ances (STARS Alliance, Computing Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institutions, Access Computing, Alliance for African American Researchers in Computing, and NCWIT). Over 300 researchers, educators, and practitioners have signed a petition supporting the SIGBP; 75 people expressed interest in SIGBP leadership. The initial leadership team will include: Monica Anderson, Maureen Biggers, Brian Blake, Ann Condon, Juan Gilbert, Richard Ladner, Bobby Schnabel, George K. Thiruvathukal, Manual Perez Quinones, and myself. Endorsement letters have been received from 16 organizations, including ACM SIGCSE, ACM SIGITE, ABI, CDC, CRA-W, NCWIT, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. We received NSF funding for SIGBP startup.a The committee held several meetings and community forums to inform the vision of the SIGBP, as summarized next.

The scope of a SIGBP is to provide an overarching international community to highlight, support, connect, and strengthen the diverse array of existing BP communities, activities, and research. The mission is to advance innovation and discovery by increasing and broadening participation in computing. The SIG will promote research, technologies, practices, and policies for increasing the participation of women, underrepresented minorities and persons with disabilities in computing.

SIGBP members will be researchers, practitioners, educators, and policymakers from academia, industry, government, K– 12 schools, and the non-profit sector within a variety of interests, including computing, psychology, sociology, ethnic and gender studies, education, and human resources.

The SIGBP goals are to foster collaboration, dissemination, and support among organizations, programs, and people seeking to broaden participation in computing, with a fourfold focus on research, practices, awareness, and professional development, as follows:

˲ Advance research on the factors behind lack of participation. The SIG- a NSF Award 1042372 (T. Dahlberg), 1042337 (G. Thiruvathukal), ACM SIGBP: Forming an ACM Special Interest Group to Scale the Impact of BPC Activities.

the need to involve
all voices to inform
change and provide
equitable access to
jobs is urgent.

BP will provide greater opportunity for computing researchers to publish in a computing venue. This will provide a referencing mechanism to research with an explicit focus on BPC, research on broadening participation in science and engineering that is relevant for computing, and publications in the many disciplines that inform BPC research, such as education, psychology, gender studies, ethnic studies, educational technologies, student services, and human resources. SIGBP peer-reviewed publications will make the outcomes of BPC research more visible to computing researchers and practitioners who are not already connected to BPC activities.

˲Evaluate and promulgate effective practices for increasing participation. The SIGBP will provide a central community to find information about organizations, activities, publications, awards, other communities and portals with a BP mission. Examples of BP practices to be disseminated include models, frameworks, and strategies for recruiting and advancing people along the pipeline from K– 12 to college to the workforce.

˲Advocate beneficial institutional or government policies. The SIGBP will raise awareness among policymakers and the public at large, by seeking to inform and engage the computing community in emerging efforts to address policy.

˲ The SIGBP will advance the academic and career development of students and professionals in computing by providing an index to the many opportunities to participate in programs with goals to broaden participation.

SIGBP activities will include:

˲ Sponsor an annual SIGBP sym-
posium, co-located with an existing
conference, publishing peer-reviewed
papers.

References

1. Chubin, d. E. and Johnson, R. Y. A program greater than the sum of its parts: The BPC alliances. Commun. ACM 54, 3 (mar. 2011).

2. Etzkowitz, H., Kemelgor, C., and Uzzi, B. Athena Unbound: The Advancement of Women in Science and Technology. Cambridge University Press, 2000.

3. Ladner, L. Opening remarks. Commun. ACM 52, 12 (dec. 2009).

 

Teresa A. Dahlberg ( [e-mail]) is a professor of computer science and Associate dean of Undergraduate Programs and Administration for the College of Computing and Informatics at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.