The University of San Francisco’s (USF) Department of Computer Science is thrilled to announce a $230,000 gift from Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist and Craig Newmark Philanthropies, to help fuel the department’s Women in Tech initiative. This extraordinary gift is a continuation of Newmark’s longstanding commitment to supporting gender equality in technology. His goal is to help more women become interested in coding early on in their educational careers and to aid in the fostering of an inclusive environment for all women in tech.

Newmark’s donation will directly impact five areas in Computer Science at USF: the Women in Tech Student Club, a summer girls coding workshop (Girl Tech Power), research opportunities for women in technical disciplines, the sending of students to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Tech and the Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Tech, as well as two new scholarships for both undergraduate and graduate women. The primary goal of this initiative is to increase the number of women in the Computer Science and Data Science majors and minors, thereby helping to provide more women with opportunities to thrive in the tech sector. Nationally, about 16 percent of computer science undergraduates are women, while at USF women represent more than 30 percent of Computer and Data Science students. The department has the long-term mission of helping to achieve gender parity in tech.