Our History
ABCS was founded in Spring 2016 with the goal of providing a space of support and celebration for Black students within the UT Computer Science department. Before the establishment of ABCS, there was MACS (Minority Alliance in Computer Science). However, six students, Kierra Dotson, Anthony Gallop, Jacqueline Gibson, Rebecca Lemma, Micah Peoples, and Tony Sampson sought to create a space to better serve and provide resources specifically for Black students within UTCS.
Jacqueline Gibson, one of the founders, highlights how ABCS was founded to "provide Black students in the department with academic, personal, and professional support throughout their time on the Forty Acres. We wanted to build a community where everyone knew their voice was heard and their needs mattered. This would be a space where you could find friends, mentors, and collaborators."
Current ABCS organization leaders strive to carry on this mission and expand our organization's impact and reach across UT and the greater Austin community.
Spring 2017, EA Austin Office Visit
Our Faculty Advisor
Dr. Alison N. Norman is an Associate Professor of Instruction and the Associate Chair of Undergradute Education in the Department of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin. She is also a UT Austin Provost's Teaching Fellow, a 2021 Texas Exes' Texas Ten recipient, a 2019 Regent's Outstanding Teaching Award recipient, a 2017 President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award recipient, and a 2017 College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award recipient. Alison's teaching responsibilities include teaching the undergraduate operating systems course.
Alison co-chairs her department's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee, where she works to improve the experience of women and other underrepresented groups in the department. As a Provost's Teaching Fellow, she developed a series of micro-workshops to help faculty better understand the experience of their underrepresented students. The materials for those workshops have now been shared across the campus.
Alison also coordinates outreach to underserved communities through her department's Coding in the Classroom program, which she co-founded and now serves as faculty chair, and serves as the Lab Director for First Bytes, week-long camps hosted by Texas Computer Science that introduce high school girls to computer science.
Alison earned both her Master's and her Ph.D. in the UT Austin Department of Computer Science, after earning her Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is married with three children (two boys, 14 and 10, and a girl, who is 7).
How to become a member
Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media to stay in the know! Come to our next event to learn how to become an official member and add your resume to the ABCS resume book!