Helping Orient Minorities to Engineering (HOME) Program: A Pre-College Bridge Program

Leotis L. Parrish; Ava W. Dickens; Tamara L Fuller

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2017 FYEE Conference
Location: Daytona Beach, Florida
Publication Date: August 6, 2017
Start Date: August 6, 2017
End Date: August 8, 2017
Conference Session: Student Success & Development - Focus on Mentoring
Tagged Topics: Diversity and FYEE Division - Paper Submission
Page Count: 7
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--29417
Permanent URL: https://216.185.13.174/29417
Download Count: 389

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Leotis L. Parrish North Carolina A&T State University

visit author page

Dr. Leotis Parrish currently serves as the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs in the College of Engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCATSU). He received a B.S. and M.S. degree in civil engineering from NCATSU and a Ph.D. in Higher Educational Leadership from Northcentral University. Prior to his current assignment, he served as an instructor and department chair at Guilford Technical Community College (Jamestown, NC) for nine years. In his current role as an administrator and faculty member, he develops and implements new programs for student recruitment/retention, and student development/leadership. In his role as a faculty member, he teaches the freshmen success seminar and an introductory engineering design course. He has over 23 years of experience in higher education and is passionate about leadership development for students.

visit author page

author page

Ava W. Dickens North Carolina A&T State University

author page

Tamara L Fuller North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

This complete evidence-based practice paper will describe the successes of the Helping Orient Minorities to Engineering Program in the College of Engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. This 5-1/2-week residential pre-college bridge program is used to recruit, retain, and graduate minority freshmen engineering and computer science students and to provide a sense of community. Since the inception in 2005, the HOME Program has recruited 189 students into the program. Each summer, a cohort of approximately 20 students are immersed into college life with the support of faculty, staff, and upperclassmen who serve as peer mentors. During the HOME Program, students participate in intellectual, personal/professional, and cross-cultural development activities. The intellectual development occurs through enrollment in Calculus I, supplemental instruction support, and a team project. The personal/ professional development occurs through networking opportunities and college-readiness workshops. The cross-cultural development occurs through early establishment of community and accountability with peer mentors. Activities are held throughout the academic year to continue engagement with the students. As for data, the high school GPAs for both groups were within 0.2 points. The average first-year retention rate (Table II) for the HOME Program participants was 90% as compared to 81% for non-HOME participants. The average second-year retention rate (Table III) for the HOME Program participants was 91.6% as compared to 56.5% for non-HOME Program participants. Further, the average six-year graduation completion rate within the major for HOME Program participants was 66.6% (local database) as compared to 40% (Office of Institutional Research) for non-HOME participants. Depending on the cohort, the cumulative GPAs (Table IV) for HOME students ranged from 3.03 to 3.53 as compared to 2.23 to 3.1 for non-HOME Program students. For future study, the authors recommend evaluations at regular intervals with validated instruments as well as a longitudinal study.

Citation
Format

Parrish, L. L., & Dickens, A. W., & Fuller, T. L. (2017, August), Helping Orient Minorities to Engineering (HOME) Program: A Pre-College Bridge Program Paper presented at 2017 FYEE Conference, Daytona Beach, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--29417

TY - CPAPER
AB - This complete evidence-based practice paper will describe the successes of the Helping Orient Minorities to Engineering Program in the College of Engineering at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. This 5-1/2-week residential pre-college bridge program is used to recruit, retain, and graduate minority freshmen engineering and computer science students and to provide a sense of community. Since the inception in 2005, the HOME Program has recruited 189 students into the program. Each summer, a cohort of approximately 20 students are immersed into college life with the support of faculty, staff, and upperclassmen who serve as peer mentors.
During the HOME Program, students participate in intellectual, personal/professional, and cross-cultural development activities. The intellectual development occurs through enrollment in Calculus I, supplemental instruction support, and a team project. The personal/ professional development occurs through networking opportunities and college-readiness workshops. The cross-cultural development occurs through early establishment of community and accountability with peer mentors. Activities are held throughout the academic year to continue engagement with the students.
As for data, the high school GPAs for both groups were within 0.2 points. The average first-year retention rate (Table II) for the HOME Program participants was 90% as compared to 81% for non-HOME participants. The average second-year retention rate (Table III) for the HOME Program participants was 91.6% as compared to 56.5% for non-HOME Program participants. Further, the average six-year graduation completion rate within the major for HOME Program participants was 66.6% (local database) as compared to 40% (Office of Institutional Research) for non-HOME participants. Depending on the cohort, the cumulative GPAs (Table IV) for HOME students ranged from 3.03 to 3.53 as compared to 2.23 to 3.1 for non-HOME Program students. For future study, the authors recommend evaluations at regular intervals with validated instruments as well as a longitudinal study.

AU - Leotis L. Parrish
AU - Ava W. Dickens
AU - Tamara L Fuller
CY - Daytona Beach, Florida
DA - 2017/08/06
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Helping Orient Minorities to Engineering (HOME) Program: A Pre-College Bridge Program
UR - https://216.185.13.174/29417
DO - 10.18260/1-2--29417
ER -