Disrupting Computing Department Cultures, One Cohort at a Time

Alicia Nicki Washington; Shaundra Bryant Daily; Cecilé Sadler

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Conference: 2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)
Location: Arlington, Virginia
Publication Date: February 25, 2024
Start Date: February 25, 2024
End Date: February 27, 2024
Conference Session: Track 8: Technical Session 5: Disrupting Computing Department Cultures, One Cohort at a Time
Tagged Topics: Diversity and CoNECD Paper Sessions
Page Count: 32
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--45445
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/45445
Download Count: 20

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Paper Authors

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Alicia Nicki Washington Duke University orcid.org/0000-0001-9180-6234

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Dr. Nicki Washington is a professor of the practice of computer science and gender, sexuality, and feminist studies at Duke University and the author of Unapologetically Dope: Lessons for Black Women and Girls on Surviving and Thriving in the Tech Field. She is currently the director of the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows program and the NSF-funded Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AiiCE). She also serves as senior personnel for the NSF-funded Athena Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Her career in higher education began at Howard University as the first Black female faculty member in the Department of Computer Science. Her professional experience also includes Winthrop University, The Aerospace Corporation, and IBM. She is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University (B.S., ‘00) and North Carolina State University (M.S., ’02; Ph.D., ’05), becoming the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in computer science at the university and 2019 Computer Science Hall of Fame Inductee.

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Shaundra Bryant Daily Duke University orcid.org/0000-0002-6612-2049

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Shaundra B. Daily is the Cue Family professor of practice in Electrical and Computer Engineering & Computer Science at Duke University and Levitan Faculty Fellow, Special Assistant to the Vice Provosts. Prior to joining Duke, she was an associate professor with tenure at the University of Florida in the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering. She also served as an associate professor and interim co-chair in the School of Computing at Clemson University. Her research focuses on the design, implementation, and evaluation of technologies, programs, and curricula to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM fields. Currently, through this work, she is the Backbone Director for the Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education as well as Education and Workforce Director for the Athena AI Institute. Having garnered over $40M in funding from public and private sources to support her collaborative research activities, Daily’s work has been featured in USA Today, Forbes, National Public Radio, and the Chicago Tribune. Daily earned her B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University – Florida State University College of Engineering, and an S.M. and Ph.D. from the MIT Media Lab.

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Cecilé Sadler Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Cecilé Sadler is a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab with the Lifelong Kindergarten group. She is studying the intersection of computing and education in an effort to design equitable learning environments that promote creativity through technology development. Her research interests focus on investigating how computing can be leveraged to create spaces for young people of color to practice agency and develop their cultural identity through playful learning experiences. Cecilé is a graduate of North Carolina State University and Duke University, earning her B.S. and M.S. in Computer Engineering. She is on the Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows Program leadership team and senior personnel on the Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education (AiiCE).

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Abstract

Following the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, numerous organizations and people across the U.S. made commitments to racial justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. This was also true for academia, where the #BlackInTheIvory Twitter hashtag exposed the anti-Black racism faculty, staff, and students experience while navigating historically white colleges and universities.

On June 10, 2020, STEM faculty across the U.S. participated in #ShutDownSTEM, a one-day academic strike dedicated to learning about, understanding, and reflecting on anti-Black racism in higher education and STEM, as well as committing to actionable steps to eradicate it. However, this one day was insufficient in preparing faculty, staff, and graduate students for the important long-term work required to shift this paradigm.

In computing, there were several motivating factors to consider. First, faculty are overwhelmingly white and Asian, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, middle-to-upper-class men. Second, faculty are often not formally trained on identity-related topics (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, class, and their intersections). Next, faculty must better understand these topics to incorporate them into not only their courses, but also their academic environments. Finally, faculty could potentially do more harm than good when attempting to do this work with an inadequate understanding of how people (e.g., faculty, staff, and students), policies, and practices impact students (and colleagues) from minoritized identities.

To address this critical gap in postsecondary computing, the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows program was developed to help computing faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and professionals: 1) learn more about identity, intersectionality, oppression, and how these topics impact computing environments; and 2) develop computing courses, modules, and other activities at their home institutions that leverage these topics to not only foster more inclusive and equitable cultures, but also better prepare graduates to develop more equitable and inclusive technologies and cultures.

