Facilitating Cultural Border Crossings: The Role of Social Networks and Mentorship in Supporting Black and African American Computer Science Students

There has been a national call to diversify the STEM workforce for a number of decades. While in some areas of STEM, the participation of African Americans has increased, in the field of computer science, participation continues to be low. As of 2022, African Americans received only 2.1 % of Master's degrees and 1.7
^%
of PhDs awarded in the field of computer science (CS) [1]. Access to quality CS experiences and opportunities is one barrier that specifically hinders the success of African American students in earning degrees, especially terminal degrees in CS. But even when they do have access, there are incongruencies between their home culture and the culture of CS. The degree of cultural difference between students' “home cultures” and the cultures of science and higher education plays a key role in their success [2]. Students who come from backgrounds that are culturally congruent with the field of CS are more likely to have “a smooth transition” into the field [3]. Many minoritized students such as African Americans, whose cultures can be conceived as being incongruent with the field of CS are more likely to have a difficult transition into the field unless they have the assistance of “cultural brokers” who can help them cross the so- called cultural border. In this paper, the authors conceive of mentors as a type of cultural broker who supports students as they traverse between their cultural norms and the norms of CS programs without having to fully assimilate [4], [5]. Our paper draws from the literature on cultural border crossings to examine the ways in which social networks and mentorship support Black and African American students “cross” from their respective home cultures into the cultural context defined by institutions of higher education, more specifically, CS graduate programs. Our primary research questions are 1) how do students navigate incongruencies between their home culture and the cultures of their schools and CS programs and 2) what roles do social networks and mentorship play in helping students navigate these incongruencies?