{"id":18434,"date":"2017-03-24T16:10:32","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T20:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/?p=18434"},"modified":"2019-03-12T13:21:26","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T17:21:26","slug":"howard-west-tech-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/blog\/howard-west-tech-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Howard West — A Positive Step Toward Tech Diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Howard University<\/span><\/a> celebrated its <\/span>sesquicentennial anniversary<\/span><\/a> on March 2, 2017. That\u2019s right! It has been 150 years since its charter by U.S. Congress. <\/span><\/p>\n

Howard University is a private, research university located in Washington, DC. <\/span>Notable graduates of the university include U.S. Supreme Court Justice <\/span>Thurgood Marshall<\/span><\/a>, U.S. Senator <\/span>Kamala Harris<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(D-Calif.), award-winning actor <\/span>Taraji P. Henson<\/span><\/a>, and Nobel Laureate <\/span>Toni Morrison<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Launch of Howard West<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Three weeks later, Howard University has another milestone to celebrate. On March 23, Howard University and Google announced a new partnership, the creation of a new program <\/span>Howard West<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Howard West will give select students an opportunity to participate in a three-month, summer residency program at Google. <\/span><\/p>\n

The program is open only to rising juniors and seniors majoring in computer science, who will be taught by senior Google engineers and Howard University professors. <\/span><\/p>\n

How will students be selected? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We were informed by Howard University that <\/span>students will be selected by the Computer Science Department and College of Engineering and Architecture, in concert with Google.<\/span><\/p>\n

Students who are selected for the program will have a dedicated workspace on Google\u2019s <\/span>Mountain View<\/span><\/a> campus (Google\u2019s global headquarter), and will be paid a generous stipend to cover housing and other expenses. <\/span><\/p>\n

Students will earn 12 credits toward graduation. <\/span><\/p>\n

The program will serve as a critical link between studying computer science and landing a job in the tech industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy and excitement on campus over this opportunity is palpable,” said a Howard University spokesperson. <\/span><\/p>\n

“This partnership allows us to provide innovative, world-class learning experiences to our students and prepare them for work and leadership in the community. The Silicon Valley experience and learning from top technology professionals is a major attraction for students.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Howard West serves twin goals; it will help the university establish a presence on the West Coast, while helping Google recruit and retain \u201cdiverse technical talent.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In announcing the introduction of the program, <\/span>Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick explained the thinking behind it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHoward West will produce hundreds of industry-ready Black computer science graduates, future leaders with the power to transform the global technology space into a stronger, more accurate reflection of the world around us,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0he said in a statement. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe envisioned this program with bold outcomes in mind \u2013 to advance a strategy that leverages Howard\u2019s high quality faculty and Google\u2019s expertise, while also rallying the tech industry and other thought leaders around the importance of diversity in business and the communities they serve.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bonita Stewart, Google\u2019s VP of Global Partnerships and an alumna of Howard University, explained what the program means to the company, <\/span>stating<\/span><\/a>: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Howard West\u2019\u201d is now the centerpiece of Google\u2019s effort to recruit more Black software engineers from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)\u2014and to make them feel right at home here in Mountain View.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Google plans on growing the program so students from other HBCUs could attend in the near future. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Google in Residence at Howard University<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Howard West is not the partners\u2019 first collaboration. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 2013, Google established a <\/span>Google in Residence<\/span><\/a> program at Howard University, which has since been <\/span>expanded<\/span><\/a> to nine other historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). <\/span><\/p>\n

Google started the program because it recognized the need to prepare computer science students at HBCUs for leading technical roles. <\/span><\/p>\n

Under the GIR program, Google engineers spend four to five months teaching introductory computer science classes at Howard University and other HBCUs. <\/span><\/p>\n

Stewart explained that Google \u201clearned a lot about the hurdles Black students face in acquiring full-time work in the tech industry\u201d through the GIR program. She is confident that Howard West will resolve one of the main hurdles — the lack of exposure and access to mentors and role models. <\/span><\/p>\n

State of diversity in tech industry<\/b><\/span><\/h5>\n

Google is to be commended for its effort to diversify its workforce.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like <\/span>other titans in the tech industry<\/span><\/a>, Google\u2019s current workforce is just not diversified enough. Google\u2019s workforce is overwhelmingly white (59 percent as of the end of 2015). Black employees constituted just 2 percent of Google\u2019s workforce, while Hispanics stood at 3 percent during the same period. <\/span><\/p>\n

These numbers do not jibe with the racial composition of the general population. In <\/span>July 2015, <\/span><\/a>Blacks constituted 13.3 percent and Hispanics 17.6 percent of the total population, according to the <\/span>U.S. Census Bureau<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The lack of diversity in tech industry is troubling, and companies are taking steps to improve diversity in their workforce. <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter and other tech titans have made a <\/span>commitment<\/span><\/a> to recruit more women and minorities. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Obama Administration also stepped in last year and obtained a <\/span>pledge from 30 companies<\/span><\/a> to make their technology workforce \u201cfully representative of the American people, as soon as possible.\u201d Companies that made the pledge include Airbnb, GoDaddy, Intel, Lyft, Pinterest and Spotify. <\/span><\/p>\n

In August 2015, during the first White House Demo Day, President Obama also <\/span>pushed<\/span><\/a> several companies, including Amazon, Microsoft and Xerox, to improve their hiring practices and to <\/span>\u201cconsider at least one diverse candidate for every senior executive position.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Atlassian<\/span>, an Australian software company with an office in San Francisco and around the world, went even further. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to Atlassian<\/a>, \u201cdiversity is ultimately about employees and creating a fairer and more equitable workplace for everyone,\u201d so it set out to survey over 1,400 tech workers in the U.S. to find out what they thought about the progress of diversity within their industry, especially today when the country is so polarized. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n