This two-year, virtual, professional development (PD) program includes an introductory process that provides all participants a baseline understanding of identity-related topics and 10 two-hour sessions in the first year. In the second year, participants must design/implement an identity-inclusive course, module, or other activity and complete two one-hour PD sessions.

The goal of the program was to improve the experiences (and ultimately, retention) of computing students (and faculty) from minoritized groups in computing by: 1) decentering students from non-dominant identities [and instead center the people, policies, and practices impacting them]; 2) providing a closed space for (un)learning; 3) building a community of practice; and 4) ensuring a demonstrable result of program participation at home institutions.

The 3C Fellows began it’s first cohort in the 2020-21 academic year. To date, a total of 117 faculty, 23 graduate students, and 44 staff from 70 institutions/organizations across 3 countries have fully completed the first two cohorts. An additional 78 participants (Cohort 3) are currently completing Y1 activities and 47 participants (Cohort 4) are beginning Y1 activities. Each subsequent cohort was refined based on lessons learned from the prior. We are also exploring extensions beyond computing to greater STEM disciplines and industry.

Citation
Format

Washington, A. N., & Daily, S. B., & Sadler, C. (2024, February), Disrupting Computing Department Cultures, One Cohort at a Time Paper presented at 2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD), Arlington, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--45445

TY - CPAPER
AB - Following the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, numerous organizations and people across the U.S. made commitments to racial justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. This was also true for academia, where the #BlackInTheIvory Twitter hashtag exposed the anti-Black racism faculty, staff, and students experience while navigating historically white colleges and universities.

On June 10, 2020, STEM faculty across the U.S. participated in #ShutDownSTEM, a one-day academic strike dedicated to learning about, understanding, and reflecting on anti-Black racism in higher education and STEM, as well as committing to actionable steps to eradicate it. However, this one day was insufficient in preparing faculty, staff, and graduate students for the important long-term work required to shift this paradigm.

In computing, there were several motivating factors to consider. First, faculty are overwhelmingly white and Asian, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, middle-to-upper-class men. Second, faculty are often not formally trained on identity-related topics (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, class, and their intersections). Next, faculty must better understand these topics to incorporate them into not only their courses, but also their academic environments. Finally, faculty could potentially do more harm than good when attempting to do this work with an inadequate understanding of how people (e.g., faculty, staff, and students), policies, and practices impact students (and colleagues) from minoritized identities.

To address this critical gap in postsecondary computing, the Cultural Competence in Computing (3C) Fellows program was developed to help computing faculty, staff, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and professionals: 1) learn more about identity, intersectionality, oppression, and how these topics impact computing environments; and 2) develop computing courses, modules, and other activities at their home institutions that leverage these topics to not only foster more inclusive and equitable cultures, but also better prepare graduates to develop more equitable and inclusive technologies and cultures.

This two-year, virtual, professional development (PD) program includes an introductory process that provides all participants a baseline understanding of identity-related topics and 10 two-hour sessions in the first year. In the second year, participants must design/implement an identity-inclusive course, module, or other activity and complete two one-hour PD sessions.

The goal of the program was to improve the experiences (and ultimately, retention) of computing students (and faculty) from minoritized groups in computing by: 1) decentering students from non-dominant identities [and instead center the people, policies, and practices impacting them]; 2) providing a closed space for (un)learning; 3) building a community of practice; and 4) ensuring a demonstrable result of program participation at home institutions.

The 3C Fellows began it’s first cohort in the 2020-21 academic year. To date, a total of 117 faculty, 23 graduate students, and 44 staff from 70 institutions/organizations across 3 countries have fully completed the first two cohorts. An additional 78 participants (Cohort 3) are currently completing Y1 activities and 47 participants (Cohort 4) are beginning Y1 activities. Each subsequent cohort was refined based on lessons learned from the prior. We are also exploring extensions beyond computing to greater STEM disciplines and industry.

AU - Alicia Nicki Washington
AU - Shaundra Bryant Daily
AU - Cecilé Sadler
CY - Arlington, Virginia
DA - 2024/02/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Disrupting Computing Department Cultures, One Cohort at a Time
UR - https://peer.asee.org/45445
DO - 10.18260/1-2--45445
ER -