UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles A Crack in the Pipeline: Why Female Underrepresented Racial Minority College Students Leave Engineering A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education by Jenny Amanda Vazquez-Akim 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION A Crack in the Pipeline: Why Female Underrepresented Racial Minority College Students Leave Engineering by Jenny Amanda Vazquez-Akim Doctor of Education University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Mark Kevin Eagan, Chair Female and underrepresented racial minority (URM) students are indicating their interest in STEM fields at increasing rates, yet when examining the engineering discipline specifically disparities in degree completion rates between female URM students and others in the racial or gender majority are even more severe. This study explored female URM college student perceptions of school and classroom climate and the impact these factors had on their decision to persist or to leave engineering. Through a qualitative interview methodology grounded in Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study explored factors including self-efficacy, perceived barriers and supports, other-group orientation and outcome expectations that influenced students’ academic decision-making. Interview participants consisted of 5 female URM students that matriculated into an engineering major at a top tier, private university but subsequently left ii the discipline in pursuit of another field of study.
The perceptions of this target population were juxtaposed with interview data from 4 male non-URM, 4 female non-URM, and 4 male URM leavers in addition to 7 female URM engineering persisters. As a final component in the research design, 9 undergraduate engineering faculty were interviewed to understand their perceptions of why female URM students leave engineering in pursuit of other disciplines. With faculty being a central component of the academic environment, their perceptions of female URM students, as well as how they view their role in these students’ retention, provided insight on this other side of retention question. Salient findings emerged that differentiated female URM leavers’ experiences in engineering from other student populations.
Female URM leavers were less likely to call upon self-directed learning strategies in response to academic challenges. Perceived academic barriers such as heavy course loads, lack of connection between material and application, and perceived academic deficits deterred these students from persisting in the field. A perceived lack of academic preparation also inhibited female URM students from participating actively in class. Additionally, while targeted support programs were effective in connecting female URM students with their peers and such programs contributed to an overall sense of diversity at the school, a lack of diversity was felt when inside the classroom.
iii Robert Cooper Sylvia Hurtado Jenessa Rachel Shapiro Mark Kevin Eagan, Committee Chair iv DEDICATION Dedicated to my mother, a lifelong educator and constant supporter of all of my personal, professional, and educational pursuits. Thank you, Mom! v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT. ii COMMITTEE PAGE. v TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vi LIST OF FIGURES. viii LIST OF TABLES. xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. 1 Statement of the Problem.
6 The Problem in a Local Context. 9 The Research Population. 11 Significance of the Research and Opportunities for Public Engagement. 13 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
15 College Student Retention Theories. 16 The Social Integrationist vs. the Multicultural Perspective. 17 The Underrepresented College Student Experience.
20 Social Cognitive Factors Affecting STEM Retention. 22 STEM Retention Studies. 25 The Need to Disaggregate Engineering out of STEM. 33 Female URM Retention.
36 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN. 43 Data Collection Method. 45 Data Analysis Method. 48 Special Site Considerations and Researcher Positionality.
48 Credibility and Limitations. 50 Small Sample Size / Lack of Generalizability. 52 Demographic Data of Sample. 53 Pre-College Experiences and Influences: STEM Interest, Success, and Access.
60 Misaligned Expectations of Course Content and Rigor. 62 Classroom Competition and Lack of Preparation Undermine Persistence. 67 A Missed Opportunity: Using Self-Directed Study to Address Academic Challenges. 70 Making Connections: The Importance of Relevant Content and Interactions.
72 Perceived Academic Deficits as a Deterrent to Classroom Participation. 76 vi Positive but Infrequent Connections with Faculty. 77 Connections with the Student Community: Varied Experiences In and Out of the Classroom. 80 Climate of Diversity: Varied Perceptions In and Out of the Classroom.
85 Limited Sources of Support Amidst Perceived Academic Barriers for URM Women Leavers. 88 Future Plans: Uncertainty Persists in Educational and Career Goals. 90 The Female URM Experience in a Second-Elected Major: Fewer Perceived Academic Barriers. 91 Faculty Perceptions of the Engineering Discipline and Female URM Attrition.
97 In the Classroom: Towards a More Engaged Classroom Environment Amid Content Constraints. 97 The Engineering Academic Experience: Echoing Student Perceptions and Providing Support. 99 Engineering School Climate: Strong Engineering Culture, Adequate Gender Representation, but Limited Racial Diversity. 101 The Female URM Experience in Engineering: Professors’ Perceptions of Academic and Environmental Factors as Deterrents to Female URM Persistence.
102 Professors’ Perceived Role in Female URM Retention. 105 Salient Findings and Conclusion. 110 The Influence of URM Identity on Academic Perceptions. 111 Social Cognitive Career Theory.
119 Perceptions of School Climate. 121 URM Identity and Other Group Orientation. 124 Engineering versus Second-elected Major. 129 Implications for Future Research.
130 Recommendations for Practice. 137 LIST OF APPENDICES. 146 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3-1: Social Cognitive Career Theory—Study Diagram. 47 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1: WPU School of Engineering Persistence Rates.
