Technology undergirds every aspect of our contemporary lives—from media to healthcare, from toys to scientific research. This means Computer Science and Information Technology (CS/IT) are two of the most ubiquitous STEM fields in the 21st century. The computing workforce that creates these technologies, however, is remarkably homogenous. This lack of gender and racial/ethnic diversity is also evidenced in secondary and postsecondary computer science and technology education. We know that diversity enhances group problem solving and collective intelligence, which in turn supports innovation, so at the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), we focus on diversifying computing fields, both in the classroom and in the workplace.

Community colleges are a critical linchpin in this effort to diversify the technology workforce because these institutions already attract a highly diverse student body, train existing professionals, and provide a stepping stone to university degrees. Yet community college faculty report being relatively under-resourced and over-burdened, and CS/IT faculty have limited expertise in techniques for diversifying their computing classes. The unique mission of inclusion and open-access of community colleges makes them a crucial point of intervention.

The overarching goal of this project was to build capacity for community college faculty and administrators for recruiting and retaining more women and under-represented students in their computing departments. The approach has been to expose them to evidence-and research-based practices for diversifying their departments and to facilitate their own networking and collaboration, since the majority had reported feeling isolated and often unsupported in their home departments. This goal was accomplished in a number of different ways.  

In the first part of the project, activities included bringing together faculty from high schools and community colleges across Colorado to learn about evidence-based recruitment and retention practices in person and collaborate on ways to implement them in their local communities.

The latter portion of the project expanded to include community colleges from across the US. During the last two years of the grant, community college representatives were brought together at the NCWIT annual Summit and exposed to research-based practices for recruiting and retaining women and other historically underrepresented minorities. In 2014, 23 colleges were represented, and in 2014, 22 colleges were represented.

NCWIT community college membership has grown substantially as a consequence of this funding. Membership grew from only five community colleges in 2011 to 38 in 2015. During the course of this project, community college institutional membership in NCWIT grew 138%, and individual representatives of these 38 institutions now numbers 74. This growth in membership is significant because 68% of NCWIT members report that their membership is “very” or “extremely” useful to their organizations, and 82% of NCWIT Summit attendees reported that the Summit was “very” or “extremely” valuable. A majority report being energized to create change in their home institutions.

The community colleges formed a subcommittee that worked on several projects, including the publication of three new NCWIT resources (free for download at www.ncwit.org):

1)    A Lucrative, Secure Computing Career: Community College Can Take You There—This poster highlights the importance of community colleges to educating the computing workforce. It connects various pathways into community colleges, outlines some of key components of the community college experience, and details some of the high-paying technical careers these students will be working toward.

2) &nb...

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