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R3: A Three-Pronged Model for Engineering Student Success

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Conference

2017 FYEE Conference

Location

Daytona Beach, Florida

Publication Date

August 6, 2017

Start Date

August 6, 2017

End Date

August 8, 2017

Page Count

5

DOI

10.18260/1-2--29431

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/29431

Download Count

336

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Paper Authors

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Harry Ingle Jr. Tennessee Technological University

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Kristine K. Craven Tennessee Technological University

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Dr. Kris Craven is currently the Interim Chairman of the General and Basic Engineering (GBE) Department and a tenured Assistant Professor of the same department at Tennessee Tech University (TTU). I have been employed by TTU since 2000 primarily teaching in the Basic Engineering Program. I have also been teaching junior level courses for the Mechanical Engineering department for several years. In addition to ASEE, I am a member of the Society of Women Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Sigma Xi, and Pi Tau Sigma.

One of my passions is freshman engineering students. I truly enjoy teaching and working with the first-year students. Another passion is outreach activities. I have participated in the starting and running of three different outreach programs that are working to increase the number of female engineering students by getting young girls interested while still attending primary school.

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Elizabeth A. Powell Tennessee Technological University

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Dr. Beth Powell has a doctorate in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Louisville. Her research is in engineering communication, and she works as the Assistant Director for the College of Engineering Student Success Center at Tennessee Tech University.

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Elizabeth L Hutchins Tenneessee Tech University

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Elizabeth Hutchins is an academic advisor in the Department of Enrollment Management specializing in advisement for the College of Engineering. Additionally, she teaches a first-year experience course and several undergraduate engineering mechanics courses as an adjunct instructor in the College of Engineering. She earned her BS in biomedical engineering from Louisiana Tech University, her MS in biomedical engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and a graduate certificate in Academic Advising from Kansas State University.

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Linda Christine Randolph Tennessee Technological University

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Linda Randolph is a freshman and sophomore advisor for the Computer Science Department and a freshman, sophomore, and junior advisor for the Manufacturing and Engineering Technology Department at Tennessee Technological University. She earned her MA in English with an emphasis in American Literature from San Diego State University, and she teaches English part time. She lives in Cookeville, TN, with her two children, Steven and Allison.

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Carol McGee Tennessee Technological University

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Carol McGee is an academic advisor in the Department of Enrollment Management specializing in advisement for the College of Engineering. She earned her BS in management from the New School for Social Research in New York, NY and her MS in management science from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

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Abstract

The College of Engineering Student Success Center at Tennessee Technological University has developed and implemented a three-pronged model for student success, R3: Recruitment, Retention, and Recognition. Since its inception, the Center has seen positive impacts on student success, including an 81% persistence rate from first to second year for first-year freshmen in the Center’s advising program [1]; success stories from graduates of the Center’s Ambassador program, such as an alumni who won the 2017 STEP Ahead Emerging Leader Award; and a robust outreach program that has impacted over 5,000 secondary students and community members.

The R3 model reflects educational research and evidence-based practices. Research and practice suggest that a combination of efforts and supports are necessary to ensure student success for a broad number and variety of students [2], especially considering that every student will have a unique background and all students will “start from diverse places,” thus needing different supports and finding engagement and motivation in different sources [3]. Furthermore, the supports within the R3 model use evidence-based practices, student success and retention research, and engineering education research [4]-[6]. Workshop facilitators will offer an interactive, hands-on session utilizing strategic planning and active learning techniques, such as small and large group discussion and hands-on demonstrations. The workshop is suited for attendees in different roles, including educators, student success professionals, and enrollment management professionals. The goal is to offer attendees strategies for recruitment, retention, and recognition in their own universities, recognizing that the strategies we have developed will need to be adapted for each campus’s own “culture and goals” [7]. Facilitators will achieve this goal through discussion and activities related to recruitment, retention, and recognition strategies currently used by the Success Center and the General and Basic Engineering Department. Moreover, the facilitators will discuss “lessons learned” from formative assessment and program evaluation. When attendees leave, they should have the necessary tools to identify supports, networks, stakeholders, and resources to help develop recruitment, retention, and recognition strategies to fit their needs and goals.

[1] Office of Institutional Research at Tennessee Technological University. [2] Jolly, E. J., Campbell, P. B., & Perlman, L. Engagement, Capacity and Continuity: A Trilogy for Student Success. GE Foundation, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.campbell-kibler.com/trilogy.pdf [3] Committee on Underrepresented Groups and the Expansion of the Science and Engineering Workforce Pipeline. Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads. Washington D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.nap.edu [4] Earl, W. R. “Intrusive Advising of Freshmen in Academic Difficulty.” NACADA Journal, 1988. [5] Kuh, G. D., Kinzie, J., Buckley, J. A., Bridges, B. K., & Hayek, J. C. What Matters to Student Success: A Review of the Literature. National Postsecondary Education Cooperative, 2006. [6] American Society of Engineering Educators. Going the Distance. ASEE, 2012. Retrieved from https://www.asee.org/retention-project [7] Brownell, J. E., & Swaner, L. E.. “High-Impact Practices: Applying the Learning Outcomes Literature to the Development of Successful Campus Programs.” Peer Review, 2009, 26-30.

Ingle, H., & Craven, K. K., & Powell, E. A., & Hutchins, E. L., & Randolph, L. C., & McGee, C. (2017, August), R3: A Three-Pronged Model for Engineering Student Success Paper presented at 2017 FYEE Conference, Daytona Beach, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--29431

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2017 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015