Engineering Living Learning Community Experience: A Model for Improving First-Year Retention and Academic Performance of Black Students

Charmane V. Caldwell; Roxanne Hughes

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Conference: 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual Conference
Publication Date: July 26, 2021
Start Date: July 26, 2021
End Date: July 19, 2022
Conference Session: First-Year Programs: Recruiting and Retention
Tagged Division: First-Year Programs
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 15
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--37069
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/37069
Download Count: 576

Paper Authors

biography

Charmane V. Caldwell Florida A&M University-Florida State University College of Engineering

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Dr. Charmane V. Caldwell is the Director of Student Access at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering (COE). As Director, Charmane leads a comprehensive effort to increase the number of underrepresented undergraduate minorities and women in engineering. She has developed and managed several retention programs at the college: Engineering Concepts Institute (ECI) Summer Bridge; Engineering Living Learning Community (LLC), Educating Engineering Students Innovatively (EESI) and Peer-Assisted Study Sessions (PASS). Dr. Caldwell also serves as the activity director for the Title III program Engineering Learning Community. Those collective programs have nearly doubled the first-year retention of underrepresented minorities at the college.

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Roxanne Hughes National High Magnetic Field Laboratory orcid.org/0000-0002-6383-1341

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Dr. Roxanne Hughes is the Director of the Center for Integrating Research and Learning (CIRL) at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab). She has also directed the MagLab’s Diversity and Inclusion Programs from 2014 to 2019. She brings a breadth of experience in science teaching and informal science education to her position. Her research interests include programs and policies that attempt to increase the number of women and marginalized populations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields by changing the climate within these fields. In her research, she focuses on STEM identity (one’s belief that they fit the perception of a scientist and can be successful in their chosen field). Her research has been presented at national conferences and in international journals. She has been a part of the panel discussion of the American Association of University Women’s Solving the Equation report (2015) and recently the SciGirls national program’s redesign of their strategies for engaging girls in STEM. In addition to her work at the MagLab she also served on multiple boards and advisory commissions, including: the American Physical Society’s Committee on the Status of Women in Physics, the FSU Diversity and Inclusion Council, the FSU National Coalition Building Institute, and the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change Review panel.

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Abstract

The Florida A&M University (FAMU) Engineering Living Learning Community (LLC) is a student support program for freshman enrolled in an engineering major offered at the FAMU‐FSU College of Engineering. The program is designed to: (1) foster a sense of community, (2) strengthen students’ pathways from high school through the second year of college, and (3) provide academic support for pre-engineering courses. Research on LLCs indicate that they can help participants persist in their college majors through the support structure they create. However, the structure of LLCs impacts the level of support students receive. Little research has focused specifically on underrepresented minority students in LLCs or STEM LLCs. Engineering is a field where people of color are severely underrepresented. If engineering departments can create successful support systems through LLCs they can begin to address the underrepresentation.

This case study of a successful Engineering LLC will provide a research-based structure for other colleges and departments to emulate. We will present data for first-time in college students entering the college between 2015-2019, taking into account students’ academic preparedness (i.e. high school GPA and ACT/SAT math scores), gender, first generation, and financial status. This paper will report the results of five (5) different cohorts of Engineering LLC Scholars that completed an academic year in the freshman student support program. We compare the retention rates, persistence and academic performance (e.g. First Year Engineering Lab (FYEL), Calculus I, Calculus II, and Physics I course success rates) of Engineering LLC Scholars compared with students that did not participate in the student support program to highlight the success of the program. Then we describe the best practices of the FAMU Engineering Living Learning Community that led to the persistence of black students. This paper will assist other programs to promote equity and inclusion of engineering students to exist as a minority in a majority engineering program, whether they are deemed “engineering ready” or not.

Citation
Format

Caldwell, C. V., & Hughes, R. (2021, July), Engineering Living Learning Community Experience: A Model for Improving First-Year Retention and Academic Performance of Black Students Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37069

TY - CPAPER
AB - The Florida A&amp;amp;M University (FAMU) Engineering Living Learning Community (LLC) is a student support program for freshman enrolled in an engineering major offered at the FAMU‐FSU College of Engineering. The program is designed to: (1) foster a sense of community, (2) strengthen students’ pathways from high school through the second year of college, and (3) provide academic support for pre-engineering courses. Research on LLCs indicate that they can help participants persist in their college majors through the support structure they create. However, the structure of LLCs impacts the level of support students receive. Little research has focused specifically on underrepresented minority students in LLCs or STEM LLCs. Engineering is a field where people of color are severely underrepresented. If engineering departments can create successful support systems through LLCs they can begin to address the underrepresentation.

This case study of a successful Engineering LLC will provide a research-based structure for other colleges and departments to emulate. We will present data for first-time in college students entering the college between 2015-2019, taking into account students’ academic preparedness (i.e. high school GPA and ACT/SAT math scores), gender, first generation, and financial status. This paper will report the results of five (5) different cohorts of Engineering LLC Scholars that completed an academic year in the freshman student support program. We compare the retention rates, persistence and academic performance (e.g. First Year Engineering Lab (FYEL), Calculus I, Calculus II, and Physics I course success rates) of Engineering LLC Scholars compared with students that did not participate in the student support program to highlight the success of the program. Then we describe the best practices of the FAMU Engineering Living Learning Community that led to the persistence of black students. This paper will assist other programs to promote equity and inclusion of engineering students to exist as a minority in a majority engineering program, whether they are deemed “engineering ready” or not.

AU - Charmane V. Caldwell
AU - Roxanne Hughes
CY - Virtual Conference
DA - 2021/07/26
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Engineering Living Learning Community Experience: A Model for Improving First-Year Retention and Academic Performance of Black Students
UR - https://peer.asee.org/37069
DO - 10.18260/1-2--37069
ER -