Diva Tech Talk interviewed Dr. Nicki Washington, author, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Winthrop University, and founder/principal at Washington Consulting LLC. Dr. Washington is a passionate, candid champion of diversity, and an outspoken advocate for women of color, in technology. Winthrop University recently featured her on their Website.
“I was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina,” site of world-class universities, home to Research Triangle Park, the “Silicon Valley” of the U.S. South. Dr. Washington feels fortunate. Her mother was a 34-year IBM programmer, and father was a K through 12 educator and administrator. “I was surrounded by black men and women who were educators, engineers, college professors, business leaders, attorneys, doctors and more: a rich network of people who looked like me, doing inspiring things in science and math.” Her mother would purchase a new computer every few years. “We always had computers in our home.” Dr. Washington was allowed, at an early age, to assemble each one. Her mother “introduced me to programming opportunities,” mastering Pascal and Basic, then moving in 9th and 10th grade to more advanced languages. In college, at Johnson C. Smith University, Dr. Washington intended to minor in computer science, and major in marketing. But her path changed when an influential professor convinced her to accomplish more by concentrating in computer science. “There was always someone else in my life who could see something bigger than I could ser.# This included Dr. Dorothy Cawser Yancy, University President, who nominated her for the David and Lucille Packard fellowship, a $100,000 5-year grant for students from historic black universities to pursue STEM doctorates, including an annual week-long symposium, with professional workshops and “honest safe spaces” for experience-sharing. Dr. Washington graduated as valedictorian of her undergraduate class and won the award. “My trajectory changed from there.”
Dr. Washington became “a black woman in a program where only one other person looked like me:” the masters/doctoral program at North Carolina State University. “I had self-imposed struggles, suffered from ‘impostor syndrome;’ and would lean on my community,” she said, since campus was 20 minutes from her childhood home (“my village”). She experienced marginalization as do many in disenfranchised groups. She often had to “armor up” every day, paying attention to balance and self-care. Dr. Washington was fortunate to gain an empathetic advisor, Dr. Harry Perros, with whom she had many “real talks” about struggles as a black woman in a post-graduate computer science program. She also won another fellowship in her last three years of graduate school: NASA’s Harriet G. Jenkins award, giving monetary support and other unique experiences tailored to graduates from historically black colleges/universities. “It was an amazing time to recharge with people who looked like you, who were in the struggle,” she said.
Dr. Washington shared advice for programmers, technologists, application developers. “When you reach a roadblock, take a break and step away, because sometimes you are so engrossed, you cannot see high levels.” She also decried students’ misconceptions that, during coursework, they must “know everything” and advised “be unafraid to ask for help. We all lean on resources.” When faced with bias, she shared hard-won lessons. “It is not you. You are not the first. You will not be the last. Learn to navigate these spaces. Take up space without losing yourself in the process. Maintain a level of self-care.” Dr. Washington’s strong message is “until there is a major shift in the narrative, we are going to see major challenges. Find the tribe who can get you through.”
Dr. Washington is now doing appreciable research in identity and cultural competence in computing. “There’s a lot of work being done in the K through 12 space,” she said, but not enough on the university level. “We send them off to institutions throughout the country, who have faculty who are not diverse,” since approximately 85% of university computing faculty are Caucasian or Asian, not serving as full role models. “We lose students in the middle ground, between K through 12 and careers.” She noted that while undergraduate curriculum emphasizes a progression of technology skills, it does not emphasize cultural competence, germane to disenfranchised groups. “We see, every day, technology announcements that are biased,” as a result of this. She cited self-driving car and healthcare database applications as just two examples where “people developing them are not recognizing biases.” Dr. Washington is proposing cultural competence and discrimination training accompany all tech training to empower a long-overdue revolution. She has developed an assessment for cultural competence in computing. “I am also trying to force a conversation around cultural competence for all computer science students before graduation,” beginning with a required 3-credit course called Race, Gender, Class and Computing as a foundation to address the issues. “But it needs to be nationally-focused.” Dr. Washington’s dearest wish is to accelerate her work as the basis for a country-wide movement on computing cultural competency, through collaborative alliances using the right role models, “people who live, eat and breathe this thing for a living.”
During her nine year stint at famous Howard University, Dr. Washington partnered with Google to bring a middle school course to 300 Howard University’s Middle School students; then co-championed an Exploring Computer Science program to bring computer science to Washington DC public high schools, with training for both students and faculty. She also helped establish the first Google In Residence program at Howard. “That expanded after the first year to other historically black universities including Fisk, Morehouse College, Spellman and Hampton.” Since relocating from Howard to Winthrop, Dr. Washington is working on a national initiative with Code.org to develop the framework for K through 12 computer science curriculum to “serve as a blueprint in every state, to ensure every student has access to computer science at every step of their educational journey.” She has also served as lead writer on South Carolina state’s K through 12 computer science and digital literacy standards. She is very proud of work with sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc., leading detailed college preparation workshops for both students and parents. “It is important that students know the options available to them” in the face of rising student debt, and complicated application processes.
Dr. Washington wants to continue to inspire women of color to “stay the course” in technology journeys. So, “as your average, every day black woman” she has written a book: UNAPOLOGETICALLY DOPE, “to speak to every black woman and girl who may not have accesses to resources, but needs to know there was someone just like them who went through the same things.” It is available through Amazon in both eBook and paperback versions. “People like them are excelling and waiting for them to get there, with us.” She also speaks to computer science and technology departments across the country on her research.
Dr. Washington’s essential advice for women tech leaders, especially women of color, is: “don’t be afraid to fail. Being unafraid to ‘take up space’ and own your narrative will help you. And be intentional with everything you do. Recognize that it’s always bigger than you. It’s not just happening to you. Make sure your intention is the best possible.”
Dr. Nicki Washington can be reached at her website: https://nickiwashington.com and followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/dr_nickiw.
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