Illinois State University (ISU) proposes a demonstration project to recruit a greater number of women, African-Americans, and Hispanics into an IT-related major. There are six such majors at ISU: Information Systems, Telecommunications Management, Computer Science, Industrial Computer Systems, Business Information Systems, and Accounting Information Systems. This range of majors allows students to express their varied interests and talents in the field. A collateral project goal is to generate positive student attitudes toward the diverse career opportunities in computing. The project targets first and second-year college students who may never investigate IT as an academic option. It aims to overcome one of the chief impediments to attracting these students to computing: they are not interested enough to take an initial course in the field. This obstacle will be overcome by targeting students who have proven mathematical ability but are not enrolled in a computing course: it will draw from a population of 1700-plus ISU students in a Finite Mathematics course taken by mostly first- and second-year students. There is a realistic possibility that these students could succeed in completing an IT-related major. The project will have a number of objectives, including highlighting the opportunities in, and diversity of computing careers, providing role models from on and off campus who will humanize the field, motivating students to explore careers in computing, using tech-enabled popular venues like blogs, creating an academic and social environment, and educating Math faculty about connections between the Finite Math course and computing fields. It will feature 1) learning communities seminars, 2) online learning communities, and 3) faculty learning communities, all aimed at fostering an academic and social environment that is supportive of female and minority participation in a computing major. A team of two external evaluators will focus on both the process and outcomes of the project.
