Building Strength In Computer Science: A New Study From AAAS

Now a new study from AAAS has concluded that recruitment of "non-traditional" students into computer science studies and jobs will be critical in keeping the U.S. workforce strong. And yet, the report says, this growing pool of students often is overlooked and underserved by higher education, government and industry.

Traditional students fit a familiar mold: They start college at 18 or 19, and they leave four or five years later with a bachelor's degree. Others, however, defy the stereotype: They're older. They may have children. While working full-time, they're seeking new skills or advancement. And many are women and minorities.

"Our workplaces are becoming more technologically dependent, not less so," said report co-author Shirley Malcom, AAAS director of Education and Human Resources. "If you accept that for economic and national security reasons we need people with skills in these areas, then how can you be sanguine with the idea that we're not getting the people we need?"

With funding from the National Science Foundation, the authors conducted surveys, visited colleges and universities and interviewed students, instructors and employers from 2000 to 2004. Their report is entitled "Preparing Women and Minorities for the IT Workforce: The Role of Nontraditional Educational Pathways."

Tanya Gunn, today a high-ranking computer technology executive, embodies the trend.

Gunn studied psychology at Howard University for three years, but then, driven by a desire for financial independence, she left school and went to work as a secretary at the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C. She showed a flair for computers; though she won promotions, she knew that she needed more training and a degree to make the most of her potential.

By that time she was married and had two daughters. And so, in the early 1980s, she began taking night classes at the University of Maryland, University College.

She was older, she's black, she's a woman—and in those early years, she wasn't always welcome in the world of computer geeks. "There weren't that many women majoring in computer sciences," Gunn said in an interview. "I kind of struggled because a lot of the guys in the class, including the instructors, really were stand-offish. It was like I had the plague, and they didn't know what I was doing there. 'She's a girl—let's don't talk to her. This is a boys' club'."

But semester by semester, she won respect; in time, fellow students and faculty members came to see her as a leader.

After 17 years of part-time study, Gunn graduated in 2001. Today, after a series of promotions, she is manager of change and problem management at the American Chemical Society, overseeing centralized communication and tracking of IT upgrades to promote better understanding of the changes across the organization.

The new report found such themes common among non-traditional students. Even now, the authors report, traditional four-year schools often are not structured to meet their needs. Instructors are not always sensitive. And the financial aid system gives advantages to traditional students.

One result: For-profit schools such as Strayer University and DeVry Institute of Technology were the top U.S. producers of computer science bachelor's degrees in 2001.

Another result: Few women and minorities are getting advanced degrees in computer science. In remarks at a Capitol Hill briefing in May, Malcom said that of 866 computer science doctorates issued by U.S. universities in 2003, 20.2 percent went to women. She said 17 such degrees went to African Americans; three to Mexican Americans, two to American Indians; and two to Puerto Ricans.

Though the report was begun during the dot-com boom, its findings remain important for the future, the authors say.

Eleanor Babco, executive director of the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST), said a recent study by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles showed the percentage of incoming undergraduates who planned to major in computer science declined over 60 percent between 2000 and 2004.

"Alarmingly," she added, "the proportion of women who thought that they might major in computer science has fallen to levels unseen since the early 1970s…. It is difficult to see how computer sciences can match expected future demand for IT workers without raising women's participation at the undergraduate level.

The report recommends more effort to accommodate non-traditional students at traditional schools; more faculty diversity; more public and private investment in schools that serve non-traditional students; and expanded financial aid to encourage internet technology students to study part-time in areas of "national need."

"Preparing Women and Minorities for the IT Workforce" was written by Malcom; Babco; Albert H. Teich, AAAS director of Science and Policy; Jolene Kay Jesse, formerly a senior research associate at AAAS who is now with the U.S. National Science Foundation; Lara Campbell, a senior program associate at AAAS; and Nathan E. Bell, a CPST research associate.