Thank you for your comment and question, Danielle.  Our first cohort of students are now completing their third year as undergrads, so it is too soon to expect degree completion.  We have been tracking progress of the LLC students through courses and major declaration, though even that information is limited because Rutgers students typically do not declare a major until the end of their second year.  As of earlier this semester, we saw that 71% of Cohort 1 declared either a CS major, a CS minor, or an ITI (information technology informatics) major and 95% of Cohort 2 either declared a CS or ITI major or were making course progress consistent with a CS major.  (We believe the larger number for Cohort 2 is due to changes we made in the program between the first and second years.) We will continue to track this progress and also are working on a follow-up study to compare this data to a comparison group who did not participate in the LLC.

Interesting to see the increase in cohort 2 vs 1 declaring CS/ITI major but can you comment on how this compares with current trends of women students who began college with interest in CS compared to those who declared CS major?

We still need to do this research.  We agree it will be interesting to see!

Yes, we do have a focus on creating study groups for students in the program. We currently work with the Rutgers Learning Center and each year we have a study section dedicated to the LLC (which includes an undergraduate learning assistant). Also, we host a study session at the end of each semester in preparation for finals with at least one computer science faculty and a graduate student that can assist with tutoring. 

We also host team-building welcome events, but the students mostly socially connect as they live in the same residence hall during an academic year. 

As an additional academic experience for the LLC students, they also take a "house course" for the LLC, just for them, "Great Ideas and Applications in Computer Science," taught by their faculty advisor. This one-credit seminar course is designed to ensure that the LLC students have a shared classroom experience and to connect some of the topics students are learning in CS major’s introductory courses to broader applications of CS.

HackHERS is one of many Hackathons at Rutgers University. However, this one is women-centric with an attendance of about 300 people each year. HackHERS mostly attracts women but is open to all, including many visitors from the entire university and other universities/colleges in the area.

Anecdotally, students have expressed that being able to connect with other women in technology at a Hackathon has helped them feel more comfortable with the field. 

Hi Hillary! Thank you for your question.

In our research, we have found mixed results in our survey data related to LLC students' confidence levels and support structures. The program has adapted over time in response to lessons learned and evaluation results, but one consistent finding is that LLC students tend to report much stronger levels of mentorship support than other women at Rutgers who did not participate in the program.

We are still analyzing our data further to better understand how LLC students compare to others over time, as well as to what degree the LLC program has impacted students in the long-term. We will be focusing particularly on research questions related to students' confidence to persist in their degree programs.

I hope this response helps answer your question. Thank you for sharing your video and bringing our attention to this very important work!