Relevance of Servingness Framework to Engineering Education Research Graduate Program Recruitment Process

Cheryl A Bodnar; Holly M Matusovich

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Conference: 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Publication Date: June 22, 2025
Start Date: June 22, 2025
End Date: August 15, 2025
Conference Session: GSD 1: From Recruitment to Retention
Tagged Division: Graduate Studies Division (GSD)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 13
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/57127

Paper Authors

biography

Cheryl A Bodnar The Ohio State University orcid.org/0000-0002-8665-9839

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Dr. Bodnar is a Professor in the Engineering Education Department at The Ohio State University. Her research interests relate to the incorporation of active learning techniques such as game-based learning in undergraduate classes as well as innovation and entrepreneurship.

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biography

Holly M Matusovich Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Dr. Holly Matusovich is the Associate Dean for Graduate and Professional Studies in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech and a Professor in the Department of Engineering Education where she has also served in key leadership positions. Dr. Matusovich is recognized for her research and leadership related to graduate student mentoring and faculty development. She won the Hokie Supervisor Spotlight Award in 2014, received the College of Engineering Graduate Student Mentor Award in 2018, and was inducted into the Virginia Tech Academy of Faculty Leadership in 2020. Dr. Matusovich has been a PI/Co-PI on 19 funded research projects including the NSF CAREER Award, with her share of funding being nearly $3 million. She has co-authored 2 book chapters, 34 journal publications, and more than 80 conference papers. She is recognized for her research and teaching, including Dean’s Awards for Outstanding New Faculty, Outstanding Teacher Award, and a Faculty Fellow. Dr. Matusovich has served the Educational Research and Methods (ERM) division of ASEE in many capacities over the past 10+ years including serving as Chair from 2017-2019. Dr. Matusovich is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Advances in Engineering Education and she serves on the ASEE committee for Scholarly Publications.

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Abstract

Sixteen engineering education programs across the United States came together in Fall 2023 to offer a virtual multi-institutional graduate program showcase for prospective graduate students. The purpose of the showcase was to provide an opportunity for potential graduate students to learn about the breadth of available programs, and through understanding programmatic offerings potentially identify programs that would align with their goals and interests. Although not originally situated in a servingness framework, we were inspired by current conversations and literature regarding inclusiveness to consider what it could look like to make this framework central to our recruiting work. Thus, our study aimed to understand how the materials developed as part of the multi-institutional graduate program showcase might reflect elements of servingness. The multidimensional conceptual framework of servingness includes both indicators of serving and structures for serving. Specifically, we asked (1) how relevant is the servingness framework to materials designed for a graduate program recruitment process; and (2) what adaptations may be necessary to allow for this framework’s application to the graduate program recruitment process context? We employed framework analysis to identify which, if any, elements of the servingness framework were represented in the showcase presentation. After completing content analysis of the institutional slides and thematic analysis of the program presentations, we conducted focus groups with graduate program leaders to receive their feedback on our emergent findings and to discuss applicability of servingness as a lens to thinking about the graduate program recruitment process context. Our results revealed that the framework was a useful lens as we saw some common elements of the framework across all programs that were also supported in the feedback from program directors when we asked them to specifically consider this perspective. However, it was clear that adaptations would be needed for the framework to be fully applicable. Thus, graduate programs can use servingness to prompt a focus on the student experience as part of their recruitment materials while ensuring that the underlying intent of the servingness framework is preserved.

Citation
Format

Bodnar, C. A., & Matusovich, H. M. (2025, June), Relevance of Servingness Framework to Engineering Education Research Graduate Program Recruitment Process Paper presented at 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Montreal, Quebec, Canada . https://peer.asee.org/57127

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Sixteen engineering education programs across the United States came together in Fall 2023 to offer a virtual multi-institutional graduate program showcase for prospective graduate students. The purpose of the showcase was to provide an opportunity for potential graduate students to learn about the breadth of available programs, and through understanding programmatic offerings potentially identify programs that would align with their goals and interests. Although not originally situated in a servingness framework, we were inspired by current conversations and literature regarding inclusiveness to consider what it could look like to make this framework central to our recruiting work. Thus, our study aimed to understand how the materials developed as part of the multi-institutional graduate program showcase might reflect elements of servingness. The multidimensional conceptual framework of servingness includes both indicators of serving and structures for serving. Specifically, we asked (1) how relevant is the servingness framework to materials designed for a graduate program recruitment process; and (2) what adaptations may be necessary to allow for this framework’s application to the graduate program recruitment process context? We employed framework analysis to identify which, if any, elements of the servingness framework were represented in the showcase presentation. After completing content analysis of the institutional slides and thematic analysis of the program presentations, we conducted focus groups with graduate program leaders to receive their feedback on our emergent findings and to discuss applicability of servingness as a lens to thinking about the graduate program recruitment process context. Our results revealed that the framework was a useful lens as we saw some common elements of the framework across all programs that were also supported in the feedback from program directors when we asked them to specifically consider this perspective. However, it was clear that adaptations would be needed for the framework to be fully applicable. Thus, graduate programs can use servingness to prompt a focus on the student experience as part of their recruitment materials while ensuring that the underlying intent of the servingness framework is preserved.
AU  - Cheryl A Bodnar
AU  - Holly M Matusovich
CY  - Montreal, Quebec, Canada 
DA  - 2025/06/22
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Relevance of Servingness Framework to Engineering Education Research Graduate Program Recruitment Process
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/57127
ER  -