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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/at0201.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, interdisciplinary study; • innovative pedagogy such as service learning and collaborative research experiences. Classes are often taught in lab settings – how true is this for you? CS1 UpperLevel CSS 25 max avg of 10 Williams 20/section max of 20 DePauw max of 30 15 Union 17 25 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 DePauw University Recruiting • • “Leveling the CS1 Playing Field” project Provide T-shirts (wearable advertising) for ACM-W members • Use ACM-W students to recruit and to staff lab positions (role-modeling) – Female in-class assistants DePauw University • Retaining – ACM-W Chapter – Regional Celebration – GHC scholarships – Two female instructors – REU – CS House Tracking Data 2005 School F Total 2006 %F F Total 2007 %F F Total %F Size Amherst 5 20 25% 5 13 39% 2 10 20% 1700 Swarthmore 2 11 18% 2 11 18% 2 12 17% 1400 Pomona 0 5 0% 1 9 11% 1 6 17% 1500 Carleton 1 13 8% 1 8 13% 3 18 17% 1900 Bowdoin 1 13 8% 1 6 17% 2 8 25% 1600 Middlebury 0 5 0% 1 5 20% 1 5 20% 2200 Williams 1 6 17% 1 9 11% 2 17 12% 2000 Union 1 8 13% 2 5 40% 0 6 0% 2200 Scholastica 14 56 25% 10 41 24% 4 14 29% 2000 DePauw 13 45 29% 4 33 12% 5 25 21% 2200 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?