Learning about the Experiences of Chicano/Latino Students in a Large Undergraduate CS Program

Abstract

At our large U.S. research-intensive university, Chicano/Latino and Black/African-American students have been disproportionately leaving the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) majors at a higher rate than students without these identities. To uncover possible reasons for this, we invited students in these majors who identify as Chicano/Latino and Black/African-American to participate in focus groups. Twelve students, all identifying as Latinx/Hispanic, partici- pated in the focus groups. We identify several themes related to challenging aspects of the student experience, spanning physical campus environment, department curriculum and policies, and connections between students. We triangulate these findings with results from a survey measuring sense of belonging, confidence, and obstacles for thousands of students across eight introductory CSE courses. We discuss how these themes relate to actions that departments can take to address these challenges.

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