TY - JOUR
T1 - Engineering Pathways fellows
T2 - 124th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition
AU - Freeman, Amy L.
AU - Urbina, Julio
AU - Zappe, Sarah E.
AU - Del Carpio, Javier Fernando
AU - Matos, Nancy
N1 - Funding Information:
Each of the traditional intervention variables, financial support, academic preparation, the learning community, and international education were applied throughout the program in the following ways. Financial support was provided in the form of annual renewable scholarships, and funding for the Peru trip which is explained in detail in the following section. Academic preparation was applied through the summer bridge and the in-house tutoring through the FISE House living and learning community in first year. The learning community, by definition was extensive and was reflected in the summer bridge, FISE House, faculty mentoring over four years, the week spent with Habitat for Humanity, and the month-long Peru trip. The details of this initiative is explained below.
Funding Information:
Dr. Amy L. Freeman holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering and a Ph.D. in Workforce Education. She has a been a practitioner of retention programming for over two decades and is a member of several organizations and networks that support her research interest: access and inclusion to STEM education. She is the primary PI for the NSF sponsored S-STEM award, ”Engineering Pathways: An Undergraduate Scholars Program.” Dr. Freeman is currently serving as Assistant Dean in the College of Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University and continues to provide administrative direction for the Center for Engineering Outreach and Inclusion through cultivation of partnerships with corporations, alumni, university constituents and organizational alliances.
Publisher Copyright:
© American Society for Engineering Education, 2017.
PY - 2017/6/24
Y1 - 2017/6/24
N2 - The graduation rate in engineering can be correlated to several factors, including race and gender. Nationally, the populations with the highest engineering graduation rates are majority males, with Asian males at 66.5% and Caucasian males at 59.7%. The goal of diversity and inclusion program practitioners is to establish parity in graduation rates for all populations. There are several interventions that are proven to increase the retention and graduation of underrepresented students in engineering. Some of these include math intensive summer bridging, tutoring, cohort building where students establish a learning community. Singly these are somewhat effective, but when multiple interventions are applied over multiple years, the effect is additive and there is a significant increase in the likelihood of graduation. Outside of traditional applications, there other interventions that are shown to be effective on student retention, but they are not typically applied to underrepresented students. One of these is international scholarship, or study abroad experiences. The research question addressed by this project is the following: While long term applications of traditional retention programming for underrepresented students yield graduation rates at parity or exceeding that of majority males, could the graduation rate be even higher with the addition of a scholarly international experience, an intervention not typically applied to underrepresented populations? In this study, traditional interventions were applied to 10 students at Pennsylvania State University (all underrepresented in engineering by race or gender) over a four year period. In addition, an international or study abroad experience was added. Interventions were applied addressing four known variables that increase retention: financial support, math and academic preparation, the learning community/cohort building, and international education. Three objectives or expected outcomes of this project were: 1. Increased retention and graduation rates of participating students in STEM fields. 2. Improved programs and strategies for sustaining diversity in STEM fields. 3. Improved access to engineering educational opportunities. The quantitative measure of success for the NSF Pathways project is determined by the retention and graduation rate of the students in STEM fields at the end of five years. The current four-year retention rate for these students in 2017 was at 100%. The graduation rate of these ten students who completed all interventions is also expected to be at 100% in a STEM field, with 90% in engineering. Qualitative data through focus groups and essays indicated the importance of building a strong learning community, and the added impact of international scholarly collaboration.
AB - The graduation rate in engineering can be correlated to several factors, including race and gender. Nationally, the populations with the highest engineering graduation rates are majority males, with Asian males at 66.5% and Caucasian males at 59.7%. The goal of diversity and inclusion program practitioners is to establish parity in graduation rates for all populations. There are several interventions that are proven to increase the retention and graduation of underrepresented students in engineering. Some of these include math intensive summer bridging, tutoring, cohort building where students establish a learning community. Singly these are somewhat effective, but when multiple interventions are applied over multiple years, the effect is additive and there is a significant increase in the likelihood of graduation. Outside of traditional applications, there other interventions that are shown to be effective on student retention, but they are not typically applied to underrepresented students. One of these is international scholarship, or study abroad experiences. The research question addressed by this project is the following: While long term applications of traditional retention programming for underrepresented students yield graduation rates at parity or exceeding that of majority males, could the graduation rate be even higher with the addition of a scholarly international experience, an intervention not typically applied to underrepresented populations? In this study, traditional interventions were applied to 10 students at Pennsylvania State University (all underrepresented in engineering by race or gender) over a four year period. In addition, an international or study abroad experience was added. Interventions were applied addressing four known variables that increase retention: financial support, math and academic preparation, the learning community/cohort building, and international education. Three objectives or expected outcomes of this project were: 1. Increased retention and graduation rates of participating students in STEM fields. 2. Improved programs and strategies for sustaining diversity in STEM fields. 3. Improved access to engineering educational opportunities. The quantitative measure of success for the NSF Pathways project is determined by the retention and graduation rate of the students in STEM fields at the end of five years. The current four-year retention rate for these students in 2017 was at 100%. The graduation rate of these ten students who completed all interventions is also expected to be at 100% in a STEM field, with 90% in engineering. Qualitative data through focus groups and essays indicated the importance of building a strong learning community, and the added impact of international scholarly collaboration.
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M3 - Conference article
AN - SCOPUS:85030533583
SN - 2153-5965
VL - 2017-June
JO - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
JF - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings
Y2 - 25 June 2017 through 28 June 2017
ER -
