A new student organization thinks computer science is not, and has never been, just a boys’ game.
Women in Computer Science at LSU, founded by computer science junior and club president Alexandra Willis, along with club officers and computer science juniors Sarah Baldwin and Kayla Thurman and computer science sophomores Samantha Fadrigalan, Kristen Barrett and Kaitlyn Devillier, will serve as a space to foster academic and professional development for women who share the major.
Alena McDuff, coordinator of undergraduate initiatives and the group’s adviser, said she believed the computer science department needed an organization where women could give support to one another in the field while also building friendships.
“In an effort to help them network and connect, I took some girls to the Grace Hopper Conference in Phoenix in October. It was just amazing to watch this group of girls come together and bond,” McDuff said. “One of our seniors, Morgan Hargrove, really helped out. Having her provide mentorship to the younger ones that came along and seeing the impact she had on the students and the reward that she got out of it just made me think ‘OK, we need a peer mentorship program.’”
It wasn’t until Willis approached MCDuff about starting the organization that their plan was set in motion.
University Campus Life has yet to approve WICS LSU (Willis is still finalizing the organization’s bylaws), but the group started a mentorship program and hosted tutoring sessions, which are key activities the group will host, Willis said.
“I think there’s a lack of women in computer science because it’s historically been a male-dominated field,” Willis said. “When you’re joining a profession being a minority, you’re less likely to know other people, so when things start to get tough, you’re less likely to have support networks like everybody else. That’s one of the things our group is trying to help solve, actually creating that support, creating networking opportunities and friendships.”
Willis said she saw organizations like the Society of Women Engineers, as well as a an organization similar to WICS LSU at the University of Houston, and decided there was a need for a group specifically for computer science students.
For the big sis, little sis program, WICS LSU pairs women who have the same concentrations within computer science, so younger students can learn from the experience of their older mentors.
Willis said she wants anybody interested to participate, the group is not strictly female following University organization rules.
“Whenever I have moments where I’ve said ‘I don’t think this is for me,’ I’d go and talk to Alexandra [Willis], or Samantha [Fadrigalan] or Morgan [Hargrove] and that would make me remember that I love this major and I love what I do,” Barrett said. “If one day we can have more than one girl in a computer science class, or we can keep one girl from changing her major, I say our goal is accomplished.”
Willis said she hopes Campus Life will approve WICS LSU by the end of this semester, allowing the group to recruit members and kickstart their initiative in the fall with the new freshman class.
Until then the group is scheduled to host a career exploration panel for all computer science students, where members of the department’s advisory board will share stories about their professional experience and answer questions on March 20.
“The most exciting thing for me is what this group might be 10 years down the road,” Willis said. “It really just starts with one woman or six women recruiting two more girls and then those girls doing the same and then it snowballs. I’m excited to see what the potential future for this group could be. Fall is going to be an exciting time.”

Gallery • 3 Photos

Javier Fernández

LSU Computer science juniors Sarah Baldwin, Kayla Thurman and Alexandra Willis and Computer science sophomores Kristen Barrett and Samantha Fadrigalan stand in the architecture quad on Wednesday, March 4, 2015. They are the woman officers in the computer science organization.