Stephanie Blaisdell

Predictors of women's entry into engineering: why academic preparation is not sufficient

Women and minorities continue to be underrepresented in engineering. Betz and Hackett (1981) suggested that womens socialization provides them with less exposure to the information that allows individuals to develop self-efficacy for traditionally male occupations. This social cognitive hypothesis proposes that low self-efficacy for the tasks required to enter and succeed in engineering is the primary reason women and minorities continue to be underrepresented in engineering. The present study used a social cognitive framework and structural equation modeling to determine what factors predict the intentions of male and female high school students to pursue engineering majors in college. Preliminary data indicate that in order to increase the likelihood of a high school student planning on an engineering career, efforts should be focused on the student gaining quality mathematical and science experiences, exposure to engineering role models and a special emphasis must be made with respect to recruiting women into engineering.

A comprehensive programmatic approach to recruitment and retention in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Ensuring a diverse engineering workforce has never bean more important than now as technology impacts every aspect of both global businesses and our personal lives. At the same time general interest in engineering is at a twenty year low. The ability to attract students into technical fields begins very early with collaboration of teachers, counselors, parents, business partners, university faculty and community. Since engineering is not a part of a normal junior high or high school curriculum, special creative efforts need to be made to motivate potential students about the multiple career options they have in technical fields. Students very early on need to see the relationships between the things that interest them and how an engineering career is a vehicle to impact and to improve the future of that interest. The author describes how the Office of Student Affairs for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) at Arizona State University (USA) has a three pronged collaborative, sustained program for the recruitment and retention of engineering students that addresses these concerns.

Teaching and learning in an era of equality: an engineering program for middle school girls

The Women in Applied Science and Engineering (WISE) program at Arizona State University, USA, was founded to improve the retention and recruitment of women in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS). In the summer of 1996, WISE obtained a grant from the City of Tempe to develop an engineering program targeted at middle school girls to expose them to and to interest them in engineering. This program, WISE TEAMS (Teaming Engineering Advocates with Middle School Students), was a two-day commuter program consisting of hands-on engineering activities, career information and team building exercises. Among the thirty-eight participants for TEAMS, there were twelve underrepresented minorities. The content of the program is presented in this paper.

WISE Investments: collaborators and outcomes of a successful teacher-training project

This presentation serves to highlight a recent project within the Women in Applied Science and Engineering (WISE) Program at Arizona State University (USA), WISE Investments. Originally an Eisenhower-funded pilot program, WISE Investments (WI) is now a three-year project funded by the National Science Foundation. The paper focuses on the collaborative nature of the pilot project, and provides some of the outcomes of the project.

Recruiting women into engineering graduate programs

Since women are seriously underrepresented in engineering graduate programs, programs are needed to bridge existing retention programs for undergraduate women with retention programs for graduate women in engineering. These efforts are likely to strengthen the pipeline of women entering academia. The National Science Foundation-funded Women in Engineering Scholars program is designed to encourage more women to pursue graduate school in engineering. The Scholars Program is administered through the Women in Applied Science and Engineering (WISE) Program at Arizona State University and it includes strong industry participation. A description of the program is presented including budget and funding, participant recruiting, preliminary results and lessons learned.

Starting a women in engineering program

The percentage of women in engineering programs nationally has plateaued at 20% for the past several years. In order to increase this number, many colleges have initiated womens programs. This paper outlines the requirements for such a program, including staffing, budget, assessment, and resources for best practices. The paper also addresses differences, based on the authors experiences, between women in engineering programs at a large, public institution and a small, private, technically-oriented institution.

An interactive CD ROM to sensitize engineering students to diversity issues

There is an ever-increasing emphasis on teamwork both in the engineering classroom and the workplace. As a result, engineering students need to be aware of how diversity issues play a role in group dynamics. Understanding diversity allows student teams to work more effectively, and provides students with particularly marketable skills for todays corporate environment. With this in mind, the Foundation Coalition commissioned a project to develop a multimedia training for engineering student-related diversity issues in the form of an interactive CD ROM. Designing a fully functional training in a form of a computer program is a lengthy process. The steps include doing a review of the relevant research, designing the framework, designing a storyboard, writing a script, soliciting feedback, recruiting a cast, shooting video, creating animation, programming, testing and debugging. This paper discusses this process and the program content.

Industry involvement in the Women in Applied Science and Engineering (WISE) recruiting and retention programs

Industry has recognized that the employment of women and minorities is critical in maintaining a diverse and progressive engineering environment. It has played a significant role in the Women in Applied Science and Engineering (WISE) recruitment programs. For example, industry has offered financial support, sponsored company tours and initiated the participation of engineers to serve as educators and speakers for both middle school and high school summer programs. In addition, industry has played a significant role in WISE retention programs including the multi-tiered mentor program and onsite shadow program. These programs foster relationships between students and engineers and help bridge the gap between education and employment. Finally, industry members have further strengthened collaborative efforts by serving on the WISE industry advisory committee and participating as industry panel members at various events. An overview of WISE programs that involve industry support are presented as well as a discussion of the impact industry has made on these particular programs. In addition, the mutual benefits of industry supported pre-college recruitment and college retention programs are discussed.