[lmkg]

That was stated in the article: Organic shift through curriculum redesign and change in teaching methods. Staffing probably also played a part, although that wasn't mentioned in the article beyond Klawe.

Note that students at Harvey Mudd are not admitted to any particular major or program, they are admitted to the college in general and don't declare a major until Sophomore year. An increase from 10% to 55% is at least partially a result of more female students taking interest in the subject, not a result of admissions. Matriculation of female students to the college as a whole also rose over the past decade, but that went from ~35% to ~50%, so it accounts for less than half of the change in CS.

(Disclosure: Harvey Mudd alumn, class of 2008)

[ng12]

Can you elaborate on the change in teaching methods? I don't understand how CS101 could be gendered in a way that Math or Physics isn't.

[mkeeter]

(Mudd alumni, class of 2011)

One big thing is splitting the intro CS course into different sections based in previous experience. Folks with a ton of experience end up one section, and those who are new to the subject in another.

The two sections cover the same material, but with different lecture styles, and people don't end up discouraged because their labmates cruise through exercises that they find challenging.

This isn't explicitly gendered, but pre-college exposure to CS and programming could well be correlated with gender...

The course website is here, and shows the Gold / Black sections: https://www.cs.hmc.edu/twiki/bin/view/CS5