In the US and other countries, women and people of color have been underrepresented in computing majors for more than twenty years. Given this trend and research showing that diverse teams are more successful, in 2017, Northern Kentucky University’s Department of Computer Science began implementing multiple evidence-based practices to address these concerns. New programs and practices were selected based on demonstrated improvements in student success and increased diversity of majors. The changes fell into two broad categories: (1) Curriculum/Program and (2) Student Support. New initiatives included new introductory interactive textbooks and platforms, implementation of a peer teaching assistant program, and added requirements for a freshmen seminar. In addition, the department was awarded an NCWIT Extension Services grant to support faculty training in inclusive teaching and classroom pedagogy. The success of these programs is measured by the increase seen in majors and minors, as well as improvements in student retention and a more diverse set of computing majors. We will discuss a subset of the programs, their implementation, retention and demographic enrollment results, and future work.

Maureen Doyle and Alina Campan are Professors at the College of Informatics, Northern Kentucky University. Meghan Schmidt is an Assistant Director Recruitment and Retention, in the Advising Center of the College of Informatics, Northern Kentucky University.