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Session 1392

Instructor’s Race and Gender and Freshman Student Perceptions Jeffrey B. Connor, J.C. Malzahn Kampe, Alex O. Aning Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Abstract

Much has been written about the need for role models to increase retention of women and minorities in engineering. One hypothesis has been that an instructor of the same race or gender will serve as encouragement for women or minority students to continue in engineering. An experiment was conducted to quantify the effect of an instructor’s race and gender on the perceptions of freshman engineering students. At the beginning of their first semester, students were asked to evaluate a series of statements (strongly agree to strongly disagree) concerning their perceptions of Virginia Tech’s engineering program and its commitment to equal opportunity for men, women, and minorities. A total of 371 students, all taking the same introduction to engineering course, participated in the survey. Three instructors participated, with a black male teaching 119 students in four sections, a white male teaching 162 students in five sections, and a white female teaching 90 students in three sections. The results indicate that, in general, the race or gender of the instructor had little effect on the social perceptions of first semester freshman engineering students at Virginia Tech.

Background

Like most technical institutions the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is significantly under represented in women and minority students. In 1997, women comprised 16% and African-Americans 4.2% of the college’s undergraduate student body1. Again, like most technical institutions, the college wants to recruit and retain the highest quality students and believes that this is best accomplished by selecting from the largest and widest pool possible. The need for women and minority instructors to act as role models and mentors has often been put forth as a desirable and effective method of increasing retention, and as a way to provide a climate and culture beneficial to all populations.

In the fall of 1999 a total of 1280 first semester freshman engineering students were enrolled in Introduction to Engineering (EF 1015) of whom 237 were women and 55 African-American. There were 40 sections with an average class size of 32 students. Class composition was random with each class typically containing a few women and one or two African-Americans. 1 Patricia B. Hyer, Emet L. LaBoone, and Eugenia L. Mottley, “Women and Minorities at Virginia Tech,” (Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Tech, 1998).

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Connor, J. B., & Kampe, J. M., & Aning, A. O. (2000, June), Instructor's Gender And Race And Freshman Student Perceptions Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8466