HOWARD’S GOING TO GOOGLE: Google has spent millions on initiatives to increase diversity within its walls and the greater tech industry, and now it’s trying something new. The company announced its Mountain View headquarters will soon be home to a college campus called “Howard West,” which will serve students from historically black colleges and universities (HBCU).
The campus will officially launch this summer with a three-month Computer Science residency for 25 to 30 juniors and seniors out of Howard University, a HBCU based in Washington D.C. The students will receive instruction from Google engineers and Howard faculty and credit for their work, along with a stipend to cover housing and other expenses during the program. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Howard West has plans to open to students at other HBCUs in the summer of 2018.
“We envisioned this program with bold outcomes in mind,” Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick said in the college’s announcement. He intends the program “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.”
