Asee peer logo

Finding What Women Want: Developing Strategies to Increase Recruitment and Retention of Women

Download Paper |

Conference

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

San Antonio, Texas

Publication Date

June 10, 2012

Start Date

June 10, 2012

End Date

June 13, 2012

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Women in Engineering Poster Session

Tagged Division

Women in Engineering

Page Count

5

Page Numbers

25.637.1 - 25.637.5

DOI

10.18260/1-2--21394

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/21394

Download Count

383

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Shweta Chopra Purdue University, West Lafayette

visit author page

Shweta Chopra is a second-year doctoral student in the Technology, Leadership, and Innovation program at Purdue University. Her research interests include technology and education, global supply chain management, and lean manufacturing principles. A recipient of the 2011-2012 Bilsland Strategic Initiatives Fellowship, she is investigating ways to increase female participation in STEM education and careers. As a graduate instructor for the introductory course in lean manufacturing (IT-214), she has received Committee for the Education of Teaching Assistants Award for excellence in graduate teaching and is currently developing novel delivery processes for imparting online education in lean principles through engagement with industry professionals.

visit author page

author page

Gary R. Bertoline Purdue University, West Lafayette

biography

Chad M. Laux Purdue University, West Lafayette

visit author page

Chad Laux is an Assistant Professor in the Industrial Technology Department at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. He teaches courses in lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma quality. His research interests include quality management, lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, and agriculture biotechnology systems. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt from General Electric, Co., Caterpillar, Inc., and the American Society for Quality. He is also a certified Senior Technology Manager from the Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering. He is a member of the ASEE, ASQ, and ATMAE, and is also an active leader in the international arena by serving as a delegate for the United States for the creation for food quality management standards.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

In spite of continued efforts taken by government, universities, companies, and otherorganizations to increase the involvement of women in science, technology, engineering,mathematics (STEM) disciplines; women remain an Underrepresented Minority (URM). Resultsfrom one of the top ten Midwestern (XXX) University enrollment data for the period 2003-2010demonstrate that the average proportion of women to men in STEM graduate education has been38% versus 62% respectively. This proposal will seek answers to how XXX University canincrease the percentage of women in graduate studies. Since women’s population in UnitedStates is 50% that of male and we are already facing scarcity of workforce in the STEM field, inorder to bridge the gap and fulfill the requirement in workforce we should explore URM group.Bringing more women to graduate school will not only make campus more diversified, but it willalso give women access to higher-status, well-paid STEM careers and add new perspectives toscientific and technological innovation. The proposed project will address multiple initiativesenvisioned in the various graduate schools around the USA which includes student enrollment,diversity, degree completion and retention, time to degree. Our paper will demonstrates methods inwhich women in STEM field will be able to engage themselves more with their peers, gainmentoring from industry experts. Furthermore the use of role models and exposure to successfulwomen in the field will provide them guidance about what they can do to advance their career inSTEM discipline and get networking opportunity. The long-term goal of this project is to providebeneficial strategic recommendations to academic institutions and industry that will enhance therecruitment and retention of women in STEM discipline and help them excel in their careers.

Chopra, S., & Bertoline, G. R., & Laux, C. M. (2012, June), Finding What Women Want: Developing Strategies to Increase Recruitment and Retention of Women Paper presented at 2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, San Antonio, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--21394

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015