Conference Session

FPD I: Attacking the Problems of Retention in the First Year

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yvette Pearson Weatherton, University of Texas, Arlington; Andrew P. Kruzic, University of Texas, Arlington; Beth R. Isbell, University of Texas at Arlington; Lynn L. Peterson, University of Texas, Arlington; Carter Tiernan, University of Texas, Arlington; Vu V. Pham, University of Texas at Arlington

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

one of the FIGs, called FORCES (FocusOn Retention in Cohorts of Engineering Students), compared to students in the other three FIGsand the College of Engineering as a whole. FORCES is funded by NSF’s S-STEM (Scholarshipsin Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) program and targets students inunderrepresented groups for recruitment with the broad goals of removing financial barriers andimproving student retention.Recognizing that success in mathematics is critical to engineering student success, key FORCESprogram elements were designed with a focus on calculus. FORCES scholars were required todemonstrate first fall semester calculus readiness by either earning an acceptable score on theuniversity’s Math Aptitude Test (MAT) or by