Guili Zhang

Graduation rates, grade-point average, and changes of major of female and minority students entering engineering

This paper describes analysis of five cohorts of students matriculating into undergraduate engineering programs at nine southeastern universities from 1996-2002. We report retention by semester and graduation success as a percentage of all matriculated students. For students subsequently leaving engineering, we also report grade-point average, departure semester, and destination major. Statistical analyses determined which differences were significant between underrepresented and majority students. The results are compared to a previous study of engineering students at a private institution (University of Southern California). The most striking result was that the graduation rates both within engineering and elsewhere in the university are higher for female students than for males. This was true for both the current and previous data sets. Analysis of previous cohorts in the current data set indicates that this trend begins with the 1992 freshman cohort. Differences between the two studies indicate that students at the private university, particularly females, were quicker to switch out of engineering majors. In other words, retention rates in the first few semesters were lower at the private university than in the current study, though both sets converged to similar values by the junior year

Grade-point average, changes of major, and majors selected by students leaving engineering

Graduation success, grade-point average, and destination major of ten cohorts of students matriculating and subsequently leaving undergraduate engineering programs at nine southeastern universities are studied from 1987-2002. Grade point averages are frozen at the time students leave engineering to investigate the role of grades in their decision to leave engineering and their choice of a destination major. This study adds to evidence indicating that poor performance is not the primary reason students leave engineering. Students leaving with low grades most likely select business, students with high grades more likely choose natural science majors and, interestingly, 10 to 20% at all performance levels choose education or a social science. The study also found that 10 to 15% of the students leaving engineering at all performance levels changed majors at least a second time before graduating, suggesting that changing majors is, for some, a journey of exploration rather than a matter of settling for ones second choice.

The Engineering Concepts Institute: the foundation of a comprehensive minority student development program at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering

Bridge programs have sought to improve the transition and retention of minority students for over two decades. Even those that have been successful have faced a difficult challenge due to the cost-intensive nature of such programs. The purpose of this paper is to recount the success of one such bridge program, the Engineering Concepts Institute, and the rest of the comprehensive minority student development that follows it, serving students of Florida A&M University matriculating to the Florida A&M University Florida State University College of Engineering. A significant improvement in six-year graduation rates is observed for cohorts from 1987-1992 (/spl chi//sup 2/, /spl alpha/=0.05). It is hoped that the strategic partnership between Ohland and Zhang, who are using a longitudinal database compiled by the SUCCEED Coalition to study engineering programs, and Foreman and Haynes, the programs coordinators, will yield the evidence needed to seek alternative funding sources from industrial sponsors, foundations, and even participating students and their parents. This evidence is critical when budget cuts threaten to shut down this valuable program.