Cheryl Calhoun’s career spans higher education, non-profit administration, and several entrepreneurial ventures. She is currently serving as the Dean of Access & Inclusion at Santa Fe College where she taught information technology for over 20 years. Her career started with the American Red Cross where she served as Manager, Information Systems and Director, Health and Safety. This early social service experience helped her to develop a passion for making a difference in society. The highlight of her entrepreneurial ventures was serving as the co-owner of Wild Iris Books, an iconic feminist bookstore, located in Gainesville, Florida.

Her research interests focus on educational technology, broadening participation in computing, and challenging gendered norms in gendered fields. Her recent PhD dissertation “We are EWITS – Hear us Roar!”: Empowering Women in Technology Startups (EWITS) as an Experiential Learning Model to Challenge Gendered Social Norms in the Field” helped to develop a theory of planned behavior that considers the effects of unconscious bias, stereotype threat, and ambient belonging on women’s persistence in technology entrepreneurship.