Alice Steinglass Visits October 9 for Workshop and Lecture

Computer science drives innovation throughout the US economy, but the subject remains neglected or marginalized in K-12 education. Can more be done to improve student access to this important way of thinking?

Please join Alice Steinglass of Code.org on October 9, 2018 at Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma) for the 14th annual Benson Lecture in Business and Economic History, where participants in a workshop and lecture will discuss strategies to address this important issue.

From 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Ms. Steinglass will participate in a workshop with Heavenly Cole (Lincoln High School) and Laurie Murphy (PLU) to discuss the importance of teaching computer science at the high school and college level (Xavier Hall, Nordquist 201). Benson Family Chair Michael Halvorson will act as organizer and MC.

Elementary school students participate in Code.org’s computer science learning programs.

At 7:30 p.m., Alice Steinglass will deliver the 14th annual Benson Lecture in PLU’s Anderson University Center (Scandinavian Cultural Center). Her lecture will explore historic inequities in the high-tech workforce and her organization’s social innovation strategy to promote computer science.

Both events will make connections to PLU’s new Innovation Studies program, which launches this year with exciting new courses and an interdisciplinary minor. The program equips students to find creative solutions to pressing problems and ethical dilemmas, such as providing equitable access to high-tech instruction.

Alice Steinglass, President of Code.org

Speaker Biography

At Code.org, Alice Steinglass manages teams that build curriculum, tools, and software to support introductory computer science classes for students from kindergarten through high school.

In addition, her team partners with education and software companies across the high-tech sector to run the Hour of Code – a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in over 180 countries.

Ms. Steinglass is dedicated to increasing diversity in computer science by giving every student the opportunity to learn computer science in school.

Code.org has reached 29 million students with its computer classes. Of these students, approximately 45 percent are female and 48 percent are minority students underrepresented in the technology sector. Some 24 million are low-income kids. This video on YouTube  shows some of the energy that they bring to computer instruction at Code.org.

Prior to her work at Code.org, Alice led various teams at Microsoft. She managed a usability design team related to HoloLens, designed APIs and developer libraries for Xbox 360, ran a user experience team for Microsoft Windows, and built various project management tools as a software developer. Before this work, she studied computer science at Harvard University.

The Dale E. Benson Lecture

Supported by a generous endowment from the Benson Family, the Dale E. Benson Lecture in Business and Economic History is designed to bring leading experts in the fields of history, business, and economics to campus to address the PLU community.

Jolita and Dale Benson at a recent Benson Lecture.

Along with the business and economic history curriculum, the lecture is designed to encourage the study of business organizations, entrepreneurs, workers, products, and consumers, as well as the economic forces that have shaped contemporary culture and society.

The program encourages historical reflection, creative problem solving, and ethical leadership across campus.

To prepare for this year’s Benson Lecture, PLU students are studying how early computer science instruction has influenced business and the economy in a wide range of courses, including offerings from Innovation Studies, Computer Science, Philosophy, Education, and the School of Business.

For more information, contact Dr. Michael Halvorson (halvormj@plu.edu) or visit https://www.plu.edu/business-economic-history-program/annual-lecture/.