Applying ncwit protocol to broaden participation in computing: A case study of cs@mines

Abstract

The Department of Computer Science (CS@Mines) at Colorado School of Mines (Mines) was founded in 2016 when the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (CS) split into separate departments. As a result, CS faculty, who had worked for years to broaden participation in computing without departmental leadership support, were able to become more strategic in their efforts. CS@Mines faculty, staff, and students now engage in well-defined recruitment, retention, and evaluation strategies, which includes K-12 outreach programs, flexible CS major and minor tracks, a near-peer mentoring program, scholarship programs, and continual evaluation. Ten years ago, the CS degree program at Mines had 157 majors, 17 women (10.8%), and 12 students from underrepresented groups in computing (7.6%). As of Fall 2019, CS@Mines has 679 majors, 146 women (21.5%), and 132 students from underrepresented groups (20.2%). Although the concentrated effort focused on increasing the number of women majors, the data clearly shows an increase in students from underrepresented groups as well. The changes achieved by CS@Mines are noteworthy considering (1) only ~30% of the students at Mines are women, (2) only ~17% of the students at Mines are from underrepresented groups in computing, and (3) women and underrepresented groups enrolled in undergraduate CS programs are predominantly not at parity with their respective populations in the United States. CS@Mines achieved positive results by applying the Undergraduate Systemic Change Model developed by the National Center forWomen and Information Technology. In this paper, we present CS@Mines as a case study for positive change and discuss the strategies CS@Mines has enacted (74 of the recommended 81).