9 Table 1-2: WPU School of Engineering Graduation Rates. 10 Table 4-1: Student Participant Demographic Data. 54 Table 4-2: Student Engineering and Second-Elected Majors. 55 Table 4-3: Faculty Demographics.
56 Table 4-4: Female URM Leavers’ Demographic Data. 58 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first would like to give my sincerest thanks to my committee chair, Dr. I greatly appreciated your commitment to guiding me towards strong and meaningful research. I feel fortunate to have received rigorous yet supportive feedback throughout my study.
Thank you for always being accessible, for providing your advice on the process and expertise on the research subject, and for your fine-tooth reads of my work. It has made my experience as a doctoral student incredibly rewarding. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Robert Cooper, Dr.
Sylvia Hurtado, and Dr. I am so honored to have worked with you all on this dissertation and I greatly appreciated having your expertise as a backbone of this research. To the student and faculty participants of this study—thank you. I enjoyed our conversations and am grateful that you elected to dedicate a portion of your very busy schedules to have these discussions.
Your openness and reflection were central to this research and I hope I have represented your voices well in the pages to come. I would also like to thank my supporters far and wide. An endeavor like this wasn’t possible without support and your periodic check-ins had a tremendous impact on my sanity. Thank you to the HEAF Dream Team where this idea all started, and in particular, Dr.
Tanya Wiggins who was always just a “gchat” away; to my Wagner Gals who I admire tremendously; to my New York friends and family who stayed connected even when distance made it more difficult; to my “SASSy peeps” who epitomize working hard and remaining grounded in integrity; to my best friends Amanda, Christian, and Jessica who have been there for most of the milestones in my life; to new friends made in the last three years who jumped on the cheerleading bandwagon as if I’ve known them my whole life. x To ELP Cohort 19-- I am so happy the 25 of us somehow ended up together in this process. I’ve learned so much from all of you. After a lifetime of feeling uncomfortable speaking in a classroom setting, you all have created a safe enough space that the hesitation ultimately dissipated without my noticing.
You have provided me with the educational experience I’ve always sought. A special thank you to those who played a key role in getting to the finish line: Leora, Linsey, Julie, Devon, Joanna, Liz, and Lauren. Here’s to spending more stress-free time together! To my mom, who is always 100% behind all of my goals. I’ve always appreciated that encouragement to go for it, whatever “it” was at the moment.
“I’m not a Vazquez for nothing” turned out to be an effective mantra when writing a dissertation. My organizational and investigative skills, as well as resiliency to hard work and challenges are either learned or genetic—either way they stem from you! Lastly, I would like to thank my most effective and consistent cheerleader, Shaun. Truly, I could not imagine what the process would have been like without you. Thank you for breaking out the boxing gloves and holding the makeshift pillow/punching bag when things were really tough, for taking on more than your share of household duties, for making me laugh and telling me how proud you are, and for being just an overall positive presence that I’m lucky enough to see everyday.
Business Administration University of Southern California Los Angeles, California Veritas Prep, LLC Malibu, California 2006 Certificate in College Counseling University of California Los Angeles Extension Los Angeles, California GEAR UP Vista, California 2008 MPA, Nonprofit Management and Public Policy New York University New York, New York Harlem Educational Activities Fund (HEAF) New York, New York 2011 University of Southern California Los Angeles, California xii CHAPTER ONE Introduction Statement of the Problem By the year 2050, 50% of the U. population will identify as Black, Latino, or Native American (Frehill, Di Fabio, & Hill, 2008). Although their representation in the broader population continues to grow, underrepresented racial minorities (URM) continue to pursue and graduate with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at significantly lower rates than their peers. Recent data suggest that college-bound URM students are indicating their intentions to major in STEM fields at increasingly higher proportions, a marked change in this recent decade (Hurtado, Eagan, & Hughes, 2012).
Similarly, recruitment of female students into STEM programs has become the focus of many universities, with 33% of freshmen female students declaring a major in a STEM discipline in 2010, approaching the 44% of male students who declare a STEM major (NSF, 2011). However, the college graduation rates for URM students, including African American, Latino, and Native American students, as well as female students in STEM fields are lower than for other groups, highlighting that higher education is one juncture along the science pipeline where STEM talent is lost (C-IDEA, 2000; Frehill et al., 2008; Huang, Taddese, & Walter, 2000; Hurtado et al. With percentages of incoming URM students who intend to major in STEM becoming almost equal to those of White and Asian American students (Hurtado et al., 2012), research that explores the factors that impact URM STEM retention in college has become increasingly important. Challenges persist in graduation rates for URM STEM students generally and female URM engineering students in particular.
The majority of research studies combine science, engineering, technology, and math when looking at URM or female retention, which limits our 1 ability to understand the nuances with regard to retention in particular disciplines. When we begin to disaggregate data, disparities become even more pronounced. For instance, women were awarded 59% of all biological science degrees, yet only 18.4% of engineering degrees (NSF, 2011), stressing that an accurate picture of women’s retention in these fields cannot be attained when studies combine multiple STEM disciplines in an aggregated analysis. Women’s small share of engineering degrees is also further underlined when considering they are awarded the majority (57.2%) of all college degrees nationwide (NSF, 2011).