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While undergraduate Computer Science (CS) degree programs typically prepare students for well-established roles (e.g. software developer, professor, and designer), several emergent CS career roles have gained prominence during the 21st century. CS majors (and students considering CS as a major) are often unaware of the wide range of careers available to job candidates with a CS background. This experience report describes seven innovative courses that broaden awareness of CS career roles and prepare students for technical interviews. Five courses prepared students for these career roles: Full-Stack Developer, Product Manager, ML or NLU Scientist, Technical Entrepreneur, and User Experience Designer/Developer/Researcher. The other two courses had traditional content but explicitly prepared students for technical interviews. These courses were co-developed by industry professionals and CS professors, and co-taught during a semester-long academic program. This paper highlights the replicable aspects of the program: the courses, teaching practices, and evaluation instruments (a teaching practices inventory and a data structures inventory). 

The Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI), a national INCLUDES alliance, is committed to supporting students in attaining credentials in computing. Its latest effort focuses on advancing undergraduate computing majors into graduate school to address the low numbers of Hispanics, or Latinx, attaining graduate degrees in computing. CAHSI expands adoption of evidence-based, multi-institutional graduate support structures that lead to Latinx students’ success. This paper describes strategic efforts to address well-documented barriers among graduate students (across all areas of study), e.g., feeling of isolation, lack of support structures, deficit thinking, and negative departmental climate. 

In spring of 2020, almost all campuses across the United States abruptly closed and shifted to remote instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students and faculty rapidly adjusted how they engaged in learning in a time of great social and economic upheaval. In this paper, we use the lens of equity-oriented student engagement to examine how computing departments facilitated student participation in educationally engaging activities during the campus closures. The National Science Foundation-funded INCLUDES Alliance, the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), is a network of computing departments dedicated to increasing the representation of Hispanics in computing education and careers. We present results from a survey administered in spring 2020 to over 900 CAHSI students in 14 computing departments at Hispanic-Serving Institutions and interviews with 30 faculty, department chairs, and leaders. Though students reported increased financial and mental health struggles, they reflected on the myriad ways that faculty and peers supported their learning and sustained their engagement in coursework and co-curricular opportunities. In response to the pandemic, faculty and student leaders structured supports, such as peer-led team learning sessions and student clubs, to operate effectively in remote environments to promote student engagement. 

Hispanics have become the largest ethnic minority in the US Better serving Hispanics to succeed in tertiary education and scientific fields like computing is critical to build equitable life opportunities and strengthen the US workforce. Typically, the most selective postsecondary institutions are emphasized as exemplary models for developing human capital in the US. Yet, due to the nation’s tertiary education institutional stratification, relatively low numbers of Hispanics are enrolled in these institutions. We examine how Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), federally designated institutions in the US that enroll at least 25% Hispanics, develop strategies to raise Hispanic attainment in computing fields. Specifically, we explore the activities of HSIs in the Computing Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), a network of over 60 HSIs and other stakeholders that are committed to raising Hispanic attainment in postsecondary computing. We address the question: How do HSIs in CAHSI employ strategies to develop talent in computing among Hispanics? Specifically, we examine how CAHSI institutions apply values that are grounded in Hispanic communities, including emphases on confianza, respeto, and familia, to support Hispanic students in computer science. Our findings indicate the importance of centering Hispanic cultural assets to improve Hispanic success in computing. 

This paper presents an innovative approach, applicable to all research-based fields, that identifies and broadly engages future computer science researchers. The Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI) piloted a national virtual Research Experience for Undergraduates (vREU) during the summer of 2020. Funded by an NSF grant, the goal of the program was to ensure that students, in particular those with financial need, had opportunities to engage in research and gain critical skills while advancing their knowledge and financial resources to complete their undergraduate degrees and possibly move to advanced studies. The vREU pilot provided undergraduate research experiences for 51 students and 21 faculty drawn from 14 colleges and universities. The Affinity Research Group (ARG) model, based on a cooperative learning model, was used to guide faculty mentors throughout the eight-week vREU. ARG is a CAHSI signature practice with a focus on deliberate, structured faculty and student research, technical, communication, and professional skills development. At weekly meetings, faculty were provided resources and discussed a specific skill to support students’ research experience and development, which faculty put into immediate practice with their students. Evaluation findings include no statistical difference in student development between the face-to-face and virtual models with faculty and the benefit of training as an opportunity for faculty professional growth and impact. This faculty development model allows for rapid dissemination of the ARG model through practice and application with weekly faculty cohort meetings, coaching, and reflection. 

This paper describes the ways in which an established K12 informal learning program, called Young Women in Computing (YWIC), utilizes culturally sustaining pedagogical practices to support learning, development, and leadership of youth outreach participants as well as undergraduate instructional staff. Authors emphasize the leadership roles undergraduates (here, authors 1-3) play in developing and implementing outreach designed and embodied at a Hispanic[1]Serving Institution. The three themes illustrated in this study include (1) opportunities for agency, or ownership, choice and autonomy for undergraduate leaders, (2) an emphasis on relationality, or developing personal relationships among undergraduate leaders and youth, and (3) the multiplicity of relevant knowledge and “ways of knowing” which contribute to viable pathways into computing. This paper argues the elevation of undergraduates better apprentices the next diverse educators and leaders in computing. 

In March of 2020, higher education institutions across the U.S. closed their doors and converted to remote and online learning due to the COVID-19 health crisis. As the country adjusted to the “new normal” of living and working at home, the economic and psychological impact of self-isolation and business closures were felt strongly by those who were most economically and socially vulnerable. In this context, the evaluation team of the Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI) implemented a survey of students studying computer science at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) across the country to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their lives. In this paper, we identify the contexts in which students at HSIs continued (or failed to continue) their academic pursuits under great hardship. Our analysis highlights how the multidimensional framework of “servingness,” defined as a critical organizational, interactional, and ideological approach that many HSIs use to support their students, was experienced by students during the pandemic (Garcia et al., 2019). We argue that the practices and structures of servingness contributed to sustaining students’ well-being, dignity, and learning amid uncertainty.