Overview of Policies and Programs to Retain Black Students in Engineering
- Conference
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2019 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity
- Location
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Crystal City, Virginia
- Publication Date
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April 14, 2019
- Start Date
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April 14, 2019
- End Date
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April 22, 2019
- Conference Session
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Track: Learning Spaces, Pedagogy & Curriculum - Technical Session 11
- Tagged Topics
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Diversity and Learning Spaces, Pedagogy & Curriculum Design
- Page Count
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15
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--31780
- Permanent URL
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https://strategy.asee.org/31780
- Download Count
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351
Paper Authors
Catherine E. Brawner Research Triangle Educational Consultants
Catherine E. Brawner is President of Research Triangle Educational Consultants. She received her Ph.D.in Educational Research and Policy Analysis from NC State University in 1996. She also has an MBA from Indiana University (Bloomington) and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University. She specializes in
evaluation and research in engineering education and computer science education. Dr. Brawner is a founding member and former treasurer of Research Triangle Park Evaluators, an American Evaluation Association affiliate organization and is a member of the American Educational Research Association and American Evaluation Association, in addition to ASEE. Dr. Brawner is also an Extension Services Consultant for the National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT) and, in that role, advises computer science and engineering departments on diversifying their undergraduate student population. She remains an active researcher, including studying academic policies, gender and ethnicity issues, transfers, and matriculation models with MIDFIELD as well as student veterans in engineering. Her evaluation work includes evaluating teamwork models, statewide pre-college math initiatives, teacher and faculty professional development programs, and S-STEM programs.
Catherine Mobley Clemson University
Catherine Mobley, Ph.D., is a Professor of Sociology at Clemson University. She has over 30 years experience in project and program evaluation and has worked for a variety of consulting firms, non-profit agencies, and government organizations, including the Rand Corporation, the American Association of Retired Persons, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Since 2004, she been a member of the NSF-funded MIDFIELD research project on engineering education; she has served as a Co-PI on several engineering education research projects, including one on transfer students, another on student veterans in engineering and another on Black students in engineering.
Rebecca Brent Education Designs, Inc
Rebecca Brent is President of Education Designs, Inc., a consulting firm located in Chapel Hill, N.C. She is a certified program evaluator and a faculty development consultant. Brent received her B.A. from Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., her M.Ed. from Mississippi State University, and her Ed.D. from Auburn University. She was an Associate Professor of education at East Carolina University before starting her consulting firm in 1996.
Marisa K. Orr
Clemson University
orcid.org/0000-0001-5944-5846
Marisa K. Orr is an Assistant Professor in Engineering and Science Education with a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University. Her research interests include student persistence and pathways in engineering, gender equity, diversity, and academic policy. Dr. Orr is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award for her research entitled, “Empowering Students to be Adaptive Decision-Makers.”
Maya Rucks Clemson University
Maya Rucks is an engineering education doctoral student at Clemson University. She received her bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and her master's degree in industrial engineering from Louisiana Tech University. Her areas of interest include, minorities in engineering, K-12 engineering, and engineering curriculum development.
Cindy Waters Naval Surface Warfare Center
Her research team is skilled matching these newer manufacturing techniques to distinct material choices and the unique materials combination for specific applications. She is also renowned for her work in the Engineering Education realm working with faculty motivation for change and re-design of Material Science courses for more active pedagogies
Abstract
In this work in progress, we use Lee and Matusovich’s model of co-curricular support (MCCS) and the recruitment aspect of the Building Engineering and Science Talent (BEST) framework to investigate the policies, programs, and activities for, and recruitment and retention of, underrepresented students at four institutions. These four colleges of engineering are in the top 15 nationally in engineering bachelors’ degrees conferred on Black students. This information will provide background for a mixed-methods study on the choice, persistence, and attrition of Black students in computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering and is a critical first step to contextualize the student experiences to be revealed in individual interviews. We use publicly available information from web-based and other resources as well as interviews with key informants on each campus to ascertain the programs that are available on each campus and categorize them using the MCCS and BEST frameworks. This study lays the groundwork for future institutional data analysis and interviews with Black students currently or formerly enrolled in computer, electrical or mechanical engineering to uncover what causes them to enroll and persist in or leave these majors.
Brawner, C. E., & Mobley, C., & Brent, R., & Orr, M. K., & Rucks, M., & Waters, C. (2019, April), Overview of Policies and Programs to Retain Black Students in Engineering Paper presented at 2019 CoNECD - The Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity , Crystal City, Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--31780
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