Exploring Computing Career Recruitment Strategies and Preferences for Black Computing Undergraduates at HBCUs

Black students, especially at the high school level, show a high interest in learning computer science; however, they only represent a small population of computer science full-time professionals in the industry. A few aspects that contribute to this are 1) the lack of early exposure to CS, 2) the absence of programs and resources at the high school level, and 3) the retention of Black students in the computer science major. Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have a lower number of the Black undergraduate population with only 8.4% of Black students, yet they award 15.4% of STEM bachelor’s degrees. It is important to investigate the current needs, challenges, mindsets, and effective methods used in computing education at HBCUs to improve the current state of CS departments for Black students. Focus groups of Black computing student participants (n=21) were conducted during a workshop to learn the current needs of HBCU students pursuing a computing degree and of the recruitment and retention approaches that are helpful for current students in the major. Major themes were determined through qualitative thematic analyses. Findings from this study can assist in the retention and development of Black students pursuing a degree in computer science and entering the computing workforce.