Women Who Reign: Lien Diaz

“Stand up for what you believe in even if it means standing alone.”

Tell us about yourself along with a fun fact!
I started out as a mathematics and science teacher, and athletic coach. I coached basketball, track and volleyball. I was an assistant coach on a varsity volleyball team that won the district championship four years in a row. That was fun! And I was really proud and honored to be a part of that. I then transitioned into conducting teacher professional development, classroom-based and large scale, with various projects promoting STEM education.

When I first began teaching, I taught using a mathematics curriculum developed with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that was focused on engaging students in learning mathematics in collaborative ways and changing perceptions about teaching and learning mathematics to help promote higher achievement, especially with minority students. This experience was very helpful when I began working at College Board in the Advanced Placement (AP) Program in 2006. I worked with the AP Calculus, AP Statistics and AP Computer Science courses and exams, and when discussions between the NSF and College Board began regarding the equity challenges in computer science education, I knew immediately that I wanted to be on that project. The goal was to develop a new and different college-level…