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Research Pilots Assess Enhanced Student Success Resulting from Student Affairs Collaboration with Engineering and Applied Sciences

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Conference

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Atlanta, Georgia

Publication Date

June 23, 2013

Start Date

June 23, 2013

End Date

June 26, 2013

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

FPD 5: Transitions and Student Success, Part I

Tagged Division

First-Year Programs

Page Count

14

Page Numbers

23.1041.1 - 23.1041.14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--22426

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/22426

Download Count

444

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Paper Authors

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Edmund Tsang Western Michigan University

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Dr. Edmund Tsang is Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs and Assessment in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Dr. Tsang received a B.S. (distinction) in Mechanical Engineering from University of Nebraska and Ph.D. in Metallurgy from Iowa State University. Dr. Tsang's current professional interests include integration of service-learning in engineering, social entrepreneurship, student success and retention.

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Laura Darrah Residence Life, Western Michigan University

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Paul V. Engelmann Western Michigan University

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Dr. Paul V. Engelmann is Assistant Dean of Advising and Retention for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Western Michigan University (WMU). He continues in the classroom as he has since 1983. He has written over 50 technical papers, articles and a book chapter on plastics processing and tooling. For the past decade he has turned much of his attention to systemic enhancement of student success in engineering education. He holds his Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees from WMU.

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Cynthia Halderson Western Michigan University

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Cynthia Halderson taught in secondary and post-secondary settings for ten years before moving into educational program evaluation more than twenty years ago. She finds it satisfying to help program staff assess outcomes and work intentionally toward further improvement.

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Bryan W. Thumme Western Michigan University

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Bryan is a current graduate student at Western Michigan pursuing a M.S. in Engineering Management. He graduated from Western in December 2011 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and minor in Paper Engineering. Outside of engineering he is an active member of several student societies and captain of the school's inline hockey team. He is a native of Saginaw, Michigan.

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Anetra Grice Western Michigan University

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Anetra Grice is has served as the STEP Program Director for Western Michigan University's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences for since 2010.

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Abstract

The results of three research pilots will be presented to assess the value added by thecollaboration between the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) and StudentAffairs (SA) to enhance student success. Writing in Change, Banta and Kuh argue that“improving the quality of the undergraduate experience at any institution is so complex andmultifaceted that it demands cooperation by the two groups on campus that spend the most timewith students: faculty members and student affairs professional.” The three research pilots are the Engineering House (EH), At-Risk Student Interventionand Mandatory Math Tutoring. The academic performance of first-year CEAS students living inthe EH were compared to first-year CEAS students living in non-EH residence halls. In EH,many of the residence-hall assistants (RA’s) and all of the Engineering Peer Mentors (EPM’s)are CEAS students. The average ACT MATH score of the EH students and the non-EH studentsare both 25. In the At-Risk Student Intervention pilot, first-year students, returning sophomores,and first-year transfer students who live in residence halls and whose fall semester grade pointaverage (GPA) falls between 1.50 and 1.99 were invited to participate in a diagnostic meeting inJanuary with an advisor, who also made personalized recommendations for academic habitchanges. The spring semester GPA for the students who participated in the intervention wascompared to those who did not respond to the invitation. The Mandatory Math Tutoring pilotinvolved one section of Pre-Calculus and one section of Calculus I in which CEAS students werethe majority of the section’s enrollment. The instructors established the threshold requiringstudents to attend tutoring at the Student Success Centers (SSC) located in the residence halls.Card readers record the student’s identification number to track participation. The average courseGPA of the SSC users was compared to non-SSC users, and the performance of the section withmandatory tutoring were compared to sections without mandatory tutoring. While there is no statistically-significant difference in individual course performancebetween the EH and the non-EH students, EH students as a group has a statistically-significant,higher fall semester GPA than non-EH students. For the At-Risk Student Intervention pilot, first-year students who met with an advisor have GPA increased from fall to spring semester; theGPA decreased from fall to spring for students who did not respond to the invitation. Forreturning sophomores and transfer students, their GPA increased from fall to spring for studentswho met with and those who did not meet an advisor. For the Mandatory Math Tutoring pilot,the SSC users have a higher average GPA than the non-SSC users in Pre-Calculus, but lower inCalculus I. Not factoring in differences in time and instructors, students in the pilot Pre-Calculusand Calculus I have a higher passing rate than the sections without mandatory tutoringrequirement. The results of this paper should be of interest to other universities who have similarstudent demographic as our university, which is classified as “Moderately Selectively” by theConsortium for Student Retention Data Exchange (CSRDE).

Tsang, E., & Darrah, L., & Engelmann, P. V., & Halderson, C., & Thumme, B. W., & Grice, A. (2013, June), Research Pilots Assess Enhanced Student Success Resulting from Student Affairs Collaboration with Engineering and Applied Sciences Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--22426

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