Relationships Between Engineering Student and Faculty Demographics and Stakeholders Working to Affect Change*

Journal of Engineering Education, Apr 2004 by Johnson, Michelle J, Sheppard, Sheri D

Table 1 reports the progress of students in the average high school class of 1990 who made decisions "a" through "e." Their progress is charted in terms of the percentage of the original class population of Stage 1.

The HS senior class of 1990 consisted of approximately 3,773,800 (100 percent) students (citizens and permanent residents), of which only 27.6 percent of the HS class made decisions "a" through "c" and thus, matriculated at an institution where students arc most likely to attain a baccalaureate degree in engineering. Only 1.6 percent of the population of students (about 58,920) in a HS cohort graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering. There were slightly more males (50.19 percent) than females (49.81 percent) in the college age resident population in the U.S. [2, 32]. In similar percentages, male and female students positively negotiated decisions "a" through "c" and enrolled in four-year institutions.

Figure 2a shows that females were more likely than the males to not only graduate from HS (88.9 percent compared to 85.8 percent) but also go on to some college (66.8 percent compared to 64.6 percent). The number of females in the engineering pipeline declined at decision point "d" where students decide whether to enroll in an engineering program. Compared to 14.3 percent of the 47.2 percent of male students, only 2.8 percent of the 49.4 percent of female students who enrolled in four-year institutions (Stage 4) choose to enroll in an engineering program. The data indicate that more than 59.6 percent of the females who enrolled in engineering graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering (decision "e"). The participation rate of females at this stage was approximately ten percentage points less than their male counterparts.

Table 1 indicates that Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians were less likely than Whites and Asians to graduate high school and go on to college. Forty-seven percent of both Blacks and American Indians, 33 percent of Hispanics, compared to 65 percent of both Whites and Asians went on to some college (Stage 3). Figure 2b shows that for all ethnic groups, the greatest decline in the number of students in the engineering pipeline occurred at decision "d", between Stages 4 and S (Table 2). Of those students who enrolled in undergraduate four-year institutions, underrepresented minorities were least likely to enroll in engineering. In decision "d" compared to Whites (9.2 percent) and Asians (14.7 percent), only between 6.4 and 7.1 percent underrepresented minority students enrolled in engineering programs. Once enrolled, Blacks were the least likely to graduate with a bachelor's degree in engineering (31.7 percent). Findings from a study reported by The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) [6], whose focus is on tracking recruitment and retention rates by race/ethnicity, reported similar findings. These results indicate that there are three major decision points where most students exit the engineering pipeline. At these points, students must make decisions whether to enroll full-time in a four-year undergraduate institution (point "c"), enroll full-time in an engineering program (point "d"), and graduate from engineering (point "e").