[OSCTC-planning] OSCTC meeting report 7/15/2014

[Mallory Lim Chua]

> September and October seem to be widely preferred over November dates. 

I'm not surprised by this, because that's before midterms. After midterms, finals (and final projects) loom large on the horizon with Thanksgiving taking out a massive chunk of productivity time.

> We talked over what our specific goals are to ensure we're reaching
> diverse populations of newcomers. I suggested the following methods/metrics,
> and would welcome feedback on them: 

> A) For all OSCTC events, we identify any groups that are focused on 
> diversity in STEM education and invite them to participate in organizing. 

This is an awesome idea. I'm assuming you mean groups at the host university (SWE/NSBE/etc)? Two groups not commonly on the "types of diversity" list, but which could be, are disabled students (contact the school's disability resource center; they typically deal with both physical/mental disabilities) and LGBTQ students (which is, imo, a drastically under-acknowledged population). If you want to broaden even more, look at non-traditional students (which often correlates with class background -- some unis have special support centers or at least resource-people for non-traditional-aged students).

> C) For all OSCTC events, we'll measure diversity of attendance
> and compare it to the population of the CS department. Our goal
> is to achieve 150% better representation at our events.

I like this goal. I like it a lot. How will you measure diversity of attendance? (Are you counting a binary -- straight-cis-able-bodied-middle-class-white-men vs not-straight-cis-able-bodied-middle-class-white-men? -- or something a little more complex, because intersectionality is a thing?) 

> D) Additionally, we will have a goal number of events to run
> at schools that are majority under-represented group, for 
> instance women's colleges, community colleges, schools with
>  majority black or latino populations, schools with non-traditional
> students, etc. 

+1 to that.

Ok, back to research non-distractedness. :)