Conference Session

The Impact of Curriculum on the Retention of Women Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Patricia Backer, San Jose State University

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

a particulartheme of inquiry, as well as the Senior Capstone project.”2 The freshmen inquiry course onDesign & Society is one of nine themes offered.In Fall 2002, SJSU began their MUSE program for incoming freshmen. MUSE was designed tobridge the gap from high school to college. MUSE includes academic seminars on a variety ofsubjects that help the freshmen students gain skills that are necessary to academic success. Inaddition, all MUSE classes are certified in one of SJSU’s General Education areas. Therefore,students taking the MUSE seminars receive three units of General Education credit. Theseminars qualify in one of the following areas: B1 (physical science), B2 (life science), C1(arts), C2 (letters), D1 (human behavior), or E

Conference Session

Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lari Garrison, University of Washington; Reed Stevens, University of Washington; Portia Sabin, University of Washington; Andrew Jocuns, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Women in Engineering

research projects and jobs inthe field (both on campus and off) as being factors in one’s chance of being admitted. Of all ofthese, however, grades seemed to be what most students thought was given the greatest weight inthe decision about their futures in engineering. This is not surprising, given that much of the Page 12.428.9assessments given by advisors relied heavily upon GPA. The other things, like activities played asupporting role. They were things used to bolster or prop up one’s chances, if one’s GPA was notbelieved to be strong enough.The students who were most confident in their chances, like Joe and Renee, talked very little, ifat all