Using An Adaptive Tinto Framework To Interpret Successes Of Two Year Institutions In Retaining Engineering Students
- Conference
- Location
-
Louisville, Kentucky
- Publication Date
-
June 20, 2010
- Start Date
-
June 20, 2010
- End Date
-
June 23, 2010
- ISSN
-
2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
-
Two Year College Division
- Page Count
-
15
- Page Numbers
-
15.1318.1 - 15.1318.15
- DOI
-
10.18260/1-2--16513
- Permanent URL
-
https://peer.asee.org/16513
- Download Count
-
419
Paper Authors
Heather Evans University of Washington
Heather Evans is a Research Assistant at the Center for Workforce Development at the University of Washington. She is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology and a Fellow in the Comparative Law and Society Studies program at UW. Her research employs mixed methodologies, including ethnographic fieldwork and statistical analysis. Broadly, she is interested in ways in which institutions reproduce social inequality, how new social spaces are created, and perceptions of citizenship among marginalized people.
Priti Mody-Pan University of Washington
Priti N. Mody-Pan is the Director of Evaluation at the Center for Workforce Development. Her responsibilities include overseeing funded projects related to the Global Alliance, writing and editing proposals, fundraising, conducting research projects on institutional best practices in diversity, writing reports, managing an international exchange program, conducting program evaluations, marketing, and working with international and national organizations. Ms. Mody-Pan received her Master of Public Administration (MPA) and Master of Arts in International Studies (MAIS) degrees from the University of Washington and her BA in Political Science and East Asian Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Using an Adaptive Tinto Framework to Interpret Successes of Two-Year Institutions in Retaining Engineering Students
Abstract Low enrollment of underrepresented minority (URM) and female students in engineering is of national concern. One of the most untapped resources for potential science and engineering students is community college students. A statewide study demonstrates that roughly 50% of students in upper division engineering and related programs are transfer9. Almost one-fifth of engineering students began their college careers at a community college1. In light of these issues, a statewide collaborative project among four community colleges and two universities was undertaken in Washington State in 2004 to increase the number of students earning undergraduate engineering degrees statewide, with special attention on URMs and females. Using assessment data, the assessment team examines how differing institutional settings impact students’ feelings of integration into social and academic engineering communities. Previous research suggests that students are more likely to persist to graduation if they are socially and academically integrated into STEM disciplines23. Cross sectional data analysis of four years of the program’s Student Experience Survey (formative assessment data) revealed some surprising institutional differences. Our findings show significant differences by institution type in students’ academic experiences and participation in professionalization activities. There was no difference, however, in students’ social (peer-based) experiences or their perceptions of discrimination. Student tracking needs to continue to measure the successful outcomes in order to do further analysis on differences among successful and unsuccessful graduates and/or transfer students. These findings suggest that involving lowerclassmen and community college students into professionalization activities such as research experiences and conferences would contribute to their ongoing satisfaction with engineering study. I. Introduction Low enrollment of underrepresented minority (URM) and female students in engineering is of national concern. One of the most untapped resources for potential science and engineering students is community college students. A statewide study demonstrates that roughly 50% of students in upper division engineering and related programs are transfer students9. Almost one- fifth of engineering students began their college careers at a community college1. These data suggest four year engineering programs have overlooked an important source for recruiting: community colleges. Community colleges are not only an important feeder for engineering programs at universities, but an important source of diverse, talented students as well. In light of these issues, a statewide collaborative project among four community colleges and two universities was undertaken in Washington State in 2004. The main goal of the project was to increase the number of students earning undergraduate engineering degrees statewide, with special attention on URMs and females. More explicitly, its goals were to: 1. Increase by 10% over five years the total number of students in the State of Washington that earn an undergraduate engineering degree.
Evans, H., & Mody-Pan, P. (2010, June), Using An Adaptive Tinto Framework To Interpret Successes Of Two Year Institutions In Retaining Engineering Students Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16513
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: © 2010 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