From: Hank Levy <levy@cs.washington.edu>
Date: Thu, Jun 21, 2018 at 12:05 PM
Subject: Response to recent editorial
To: Researchers <researchers@cs.washington.edu>, Staff <cs-staff@cs.washington.edu>, <cs-ugrads@cs.washington.edus>, <vgrads@cs.washington.edu>
Dear Allen School Community,
Some of you may have read a recent editorial written by an Allen School faculty member about gender diversity in tech. Regardless of whether you saw the specific article or not, this is a good time to reaffirm our values around diversity and inclusion as a School.
The Allen School actively supports diversity and inclusion, as articulated in our Inclusiveness Statement. We disagree with the conclusions drawn in the editorial and are optimistic that our substantial, ongoing efforts to build an inclusive community will make us a better school — and make the tech industry, as a whole, a better place in which people of diverse backgrounds and experiences are empowered to do great work that impacts people’s lives. Our efforts include (but are not limited to):
- An extensive K-12 outreach program focused on inspiring students to pursue CS — especially girls and students from underrepresented groups.
- We are proud to be one of 11 leading computer science programs in the NSF-funded FLIP Alliance: Diversifying Future Leadership in the Professoriate, collaborating to launch and demonstrate the effectiveness of strategies for recruiting and retaining diverse doctoral students.
- A quarterly workshop on Building An Inclusive Community, which provides participants practical strategies for promoting inclusion in their daily interactions.
- A holistic undergraduate admissions process that aims to admit students who have strong academic and personal potential to contribute to the Allen School community.
- Enthusiastic participation in the UW STARS program for students from underserved high schools, including CS coursework to help STARS students explore and succeed in CS.
- A commitment to empowering people with disabilities to pursue computer science, through the AccessComputing Alliance and the nationally recognized work of Professor Richard Ladner.
- Participation in national organizations promoting diversity, such as NCWIT and BRAID.
- The Student Advisory Council, created to foster a strong undergraduate community and amplify the student voice.
- Q++, another organization created and led by undergraduates to promote community among LGBTQ students.
- Active ACM and ACM-W student organizations leading activities ranging from industry prep to workshops on imposter syndrome and sexual harassment.
- Sponsoring students to attend national conferences such as the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing and the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing. This year, the Student Advisory Council and ACM-W will both present at these conferences.
Notably, many of these efforts have been led by students. Along with the work of faculty and staff, we fully support students’ ability to determine their own needs and solutions and we empower students to be change agents within the Allen School.
We acknowledge that we have a long way to go, but these efforts work. Enrollment in our CS undergraduate and Ph.D. programs is around 30% women, after a steady increase from about 20% a decade ago. Recent admissions trends are positive: women account for 38% of our incoming CS direct freshman admits and 37% of transfer students for the coming academic year.
As you can see in these numbers, women are interested in CS and women do code! It is central to the mission of the Allen School to pursue initiatives that broaden participation in CS. Furthermore, we do not believe that where we are today is the best we are likely to achieve. We continue programs at all levels that focus on building interest among women in CS. We are currently expanding our efforts to include a focus on underrepresented minorities, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged students. Beyond recruiting new people to the field, it is crucial to create and nurture an environment where all students — especially members of underrepresented groups — feel supported.
All members of the Allen School are entitled to share their ideas freely, and no one among our leadership has any interest in silencing or censoring people even when they express controversial ideas. However, our leadership also has the right and the responsibility to affirm our values and to discuss the many ways in which we are supporting and will continue to support those values.
The most important thing we can do to promote inclusiveness is to listen to the people we want to support and to respond in tangible ways to the needs of students. The leadership of the Allen School believes that all students have the potential to be interested in computer science, and we believe that our ongoing efforts to promote an inclusive community help students of all backgrounds and identities succeed. If you have feedback on these initiatives or anything else related, please talk with an advisor or send an email to me or other members of the school leadership.
Hank Levy
Director, Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering