Leslie Jensen-Inman is my Ada Lovelace 2010

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, an international day of blogging (videologging, podcasting, comic drawing etc.) to draw attention to the achievements of women in technology and science.

I am surrounded by women in technology that inspire me. When I paused to consider who to recognize as my Ada for 2010, I knew without a doubt, it was Leslie Jensen-Inman. Leslie’s developing a model web education program at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. Her students, steeped in web standards and best practices, are already producing professional level work before they graduate. I’ve met and worked side-by-side with a number of her students and can testify that Leslie’s passion for creating beautiful and usable web sites has been ignited in each of them.

Leslie’s desire to teach the web doesn’t stop with her students. She actively reaches out to educators, community leaders, business people and web developers. Leslie orchestrated the first in a series of fabulous events called Web Education Rocks (aka WE Rock Tour). This event brought together teachers, students, artists, web developers, politicians, entrepreneurs and business leaders who all benefit from an open web. The event helped everyone understand that the future of the web is built on today’s web education. It was a magical evening of inspiration, connecting and sharing of valuable web education curriculum resources (WaSP InterACT Curriculum Framework). And the WE Rock Tour didn’t end there…it continued in Australia and is booking dates in Europe and the US for 2010.

I cannot possibly express how inspired I have been by Leslie’s vision, energy and boundless optimism. Working with her is deeply satisfying and re-energizing. But don’t just take my word for it. Join us in the great adventure to further Web Education!