CS loses an advocate for CS Ed: Mary Jean Harrold 1947 — 2013

My colleague Mary Jean Harrold lost her battle with cancer last week.  Mary Jean worked hard for women in computing, and was always a strong supporter of efforts to improve and broaden computing education.  The classes I’m now teaching in TA preparation were originally proposed by Mary Jean and a committee she chaired — she thought it was important that we produce PhD’s who know something about teaching and communicating ideas.  She will be missed.

Harrold also was a fierce advocate for women and minorities in computing fields.  At Georgia Tech, she was the NSF ADVANCE Professor in the School of Computer Science for 10 years, from 2001 to 2011; she also was a member of the Leadership Team and Director of the Georgia Tech Hub for the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT).  Outside Georgia Tech, Harrold served many years (several as co-chair) on the CRA’s Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W), whose goal is to increase the number of women in computer science research and education.  She was instrumental in establishing the biennial Software Engineering Educators’ Symposium (SEES), which aims to forge ties between faculty at minority-serving colleges and software engineering researchers.

via In Memoriam: Mary Jean Harrold 1947 — 2013 | News | Communications of the ACM.