Unlocking the Clubhouse:
Women and Students of Color in Computing

Jane Margolis
UCLA Department of Education

Thursday, May 15th, 2003, 3pm-5pm
GSE&IS Building, Room 111
(just west of the Research Library)

Abstract: The field of computer science remains a predominantly white and Asian male "clubhouse". Based on four years of qualitative research at Carnegie Mellon University, one of the top computer science departments in the country, I will discuss the many influences contributing to the gender gap in computing. Based on current study I am doing in three public high schools here in LA, I will discuss our research about why so few African-American and Latino/a students are learning computer science at the high school level.

Jane Margolis is an Associate Research Educationist here at GSEIS. Continuing her interest in education and gender socialization, her focus for the last 8 years has been on the gender gap in computer science. She is the co-author of Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing (MIT Press, 2002). Dr. Margolis received her Doctorate in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1990, where she studied with feminist theorist Dr. Carol Gilligan. Margolis is currently the Principal Investigator on a three year NSF-funded project investigating why so few African-American and Latino/a and women students are learning computer science at the high school level.