Improving engineering-student retention via the UC Davis LEADR program
- Conference
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2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity)
- Location
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New Orleans, Louisiana
- Publication Date
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February 20, 2022
- Start Date
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February 20, 2022
- End Date
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July 20, 2022
- Conference Session
- Tagged Topics
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Diversity and CoNECD Paper Sessions
- Page Count
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6
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--39122
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/39122
- Download Count
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482
Paper Authors
Ralph C. Aldredge III
University of California, Davis
orcid.org/0000-0002-2418-2035
Dr. Ralph Aldredge is the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in the College of Engineering, where he provides leadership and oversight for undergraduate enrollment management, orientation and yield efforts, transfer student admissions, academic advising and intervention, retention programs, the Student Start-up Center, ABET degree-program accreditation, assessment training for faculty, and strategic efforts to improve the academic experience. Prior to this administrative role, he served in various academic-senate leadership roles at the department, college, campus and system-wide levels. While serving as chair of the academic-senate committee on admissions and enrollment, he played an integral role in designing the UC Davis holistic-review freshman admissions policy implemented in 2011. He has served also as chair of the UC Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS, 2014-2016), which develops and recommends system-wide freshman and transfer admissions policies for approval by the UC Board of Regents.
As a professor in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Dr. Aldredge also performs research and advises graduate students in the areas of combustion, fluid dynamics and bio-transport, with a focus on bio-fluid dynamics (vascular blood flow) and on front propagation both in biological tissue (avascular-tumor dynamics) and in reacting gaseous mixtures (flame propagation). He has developed computational algorithms and software for simulation and analysis of flame propagation, including an iPhone/iPad application (the Level-Set app).
Dr. Aldredge received a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and French at Carnegie-Mellon University and his Master’s and PhD degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at UC San Diego and Caltech prior to arriving at UC Davis to begin his teaching career.
Abstract
The impact of the Leadership in Engineering Advancement, Diversity and Retention (LEADR) Program on the retention of engineering undergraduates at UC Davis is evaluated. First-year retention rates for first-generation, female and URM program participants are found to be higher than those for their non-LEADR engineering undergraduate counterparts, while positive program impact on retention is found generally to be lacking for participants during their second and third years of study. Program enhancements to address and improve second- and third-year retention rates are discussed.
Aldredge, R. C. (2022, February), Improving engineering-student retention via the UC Davis LEADR program Paper presented at 2022 CoNECD (Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity) , New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/1-2--39122
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