Is representation of women and African Americans in CS programs as low as in the IT workforce?
DAVIS: The short answer is yes. In many ways, the computer science classroom mirrors the computer science workplace. We believed that some of the factors we found that were important to satisfaction, commitment and retention in the workplace would be important in educational settings as well. We also realized that differences between the two settings would require us to adapt what we had learned to make it fit in the university. We were eager to extend what we had learned about the workplace so we began to scout for funding to support this research. Also at this time, the National Science Foundation had announced that it was interested in testing implementations of the more fundamental research they had previously funded. So the timing was right our interests and NSF’s interests converged. Women and African Americans face the same challenges that all students face in IT, especially computer science. It requires a strong background in mathematics and is hard work. Without intending to d
