IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME (AND STAY): RECRUITING AND RETAINING WOMEN AND UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY STUDENTS

摘要

The 2006 Spellings' Commission called for attempts to diversify the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) student populations, which have long suffered from gender and racial/ethnicity gaps. Women continue to be underrepresented in engineering, accounting for just 19% of all engineering bachelor's degrees in 2007. With the exception of Asian Americans, students of color are also underrepresented in engineering. Black and Hispanic students each earned eight percent of all engineering bachelor's degrees in 2007, and American Indian and Alaskan Native students represent less than one percent of engineering degree recipients. To address these concerns, this Panel Session presents findings from two companion studies that examined recruitment strategies to attract and retain women and underrepresented minority students and to provide support services that aid in their retention in engineering programs. Findings are based on analyses of data gathered in the Prototype to Production (P2P) and Prototyping the Engineer of 2020 (P360) studies, both funded by NSF (EEC-0550608 and DUE-0618712). P2P investigated curricular, instructional, and organizational practices and policies, as well as the educational experiences of undergraduates, in a nationally representative sample of engineering students, faculty members, and administrators in 121 engineering programs on 31 four-year campuses. P360 complemented P2P through case studies of six institutions identified to be outperforming their peers on at least one of seven measures; four of the six institutions selected for the P360 study outperformed peer institutions in recruiting and graduating women and historically underrepresented minority students.