WICS @ SFU: assessing the impact and outcomes of a women in computing science student group at the college level

Authors:
Kathleen Tsoukalas;Winona Tin Wing Wu
Affiliations:
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada;Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
Venue:
Proceedings of the 14th Western Canadian Conference on Computing Education
Year:
2009

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Abstract

In 2002, Women in Computing Science at Simon Fraser University (WICS) was established first as an email list and later as a full-fledged student group for individuals with a wide diversity of backgrounds with the following goals: first, to promote women in Computing Science; second, to support women throughout their study of Computing Science; third, to build a strong network of friendly faces for women in Computing Science, and four, to challenge the biases and myths faced by women in Computing Science [1]. In this paper, we assess the impact of WICS on its members and its value in SFU's CS Department through the results of a survey and statistics on WICS activity. We also propose future directions for the group as well as recommendations for those wishing to start similar groups.