Howard University announced the opening of a new west coast campus today at the GooglePlex in Mountain View, Calif. Spurred on by a mission to increase diversity in the tech industry, Vice President of Global Partnerships at Google and Howard alum, Bonita Stewart, expressed excited to share the news in a release that went out Thursday, Ebony.
In a press release, Howard University President Dr. Wayne Frederick said:
Howard West will produce hundreds of industry-ready Black computer science graduates, future leaders with the power to transform the global technology space into a stronger, more accurate reflection of the world around us. We envisioned this program with bold outcomes in mind — to advance a strategy that leverages Howard’s high quality faculty and Google’s expertise, while also rallying the tech industry and other thought leaders around the importance of diversity in business and the communities they serve.
As technology giants face mounting criticism over the lack of diversity in their organizations, companies from across Silicon Valley and beyond have been releasing annual diversity reports to chart changes in their internal makeup according to Venture Beat. But a lack of real development has also led some companies to delay subsequent reports as they reevaluate their strategies. Google has released diversity reports since 2014, but the first couple of years garnered little in the way of real progress. This is why the internet giant is now expanding its relationship with D.C.’s Howard University — a historically black educational institution.
Read more about this announcement here, Howard University
