Since 1999, Carnegie Mellon has seen a substantial increase in the numbers of women entering and completing its undergraduate computer science program. Perhaps even more significant has been the transformation in the culture of computing at Carnegie Mellon. In this talk, I will discuss the nature of these changes, how they came to be, how we are adapting our program to increase the participation of women in IT at the graduate level and beyond --and ideas and implications for other venues.

I will also discuss a key result of our research (at odds with much of the prevalent gender research in this area): Gender differences in computer science tend to dissolve –that is, the spectrum of interests, motivation and personality types of men and of women becomes more alike than different-- as the computing environment becomes more balanced.

This finding is emerging from our ongoing studies of the evolving culture of computing at Carnegie Mellon as our undergraduate computer science environment becomes more balanced in three critical domains: gender, the mix of students and breadth of their interests, and the professional experiences afforded all students. In contrast, studies conducted within imbalanced environments, including those carried out at our own institution from 1995-1999, point to strong gender differences. We believe that recommendations for curricular changes based on presumed gender differences are misguided and may help reinforce, even perpetuate stereotypes. Fundamental misconceptions about computer science, (in particular, the equating of computer science with programming), rather than gender differences, are a root cause of gender under-representation as well as the current crisis in the field, i.e. the diminishing interest in computer science on the part of all students.