UW CSE’s Ed Lazowska, Crystal Eney, Allison Obourn, and Ruth Anderson with the NCWIT NEXT Award Grand Prize trophy. Photo via UW.
UW CSE’s Ed Lazowska, Crystal Eney, Allison Obourn, and Ruth Anderson with the NCWIT NEXT Award Grand Prize trophy. Photo via UW.

The University of Washington’s computer science department today won a $100,000 top prize from the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT).

The NCWIT, a 10-year-old non-profit that promotes women’s participation in computing, picked the UW’s CSE program based on “significant gains” made in increasing women enrolling and graduating from its department.

“These accomplishments are the result of strategic, well-planned recruiting and retention efforts,” Lucy Sanders, co-founder and CEO of NCWIT, told GeekWire. “Of particular note is the inclusive, welcoming community their department has grown that spans beyond the walls of the university and has demonstrably advanced women’s meaningful participation in computing.”

The UW’s CSE program granted 30 percent of its bachelor degrees to women last year, said Ed Lazowska, the department’s Bill & Melinda Gates Chair. He noted that “our numbers are not great,” but are still double the national average at universities that have Ph. D programs.

Ed Lazowska.
Ed Lazowska.

“Computer science is a great field for everyone, and we need to get the word out more effectively,” Lazowska said.

As highlighted here, the UW focuses on outreach to K-12 teachers and students, enhancements to the introductory course sequence, and community-building to make its CSE program more welcoming to all students.

Lazowska noted that his department tries to use its introductory courses to attract more students who may have not considered programming as a major. He said that 58 percent of women who become CSE majors did not express a positive interest in doing so when they first enrolled in the intro course.

UW

“Our intro course can be one that tries to help everyone succeed, and many young women discover a passion for and an ability for computer science in our intro course,” Lazowska said.

He added that with high demand for computer science degrees, universities are forced to figure out how to manage the number of students applying to a program with strategies that may actually keep more under-represented students out of the major.

“Most computer science departments do not control the size of their major in the way that we are able to,” Lazowska said. “So, faced with dramatically increasing student interest, they turn their intro course into a hostile ‘weed ’em out’ course.  Well, who are you going to weed out?  Precisely the students who are already under-represented. I think we have a huge problem looming.”

The $100,000 prize was provided by Google.org. Departments that are part of NCWIT’s Extension Services Undergraduate Programs and demonstrate “a strong commitment to and proven results in recruiting and retaining women into undergraduate computing programs” were eligible for the award. Indiana University, Michigan State University, University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Texas at El Paso were also honored.

Related: Seattle startup Tune opens 8-bedroom house, with free rent, for women studying computer science … Study: Here’s how to beat the stereotypes that keep women out of computer science … University of Washington hires architect to develop plans for new computer science building

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