Giving Compass' Take:

• Jeffrey R. Young interviews Maria Klawe about her work in diversifying Harvey Mudd College, which has traditionally been populated by men.

• How can funders help leaders like Maria Klawe successfully diversify their programs? Why is it critical to instill gender diversity within higher education?

• Learn how increased diversity can fill the tech talent gap. 

Harvey Mudd College is known as a powerhouse in engineering and computer science—but like those fields, it has struggled historically with recruiting diverse staff and students.

Maria Klawe became the first woman president for the college in 2006, and she’s made it one of her missions to change that trend. That has meant working to do things like make introductory computer-science classes more welcoming to all. But for Klawe, it has also meant making herself more approachable, by doing things that aren’t very presidential, like clumsily riding a skateboard across campus, with plenty of padding.

Klawe is also taking her mission outside of the college, by helping efforts that encourage girls to code long before they’re old enough for higher education.

Her work has been hailed as a success story. Back when she started at the college, about 30 percent of students and faculty were female. Today about 45 percent of them are.

Read the full article about working to bring diversity to tech by Jeffrey R. Young at EdSurge.