Faculty and Staff Perceptions of Student Veterans Pursuing a Degree in Engineering
- Conference
- Location
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Portland, Oregon
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2024
- Start Date
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June 23, 2024
- End Date
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July 12, 2024
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Military and Veterans Division (MVD)
- Tagged Topic
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Diversity
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/47455
Paper Authors
Robert J. Rabb P.E. Penn State University
Robert Rabb is the associate dean for education in the College of Engineering at Penn State. He previously served as a professor and the Mechanical Engineering Department Chair at The Citadel. He previously taught mechanical engineering at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the United Military Academy and his M.S. and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. His research and teaching interests are in mechatronics, regenerative power, and multidisciplinary engineering.
Alyson G. Eggleston Penn State University
Alyson Eggleston is an Associate Professor in the Penn State Hershey College of Medicine and Director of Evaluation for the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Her research and teaching background focuses on program assessment, STEM technical communication, industry-informed curricula, and educational outcomes veteran and active duty students.
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 t
Angela Minichiello P.E.
Utah State University
orcid.org/0000-0002-4545-9355
Angela (Angie) Minichiello is a military veteran, licensed mechanical engineer, and associate professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Utah State University. Her research examines issues of access, equity, and identity in the formation of engineers and a diverse, transdisciplinary 21st century engineering workforce. Angie received an NSF CAREER award in 2021 for her work with student veterans and service members in engineering.
Ronald W. Welch P.E. The Citadel
Ron Welch (P.E.) received his B.S. degree in Engineering Mechanics from the United States Military Academy in 1982. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1990 and 1999, respectively. He taught at The United States Military Academy during his 25 year military career. After retiring form the military he has taught at the University of Texas at Tyler and The Citadel, where he was the Dean of Engineering for 10 years.
Jerry Lynn Dahlberg Jr
University of Tennessee, Space Institute
orcid.org/0000-0003-2778-5349
Jerry Dahlberg is the Director of Research at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. Prior to joining UTSI, he was an Assistant Teaching Professor and Senior Design Committee Chair at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering Science in 2014, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2016 and PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2018 from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
David M. Feinauer P.E. Virginia Military Institute
Dr. Feinauer is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Military Institute. His scholarly work spans a number of areas related to engineering education, including the first-year engineering experience, incorporating innovation and entrepreneurship practice in the engineering classroom, and P-12 engineering outreach. Additionally, he has research experience in the areas of automation and control theory, system identification, machine learning, and energy resilience fundamentals. His work has been published through the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE); he is an active member of both organizations. He holds a PhD and BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kentucky.
B Grant Crawford P.E. Quinnipiac University
Grant Crawford, PhD, P.E., F.ASEE, Colonel (retired) U.S. Army, is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering for the School of Computing and Engineering at Quinnipiac University. He is a former Director of the Mechanical Engineering Program at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated from West Point in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. He earned a M.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1994 and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas in 2004. He has developed and taught courses in aeronautics, thermal-fluid systems, heat transfer, computer-aided design, circuits, and aerospace and mechanical engineering design. He has served as a Program Evaluator for the EAC and a Commissioner and Team Chair for the ETAC of ABET. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and is a rated pilot in both rotary and fixed wing aircraft.
Samuel Shaw Utah State University
Samuel Shaw is an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Utah State University.
Abstract
Student veterans’ skills, unique gifts, and experiences are well documented as value added to their organizations. However, student veterans experience biases and perceptions from a variety of sources to include faculty, staff, fellow students, employers, and even pop culture. Some of these perceptions may generalize student veterans positively, while some may portray them negatively without any ill-intent. Faculty and staff perceptions of and interactions with student veterans can impact student veteran learning outcomes and their classroom experience. While student veteran populations fluctuate with the tempo of military activity, the US has seen some of the highest student veteran enrollments as a result of the Post 9/11 GI Bill and the student veterans’ desire to pursue their educational goals. Student veterans are a growing part of the university population. Veterans are a special demographic that is tracked on federal and state employment Equal Opportunity Hiring Policies and as a special interest group in the US government census. Demand for technical expertise in the military and civilian sectors will result in student veterans and active duty military members’ presence in physical and virtual engineering education campuses. This increase of student veteran and active duty populations requires higher education faculty, advisers, staff, and administrators to appreciate the student veterans’ strengths and challenges and to acknowledge their own perceptions of this population.
This paper is part of a larger study of perceptions toward student veterans and the impact of those perceptions on student veterans. Specifically, this investigation focuses on faculty and staff perceptions towards student veterans in engineering higher education. Through the quantitative survey instrument described here and administered across many academic institutions, this paper surfaces existing stereotypes and perceptions retained by faculty and staff. Questions from this survey sought the level of agreement or disagreement regarding several known veteran stereotypes. Preliminary results from mixed model logistic analyses indicate that these biases or perceptions are active in non-veteran faculty and staff populations.
Rabb, R. J., & Eggleston, A. G., & Mobley, C., & Minichiello, A., & Welch, R. W., & Dahlberg, J. L., & Feinauer, D. M., & Crawford, B. G., & Shaw, S. (2024, June), Faculty and Staff Perceptions of Student Veterans Pursuing a Degree in Engineering Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47455
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