Spelman College Teams Up With SMASH to Promote Black Women in Technology

Spelman College, the historically Black liberal arts educational institution for women in Atlanta, has entered into a partnership with SMASH, a nonprofit organization that has a stated mission is to build a strong, diverse and socially conscious tech workforce.

The first SMASH site program was launched on the University of California, Berkeley campus in 2004. It has operated a program at historically Black Morehouse College in Atlanta for the past five years.

The inaugural SMASH/Spelman cohort will comprise 25 female high school students, who will have the opportunity to participate in multi-year immersive educational programming focused on preparing them to drive social change through technology. This training will include building computer science skills, accessing career mentorship, completing college preparatory workshops, and more for the full duration of their high school careers. The program will begin with a three-week summer program that includes a two-week residency at Spelman College. Scholars will be provided time to explore the campus and learn about subjects including introductory coding languages and design thinking from a diverse set of instructors.

“As technology becomes ubiquitous across all aspects of our society, the voices, experiences, and expertise of Black women are critical to the creation of a more equitable future,” said Tamara Pearson, director of the Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM at Spelman College. “Programs like SMASH x Spelman will remind our young people that they are the ones creating that future and equip them with the tools to do so with compassion.”

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.

North Carolina A&T State University Mounts Effort to Educate Heirs Property Owners

Heirs property is land passed down through a family, often over multiple generations and to numerous descendants, without the use of wills or probate courts. In North Carolina, the value of land owned as heirs property is estimated at nearly $1.9 billion. Heirs property is disproportionately held by Black landowners.

Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

New Legislation Aims to Boost Entrepreneurial Efforts of HBCU Students

Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) has introduced the Minority Entrepreneurship Grant Program Act, bipartisan legislation that creates a grant program with the Small Business Administration for entrepreneurs at minority-serving institutions like historically Black colleges and universities.

Featured Jobs