- AC 2011-881: PROGRAMS AND PRACTICES MAKING A DIFFERENCE:A CROSS-CASE ANALYSIS IDENTIFYING PROGRAMS AND FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF WOMEN ENGINEERING STUDENTS
- Lois Calian Trautvetter, Northwestern University,
- Rose M. Marra, University of Missouri, Columbia
- Lisa R. Lattuca, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
- Katie L. Piacentini,University of Missouri, Columbia
- Mr. David B Knight, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
Despite nearly 20 years of recruitment and retention efforts focused on female students, women constituted only 19% of engineering students in 2007. A cross-case analysis of six engineering schools based on rich qualitative data from faculty, student, and administrator interviews, as well as observations and documents, provides a unique opportunity to identify trends and unique practices used to address the recruitment and retention of women engineering students. This paper focuses specifically on how these institutions implement K-12 outreach, admissions, summer/bridge, and first and second-year support programs. We find three themes that support recruitment of female students: 1) historical commitment, institutional type, and geographical location; 2) flexible and strategic admissions policies and "high touch" efforts; and 3) outreach programs for K-12. We also highlight five themes that lead to female students' retaining an engineering degree: 1) Campus climate, 2) support services during early undergraduate years, 3) strong ties to faculty and student interaction in and out of the classroom, 4) high support for student organizations and activities, and 5) learning and living communities.
Our Best Paper authors receive a cash award and the paper was in contention for the 2011 ASEE National Conference Best Paper Award.
Denice Dee Denton (27 August 1959 – 24 June 2006) was a professor of electrical engineering and an academic administrator. She held academic appointments at both the University of Massachusetts and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. In 1996, Denice became the first women engineering dean at a major research institution with her appointment to lead the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. In 2003 at the age of 45, Denice D. Denton became the youngest person to be appointed chancellor in the University of California system at UC-Santa Cruz.
Women engineering faculty will forever remember Denice for what she achieved as she paved the way for acceptance of women as engineering academic leaders.