A recent Wall Street Journal article details how Harvey Mudd College has quadrupled its women computer-science graduates in just six years, showing how quickly a concerted effort by one organization can shift the gender balance in STEM.

Approaches include:

• making computer science more interesting for freshmen who come in with non-technical backgrounds
• tackling the topic of self-doubt in the President’s annual address to incoming freshmen
• splitting introductory classes into three groups based on students’ previous experience
• sending 40 to 60 women students annually to the Grace Hopper conference, which celebrates women in computing, exposing them to successful women in the field.

“Females now make up about 45% of the college’s computer science grads, a percentage that reflects the male-female balance on campus as a whole, and is quadruple the 2006 figure.”