CUE-P: Ohio Pathways to Undergraduate Computing Success (OPUCS)

About This Grant

As the demand for computing professionals in the United States continues to grow, it is critical to develop programs that will increase the number of students who complete bachelor’s degrees in computational fields. Because the number of women and students from historically underrepresented groups in computing is low as compared to the general population, recruitment and retention of these students into computing majors will help to fill the growing workforce needs. Over the course of this five-year project, fifteen institutions of higher education in Ohio will join together to form the Ohio Pathways to Undergraduate Computing Success (OPUCS) project. This consortium of nine four-year and six two-year institutions will devise transfer pathways that will increase the number of students who complete their Bachelor of Science degrees in computer science with a focus on supporting women students. This project benefits society by preparing students from diverse backgrounds for high-paying positions, thus meeting the needs of employers and contributing to social mobility for graduates and their families. OPUCS will also provide and study the impact of innovative structural support to women computing students at the academic institutions involved in the consortium. The OPUCS project objectives are to (1) establish a statewide consortium of nine four-year independent institutions, six two-year community colleges, and 15 industrial partners; (2) develop clearly articulated curricular pathways for students from two-year institutions to computer science bachelor degree completion at a four-year institution; (3) increase the number of students who transfer from two-year to four-year institutions and to complete their bachelor degrees within two years of transfer; (4) increase the number of women transfer students studying computing; (5) increase the number of women who complete internships with our industrial partners; and (6) establish an Association for Computing Machinery’s Council on Women in Computing (ACM-W) chapter at 75% of the consortium institutions. To complete these objectives, the project team will (1) develop an agreed-upon curriculum for the first two years of a computer science program among all OPUCS institutions; (2) use that curriculum as the basis for development of formal articulation agreements; (3) provide specific, detailed, and ongoing training to academic advisors so that students have a planned pathway for degree completion in four years; (4) provide faculty development training to improve the quality of instruction across the consortium; (5) train admission counselors so they are prepared to talk with prospective students about opportunities in computer science; and (6) provide tailored recruitment materials based on proven strategies from the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). Contributions to knowledge will come from investigation into two research questions: (1) To what extent does building a clear academic pathway and offering a familiar social/professional support network among the institutions involved in that pathway lead to an increase in the number of women studying and completing post-secondary computing degrees across Ohio? and (2) Which activities of the OPUCS consortium are perceived as most impactful by women pursuing computing degrees? This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.