The Center for the Study of Women, Science, and Technology (WST) was founded in 1999, supported by funds from the Georgia Tech Foundation and the Focused Research Program of the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Research. The Center began as an inter-college initiative sponsored by the College of Science, the College of Engineering, and the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
In 2001, WST became a Georgia Tech Center, receiving funding from and reporting to the Office of the Provost.
Also in 2001, WST partnered with the Office of the Provost and all six colleges on the Georgia Tech National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE Institutional Transformation cooperative agreement (2001-07) to promote an integrated institutional approach to the advancement of women faculty. WST co-directors participated as ADVANCE team members collaborating on initiatives with ADVANCE professors. In fall 2010, WST (and ADVANCE) began reporting to Institute Diversity.
WST also initiated the Women, Science, and Technology Learning Community, the first learning community at Georgia Tech. Founded in fall 2000 with seven residents, it quickly expanded to include twenty-four residents in fall 2001. In fall 2002, the WST Learning Community grew to forty-eight residents, its current size.
In 2005, the WST Learning Community was awarded a best practices citation by Georgia Tech's Office of Organizational Development for its successful mentoring program, which matches female students and faculty in closely related disciplines, the first cross-college faculty-student mentoring program at Georgia Tech.