Information Systems in the Community: A Summer Immersion Program for Students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (Hbcus)

Interest in information technology (IT) careers, in general, remains flat among college students and interest among women and non-majority students has even declined in recent years. Further, many researchers have expressed concern that students are ill-equipped to address many of the human, social, and ethical issues that typically arise in a technical context. At the same time, there is a growing body of work that suggests service-learning initiatives benefit all students, particularly women and minority students, in terms of stronger skill preparation and sense of collective belonging. The objective of this paper is to describe a six-week summer service-learning program aimed at addressing the under representation of African American students in the IT field. We found that the students experienced two significant outcomes: exposure to the skills necessary to enter the IT profession (e.g., project management, technical, and teamwork abilities); and participation in professional development opportunities that fostered a sense of belonging in the field.