The Department of Labor estimates that more than a million computing-related job openings will be available in the U.S. by 2024. It also estimates that more than two thirds of these jobs could go unfilled due to an insufficient pool of qualified applicants. Addressing the underrepresentation of women and other minoritized groups in the computing workforce will help to close this predicted employment gap. Evidence suggests that the resulting increased diversity of the workforce can also lead to increased productivity and better problem solving in the workplace. This project will investigate how to recruit, retain, and prepare women and minoritized students to pursue careers in Computer Information Systems (CIS). Project goals include: 1) providing CIS faculty at Central New Mexico Community College with resources to support and retain traditionally underrepresented groups in CIS technician majors; 2) introducing high school students to careers in CIS, with a focus on girls and students from other minoritized groups; 3) preparing these students for success in postsecondary CIS pathways; and 4) strengthening high school teachers’ knowledge and understanding of CIS careers.
Project efforts will focus on the entire pipeline, from high school teachers and students to college faculty and students in the CIS program. The project intends to broaden participation in CIS by recruiting high school students from minoritized groups, including women, into CIS career pathways and supporting their success within the pathway. The project will leverage multiple approaches including providing high school students with CIS skills workshops, paid internships, and courses that provide dual enrollment credit. It will also train college faculty to better support the educational journeys of all their students using customized curriculum. Quantitative instruments will be developed to monitor the impact of activities on high school students. Descriptive statistics will be used to determine the baseline perceptions of CIS and confidence in ability to learn CIS skills. The student cohort will be surveyed over time to measure changes in attitude and behavior, as well as changes in their intention to pursue CIS education after high school. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
