Presented at the 2011 ASEE Conference, this paper shares the CalWomenTech Project model and strategies -- many requiring minimal costs and time commitments -- that resulted in increases of female students in technology programs and in improved completion rates for both female and male students. The CalWomenTech Project -- funded and highlighted by the National Science Foundation -- assisted technology programs at eight California two-year colleges in recruiting and retaining more women during an economic recession and state budget crisis that forced the California community college system to cut hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Over 380 female undergraduate engineering and technology students were surveyed on eight categories including demographics, role models, and scenarios that might make a female student more comfortable studying engineering. One important result from the survey is that female students who had four to six female professors were more likely to report having an educational or career role model (55.8%) compared to those who had only one to three female professors (50.7%) or no female professors (46.0%).
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Bauer, I. (2008). The Need for Female Role Models in Engineering Education. Conference Proceedings of the WEPAN 2008 National Conference Gateway to Diversity: Getting Results Through Strategic Communications (pp. 1-21). St. Louis, Missouri: Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN). Retrieved from http://dpubs.libraries.psu.edu/DPubS?service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&page=toc&handle=psu.wepan/1213196242 |
