Recruiting & Retaining at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions

Recruiting & Retaining at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions Valerie Barr, Union College Andrea Danyluk, Williams College Jennifer Rosato, College of St. Scholastica Gloria Townsend, DePauw University

Overview • Advantages & disadvantages of PUIs • Description of practices at our institutions • Resources • Question & Answer

PUIs award nearly 60% of all bachelor’s degrees in computer science. Source: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind08/append/c2/at02-01.pdf

Why 60%? • small class sizes; • close relationships among professors and students; • no involvement of graduate students in the teaching process; • ample office hours for students;

Why 60% emphasis on students' acquiring problem solving skills and critical reasoning skills; building writing, speaking and listening skills across the curriculum;

Why 60% ample opportunities to develop leadership skills; intellectual liveliness; teamwork, interdis-ciplinary study; innovative pedagogy such as service learning and collaborative researchexperiences.

Classes are often taught in lab settings – how true is this for you?

Challenges

Challenges Fewer faculty sharing workload Turnover (i.e. key faculty leaving) Fewer women majors to develop critical mass Support network, peer mentoring, recruitment of others Fluctuating data on retention & graduation

College of St. Scholastica Williams College DePauw University Union College

Union College

Union College Recruiting: Change in overall recruitment strategies 5 theme-based intros, 3 options of minors Hooks to neuroscience, economics, arts Interdisciplinarity, interdepartmental majors Participation in Gen Ed program Value enrollments! Marketing. Very accessible faculty, 3/8 are women

Union College Retaining: Everything we do to recruit helps us retain Revision of mid- and upper- level curriculum, increased ‘relevance’ Research opportunities Support for independent study “You want to do it, we’ll help make it happen”

Williams College

Williams College Recruiting Female faculty and students at info sessions and open house events Female faculty in CS 1 &/or CS 2 2 women co-teaching CS 1 => “CS is a girl thing” The power of a young female faculty member who students can relate to Introductory courses that aren’t all about programming Female TAs Women in CS events Current students and alums Faculty and staff

Williams College Retaining Attention to advising Upper level courses Open-ended final projects Team projects Research opportunities At Williams and away (DREU) Women in CS events Monday night snacks, cool t-shirts Grace Hopper Conference

College of St. Scholastica

College of St. Scholastica Recruiting Variety of concentrations & double-majors CS0 & CS1 taught by women Integrate with adult evening program Outreach (camps, clubs, girls scouts) Future work: Open House for undecided majors (70% of CSS students are women)

College of St. Scholastica Retaining 3 of 4 undergrad faculty women Women in CIS group (social activities) Projects with non-profit clients Future Work – TA training Continuing Efforts Strategic Plan Goal: 50/50 by 2019

DePauw University

Recruiting “Leveling the CS1 Playing Field” project Provide T-shirts (wearable advertising) for ACM-W members Use ACM-W studentsto recruit and to staff lab positions(role-modeling) Female in-class assistants DePauw University

DePauw University • Retaining • ACM-W Chapter • Regional Celebration • GHC scholarships • Two female instructors • REU • CS House

Tracking Data Gender Breakdown of Graduates

Resources Regional and national conferences for Women in CS ACM-W scholarships for conference participation CRA-W’s CREU and DREU programs; and REUs in general NCWIT's Programs-in-a-Box

Questions?

Recruiting & Retaining at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions