- Instructors: Ziv Scully (he/him, CSD, zscully@cs), Nathan Beckmann (he/him, CSD, beckmann@cs)
- Teaching Assistant: Bailey Flanigan (she/her, CSD).
- Course sessions: Fridays, 4:30–5:50pm in CMU GHC 4303
- Office hours: By appointment (email instructors)
- Prerequisites / supplementary materials: None required
- Course consultants: Bailey Flanigan (she/her, CSD), Sara McAllister (she/her or they/them, CSD), Catalina Vajiac (she/her, CSD), Samantha Reig (she/her, HCII), Joshua Williams (he/him, CSD), Valerie Chen (she/her, MLD), Abhinav Adduri (he/him, CBD), Tabitha Edith Lee (she/her or they/them, RI), Paul Gölz (he/him, CSD), Anson Kahng, (he/him, CSD)
Course Description
This is a brand new course, developed by PhD students, for PhD students. The goal of this course is to prepare PhD students for the complex challenges they may face in the PhD program, and to equip them with tools to be more inclusive members of the computer science community. In this course, we will explore concepts from the humanities and social justice literature (e.g., inclusivity, privilege, equity, and allyship) through the lenses of academic research and computer science. Our goal is to make this material accessible, thought-provoking, and actionable to students of a variety of backgrounds and levels of understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion. This pilot course consists of six 80-minute sessions, where each session is focused on a different topic. Sessions include short lectures by experts, followed by ~60 minutes of small-group discussions (3–4 students per group). Between sessions, students must complete an activity asynchronously to help them reflect on the previous session and prepare for the next (see schedule).
Course Topics
This is a 6-week course, with each week focusing on a different topic. See the curriculum for a detailed description of each week’s topic and learning objectives.