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?
CS1 Upper-Level
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
Union CollegeDePauw University
WilliamsCollege
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 UniversityRecruiting• “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• Retaining
– ACM-W Chapter
– Regional Celebration
– GHC scholarships
– Two female instructors
– REU
– CS House
Tracking Data
School
2005 2006 2007
SizeF Total %F F Total %F F Total %F
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?