Texas State University ranks among top 25 national public institutions for graduating women in computer science

Texas State University has been ranked 24th in a list of national four-year public institutions enrolling and graduating women in computer science.

Texas State University has been ranked 24th in a list of national four-year public institutions enrolling and graduating women in computer science. Based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, the list was published Feb. 24 by The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Among the 253 four-year public institutions ranked, Texas State awarded 257 bachelor’s degrees in computer science in 2016-2017 with 23.7 percent female graduates, an increase of 14.4 percentage points since 2009-2010.

“The faculty in Computer Science set the recruitment and retention of female students as one of their top five priorities for the 2017-2023 planning process. Faculty in the department wrote a proposal to the National Center for Women and  Information Technology and received funding to assist with research-based recruiting and retention strategies,” said Dr. Christine Hailey, dean of the College of Science and Engineering.   

The Chronicle ranked public and private nonprofit institutions. The percent of  female bachelor’s degree recipients was greater overall in engineering than in computer science. 

Texas State awarded 126 bachelor’s degrees in engineering in 2016-2017 with 16.7 percent female graduates, an increase of 4.2 percentage points since 2009-2010.

Only institutions with at least 50 majors in computer science or engineering appear in the rankings, but the overall numbers for each discipline represent all institutions that awarded at least one bachelor’s degree in computer science or engineering in 2016-17 or 2009-10.  

Engineering represents all engineering fields, such as civil engineering and systems engineering, but excludes "engineering technologies and engineering-related fields." 

Texas State will begin offering a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree in fall 2019 through the Ingram School of Engineering, pending final approvals from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.