The Texas Alliance for Computer Science Education (TACSE) held its first statewide meeting on October 14, 2015 to coincide with the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Houston, Texas. By all standards, the meeting was a success, generating so much interest and a large turnout that the meeting space was expanded to accommodate more people. The ECEP-funded networking event included a panel discussion titled "Expanding the Computer Science Pipeline," featuring a who's who of individuals who will or already have made an impact on CS Education in Texas: Dwayne Bohac, Texas State Representative, Spring Branch; Paula Harris, Houston ISD Trustee and Director of Community Affairs for Schlumberger; and Donna Bahorich, Chair of the Texas State Board of Education. Carol Fletcher, ECEP Alliance member and Associate Director of Texas Regional Collaboratives, Center for STEM Education at UT Austin, was the panel moderator.

Participants had the opportunity to network and work in small groups to work on four priorities for the state.  The Mayor of Houston and NCWIT participated in the event and, among the policy-makers, the audience also included CS programmers, educators, and major industry employers. To reinforce TACSE's message of engaging parents, educators, and industry and state leaders in its statewide effort to improve CS Education, the event ended with commitment cards and a poll of what meeting participants would commit to do as team members to advance CS education. For future meetings, TACSE hopes to expand its reach and educate and enroll more Texans in its misison to broaden computer science participation in Texas.

More details and an archive of the meeting presentation can be found at http://www.thetrc.org/tacse-statewide-meeting-fall-2015/.