Canyon, Texas
March 10, 2024
March 10, 2024
March 12, 2024
10
10.18260/1-2--45369
https://peer.asee.org/45369
203
Kenneth R. Leitch holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from New Mexico State University and M.B.A. from Colorado Christian University. He is an Associate Professor of civil engineering at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas. He is a registered P.E. in Texas and Indiana.
Institutions of higher education have long sought ways to meet the needs of the workforce. Research shows that there is a shortage of qualified STEM graduates in the workforce (Athanasia & Cota, 2022; Ice, et.al., 2021; Morrison, et.al., 2011). A challenge faced by the majority of institutions of higher education is student retention. Universities will identify those students who are able to succeed on their own and allocate resources to those who are underprepared for university academics. Often missed are those in the middle population between these two – Identified by the Education Advisory Board (EAB) as the murky middle (MM) (EAB, 2014). The MM population in pre-engineering looks a little different than those of other disciplines. One university looked at identifying their MM population for early intervention and realized that the GPA criteria established by the EAB was not enough to identify the engineering MM. This paper outlines the process used to further identify the engineering MM. A rubric was developed that can assist programs in identifying the engineering MM and target these students for intervention.
Leitch, K. R. (2024, March), Defining the Murky Middle for an Engineering Program Paper presented at 2024 ASEE-GSW, Canyon, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--45369
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