"Broadening the Computer Science Community"

“This feels like coming home,” Maria Klawe said of Denison as she stood in front of faculty and students in Swasey Chapel last week. President of Harvey Mudd College and renowned computer scientist, scholar, and activist, Maria Klawe spoke with Denison students about her work in transforming computer science communities, both in school settings and the tech industry. Klawe was the featured speaker of this year’s Anderson Lecture, an annual science lecture sponsored by Reid and Polly Anderson, who designed the lecture series to engage a general audience in topics from STEM fields. This year, Klawe’s talk did just that — encouraging students and faculty of all departments to promote diversity in their classrooms. Klawe’s hypothesis predicts that diversity will naturally flow from interesting and supportive communities which build up confidence and demystify success for marginalized groups. For the Math and Computer Science department, Klawe’s lecture inspired further conversations and development on how our department will mature into such a community.