Board 133: Evaluation of Suffolk University’s Electrical Engineering S-STEM Program at Year 4

Lisa Shatz; Kerrie Pieloch

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Conference: 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Publication Date: June 23, 2018
Start Date: June 23, 2018
End Date: July 27, 2018
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 18
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--29925
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/29925
Download Count: 487

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Paper Authors

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Lisa Shatz Suffolk University

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Professor of Electrical Engineering, Suffolk University
Professor and Chair of Electrical Engineering, the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology
PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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biography

Kerrie Pieloch Suffolk University

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Ms. Kerrie Pieloch is a clinical psychology Ph.D. candidate at Suffolk University. She received her Masters of Science in clinical psychology in May of 2015. Her clinical work focuses on developmental psychopathology with underserved populations. She is the co-PI for an NSF grant which provides scholarships and career counseling to engineering students at Suffolk University. Her role in the project is to assess career development trajectories for the scholarship students, create program evaluations, collect assessment data and disseminate information to the STEM community.

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Abstract

Suffolk University’s Electrical Engineering S-STEM Scholars program aims to give academically worthy high school graduates with financial need, from Boston public schools full scholarships to study electrical engineering at Suffolk. Currently the program is in year four, having started in January, 2014, and out of the nineteen students that have been admitted into the program, four have graduated, two have left the program, and the remaining are active students. The four graduates are all employed in the field of electrical engineering, with three working in the electric power industry, members of which partnered with Suffolk for this S-STEM program. This past summer, three current scholars had summer internships, with two in our partners’ electric power companies. This program was challenged by unstable university leadership, with six presidents in six years, a public feud between a president and the board, and, most significantly for the program, a sudden decision to terminate the electrical engineering program by a dean and a president who had only been on the job for a few weeks. Yet, despite these challenges and with a program in teach-out mode, the S-STEM students have thrived, with all of the remaining students on target to graduate on, or nearly on time. Moreover, the electrical engineering program has found a new home at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, a school better suited for future S-STEM programs because of its commitment to keeping tuition low and to recruiting graduates of Boston public schools, most of whom require financial assistance. This paper describes the unique features of the S-STEM program such as a one-time four-night stay at a field station in Northern Maine. It also describes outreach activities by the scholars such as annual participation in the Latino-STEM Alliance Robotics Competition and Science Fair, annual science and engineering experiments with Boston Public High Schools (BPHS), and the annual Power Engineering Day which brings together engineers and leaders from the electric power industry, Suffolk EE students, and BPHS students to learn about electric power and its career opportunities. This paper also includes descriptions of the scholars’ career building activities, study group participation, and weekly pizza events. Results of assessments of these activities as well as other activities that promote student success are described as well as the yearly assessments of the program by an outside evaluator.

Citation
Format

Shatz, L., & Pieloch, K. (2018, June), Board 133: Evaluation of Suffolk University’s Electrical Engineering S-STEM Program at Year 4 Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--29925

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Suffolk University’s Electrical Engineering S-STEM Scholars program aims to give academically worthy high school graduates with financial need, from Boston public schools full scholarships to study electrical engineering at Suffolk.  Currently the program is in year four, having started in January, 2014, and out of the nineteen students that have been admitted into the program, four have graduated, two have left the program, and the remaining are active students.  The four graduates are all employed in the field of electrical engineering, with three working in the electric power industry, members of which partnered with Suffolk for this S-STEM program. This past summer, three current scholars had summer internships, with two in our partners’ electric power companies. 
This program was challenged by unstable university leadership, with six presidents in six years, a public feud between a president and the board, and, most significantly for the program, a sudden decision to terminate the electrical engineering program by a dean and a president who had only been on the job for a few weeks.  Yet, despite these challenges and with a program in teach-out mode, the S-STEM students have thrived, with all of the remaining students on target to graduate on, or nearly on time. Moreover, the electrical engineering program has found a new home at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, a school better suited for future S-STEM programs because of its commitment to keeping tuition low and to recruiting graduates of Boston public schools, most of whom require financial assistance. 
This paper describes the unique features of the S-STEM program such as a one-time four-night stay at a field station in Northern Maine. It also describes outreach activities by the scholars such as annual participation in the Latino-STEM Alliance Robotics Competition and Science Fair, annual science and engineering experiments with Boston Public High Schools (BPHS), and the annual Power Engineering Day which brings together engineers and leaders from the electric power industry, Suffolk EE students, and BPHS students to learn about electric power and its career opportunities.  This paper also includes descriptions of the scholars’ career building activities, study group participation, and weekly pizza events. Results of assessments of these activities as well as other activities that promote student success are described as well as the yearly assessments of the program by an outside evaluator.

AU  - Lisa Shatz
AU  - Kerrie Pieloch
CY  - Salt Lake City, Utah
DA  - 2018/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 133: Evaluation of Suffolk University’s Electrical Engineering S-STEM Program at Year 4
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/29925
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--29925
ER  -