Howard University celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary on March 2, 2017. That’s right! It has been 150 years since its charter by U.S. Congress.

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

Launch of Howard West

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 Howard West.

Howard West will give select students an opportunity to participate in a three-month, summer residency program at Google.

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.

How will students be selected?  

We were informed by Howard University that students will be selected by the Computer Science Department and College of Engineering and Architecture, in concert with Google.

Students who are selected for the program will have a dedicated workspace on Google’s Mountain View campus (Google’s global headquarter), and will be paid a generous stipend to cover housing and other expenses.

Students will earn 12 credits toward graduation.

The program will serve as a critical link between studying computer science and landing a job in the tech industry.  

“The energy and excitement on campus over this opportunity is palpable,” said a Howard University spokesperson.

“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.”

Howard West serves twin goals; it will help the university establish a presence on the West Coast, while helping Google recruit and retain “diverse technical talent.”

In announcing the introduction of the program, Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick explained the thinking behind it.

“Howard 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,” he said in a statement.

“We envisioned this program with bold outcomes in mind – to advance a strategy that leverages Howard’s high quality faculty and Google’s expertise, while also rallying the tech industry and other thought leaders around the importance of diversity in business and the communities they serve.”

Bonita Stewart, Google’s VP of Global Partnerships and an alumna of Howard University, explained what the program means to the company, stating:

“‘Howard West’” is now the centerpiece of Google’s effort to recruit more Black software engineers from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)—and to make them feel right at home here in Mountain View.”

Google plans on growing the program so students from other HBCUs could attend in the near future.  

Google in Residence at Howard University

Howard West is not the partners’ first collaboration.

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

Google started the program because it recognized the need to prepare computer science students at HBCUs for leading technical roles.

Under the GIR program, Google engineers spend four to five months teaching introductory computer science classes at Howard University and other HBCUs.

Stewart explained that Google “learned a lot about the hurdles Black students face in acquiring full-time work in the tech industry” 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.

State of diversity in tech industry

Google is to be commended for its effort to diversify its workforce.

Like other titans in the tech industry, Google’s current workforce is just not diversified enough. Google’s workforce is overwhelmingly white (59 percent as of the end of 2015). Black employees constituted just 2 percent of Google’s workforce, while Hispanics stood at 3 percent during the same period.

These numbers do not jibe with the racial composition of the general population. In July 2015, Blacks constituted 13.3 percent and Hispanics 17.6 percent of the total population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The lack of diversity in tech industry is troubling, and companies are taking steps to improve diversity in their workforce.

In addition to Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter and other tech titans have made a commitment to recruit more women and minorities.  

The Obama Administration also stepped in last year and obtained a pledge from 30 companies to make their technology workforce “fully representative of the American people, as soon as possible.” Companies that made the pledge include Airbnb, GoDaddy, Intel, Lyft, Pinterest and Spotify.

In August 2015, during the first White House Demo Day, President Obama also pushed several companies, including Amazon, Microsoft and Xerox, to improve their hiring practices and to “consider at least one diverse candidate for every senior executive position.”

Atlassian, an Australian software company with an office in San Francisco and around the world, went even further.

According to Atlassian, “diversity is ultimately about employees and creating a fairer and more equitable workplace for everyone,” 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.  

The company’s 2017 State of Diversity Report revealed a startling gap between perception and reality. For instance:

• 83 percent of respondents believe their company is already diverse;
• 79 percent of respondents believe that the average team at their company has a diverse set of team members; and
• 94 percent of respondents gave the tech industry, their companies and their teams a passing grade for diversity.

Atlassian plans on using the study to further improve its diversity efforts and hopes that other companies will do so as well.  

Conclusion

While the tech industry has a lot of work to do to make its workforce more diverse and inclusive, Howard West is definitely a step in the right direction. Students who have been traditionally locked out of the industry can use the opportunity to learn from experts and develop contacts in the industry, so they increase their chances of getting hired.