Conference Session

Expanding the Borders of Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sandra Ingram, University of Manitoba; Anita H. Ens, University of Manitoba; Marcia R. Friesen, University of Manitoba

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

. In-depth interviews with women revealed that through such experiences, theiropportunities to invest in mentoring and networking increased significantly and contributed totheir potential for advancement [4].These results suggest that educational work experience programs may allow women theopportunity to ‘scope out’ their potential employers early on and cultivate soft skills throughmentorship and networking. Thus, early exposure to the culture of the organization may lead tomore informed, strategic decisions on key players, improving women’s opportunities forintegration into the culture of engineering. Building on these results which speak to the influenceof educational work experience programs on the career development of women in