Thursday, March 28, 2024

Howard Univ. Opens Google Based Campus (Howard West) to Develop Black Coders

*Here’s something revolutionary happening in education and business. It’s the announcement of “Howard West.”

Specifically, Howard University is opening a new campus on the West Coast in Silicon Valley at the GooglePlex HQ in Mountain View, Calif. As you may have guessed, the goal of the campus is to help increase diversity in the technology industry by training black students.

The campus, will launch this summer in partnership with Howard University of Washington, D.C. About 25 to 30 rising Howard juniors and seniors majoring in computer science will qualify for the program’s first 12-week program, which will be taught by senior Google engineers and Howard faculty.

“Howard West will continue Howard’s tradition of providing historically unprecedented access to opportunity, only now with a 21st century twist: Literal real estate at the center of the digital economy,” Bonita Stewart, Google’s vice president of global partnerships, said in a statement.

Experts believe the partnership is the first of its kind within the tech industry.

“At face value, it seems like Google is invested in this,” said Jane Stout, an official with the Computing Research Association, a Washington group that studies diversity issues in tech.

Google is “putting their money where their mouth is. They are trying something that is pretty revolutionary,” Stout said.

bonita stewart & wayne frederick
Bonita Stewart, Google’s vice president of global partnerships, has been working with Howard University president Dr. Wayne Frederick to develop the framework for Howard West. (Photo: Google)

The program will take place at existing Google buildings. Students will not need to pay extra tuition to attend Howard West and will be given a stipend and support for housing, provided by Howard, which is well aware of the sky-high rental prices in Silicon Valley, according to a SFChronicle report.

The intention is for Howard West to be open to students at other historically black universities and colleges starting in the summer of 2018.

Howard declined to disclose its investment in the program. Google said that it is not paying Howard and that Howard is not paying Google for the new campus. Google said its only costs are physical space and the time of its employees who will serve as teachers, though it declined to disclose how much those expenses amounted to.

Last May, 18 Howard students graduated in computer science, and the university expects 25 to 30 to graduate in the field this May, according to Howard spokeswoman Crystal Brown.

Read/learn MORE at SFchronicle.

 

We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!

YOU MAY LIKE

SEARCH

- Advertisement -

TRENDING