COLLEGE STATION, Texas, March 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT) announced that the University Award for Underrepresented Students in Computer Science is open for nominations.  The University award recognizes US institutions that have demonstrated a commitment and shown results for the retention of students from underrepresented groups in undergraduate Computer Science programs over the last five years. The award, sponsored by Microsoft, is focused on the following underrepresented groups: African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, and People with Disabilities.  All colleges and universities within the United States are invited to participate in this award.

Award decisions will be based on both quantitative reported results and qualitative reporting on the university and the Computer Science program.  Qualitative reporting will include demographics of the institution, the department and the state, the academic structure of the department, the college, and descriptions of the activities implemented to improve retention of the target student population(s).  A confidential report will be produced for each participating institution, including the aggregated data from all participants.   All data will remain confidential.

The University Award will be given out at the 2017 ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing, September 20-23, 2017 in Atlanta, GA.    

For more information, visit http://www.cmd-it.org/programs/current/university-award/.

About CMD-IT

The vision of CMD-IT is to contribute to the national need for an effective workforce in computing and IT through inclusive programs and initiatives focused on minorities and people with disabilities. CMD-IT’s vision is accomplished through its mission to insure that underrepresented groups are fully engaged in computing and IT and promotes innovation that enriches, enhances and enables underrepresented communities. For more information, please visit www.cmd-it.org.

CONTACT: Media Contact:  Jerri Barrett, 408-204-7229, [email protected]