STEM students. UT Austin students pursuing STEM majors voted at rates about ten percent lower than the UT average of 56.5 percent. For example, students in Computer and Information Sciences fields of study voted at 45.2 percent, Engineering and Engineering Technologies voted at 43.5 percent, Mathematics and Statistics voted at 43.5 percent, and Physical Science voted at 44.5 percent. Biology and Biomedical sciences saw the highest turnout rate of any STEM field with 51.2 percent. This data comes from the 2016 National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement.

About TX Votes

TX Votes is a non-partisan student organization at the University of Texas at Austin that invites students campus wide to increase electoral participation and create more voters and better citizens. Each election cycle, TX Votes, in partnership with the Annette Strauss Institute, organizes and coordinates Get Out the Vote activities including registration booths, deputization sessions, and campus competitions. During off election cycles, TX Votes educates the UT community and engages in respectful and civil discourse on important issues. The STEM Committee of TX Votes has previously organized a voter registration drive in the GDC that registered a student to vote for every three minutes spent tabling.

About Austin Tech Alliance

Austin Tech Alliance is a non-partisan, member-based nonprofit with a mission to promote civic engagement in Austin’s tech sector. ATA focuses on educating the tech grassroots on policy issues that impact them; advocating for using tech as a tool to help solve civic challenges; and activating the tech sector to speak up, participate, and vote.

About Deirdre Walsh

From hackathons to IPOs, Deirdre Walsh has spent the last 16 years building award-winning marketing programs at technology companies, including Silicon Labs, Jive Software, and National Instruments. Her passion for communications, equality and education earned her a spot as a White House LGBTQ Tech & Innovation Fellow under President Obama.

Deirdre has been published in several outlets, including the Harvard Business Review and Wall Street Journal, and a speaker at events like SXSW and The Federal Reserve Annual Conference. Deirdre is a proud graduate of The University of Texas, wife to her partner of 11 years, and mom to a goofy labradoodle. Her superpower is finding the perfect .gif for any situation.