Nell Dale Interview: Overview

Nell Dale

On a separate page: Selected quotes from this interview

Brief background

Nell Dale retired from The University of Texas at Austin, where she was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Computer Sciences. Nell is widely known for her textbooks for introductory computing courses and for her pioneering work in Computer Science Education Research. She has been very active in SIGCSE, serving in several positions, including chair.

Nell Dale received the SIGCSE Award for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science Education in 1996, with the citation “Prolific author for introductory computer science textbooks and contributions to the field of computer science education research” and the ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Award in 2001. She became an ACM Fellow in 2009, with the citation “For distinguished service to the ACM and her impact on computing education.” She received the 2013 IEEE Taylor L. Booth Education Award award “For inspiring hundreds of people to careers in computer science through both her excellent teaching and her award-winning textbooks.”

Interview materials

This section includes the audio and transcript of the interview with Nell Dale, conducted on April 18, 2006 in Austin, Texas USA by Barbara Boucher Owens.

Audio of interview [1 hour 17 minutes]

PDF of interview transcript
[19 pages, 803 transcribed lines of text]

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Other information about Nell Dale

Video clip: The dilemma of being the only woman in class

  • Recorded May 2008
  • About 44 seconds; PDF transcript of video clip is located further down under the video
  • This video clip is also available on CEOHP’s YouTube channel
Open transcript PDF in new window

Sample analysis

Pathway graph for Nell Dale’s interview

Training interview

Nell Dale is featured as an interviewee in one of the training interviews.