Role of Academia to Create Re-entry Pathways in Computing

Although most higher education institutions cater their programs to traditional college students, high school graduates or those in their early 20s, the adult-student population makes up most degree-seekers in the United States (U.S.). Adult-student population, known as non-traditional students, includes students who are returning to postsecondary institutions after dropping out, working adults, formerly incarcerated individuals as well as professionals who want to turn life experience into college credit. With the influx of non-traditional students, higher education institutions must rethink and put in place strategies to better support these students. With this in mind, recruitment of non-traditional students in computing related fields is of great interest to increase the number of graduates to meet the future of the workforce needs in particular in the emerging technology (EmTech) fields. Therefore, we propose a panel to discuss opportunities for re-entry computing education and career paths. The panel of experts will share their respective re-entry programs to spark conversations and reflect on their work-in-progress. The objective of the panel is to share experiences, lessons learned, and ideas to create and promote initiatives to support structures for re-entry to the computing education and professional pipeline.