Toward the Establishment of a Reciprocal Knowledge Exchange Community for Extending BPC Capacity and Impact

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The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) is running a series of "Knowledge Exchange Workshops" to build capacity in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) community for broadening participation in computing (BPC). The workshops will bring together a range of stakeholders -- CISE Principal Investigators (PIs), department chairs, the CISE BPC Alliances, and other national organizations that focus on inclusion in science and engineering -- to support the PI community in planning for meaningful broadening activities as introduced in the recently issued Dear Colleague Letter (NSF 17-110).CISE has long supported work in broadening participation BPC with targeted programs and specific requirements in some solicitations. The pilot discussed in the Dear Colleague Letter aims to expand that work by encouraging involvement of the larger PI community. The workshops will promote a "Knowledge Exchange," giving the PIs and department chairs the chance to discuss their current BPC efforts, needs and concerns, and giving the Alliances and the other organizations the chance to describe their existing resources and programs, and the communities they serve. The expected outcomes include a wider understanding of the BPC efforts currently underway, the creation of new partnerships that will increase the availability of community efforts that individual PIs could join in fulfilling their own BPC goals, and facilitation of the development of departmental BPC plans that provide new opportunities for faculty involvement. These workshops will lead to an expansion of the community of CISE change leaders poised to implement reform efforts.