Perceptions of the Engineering Curricula from Women and LGBTQIA+ Students

Stephanie Lezotte; Harriet Hartman; Stephanie Farrell; Tiago R. Forin; Theresa F.S. Bruckerhoff

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Conference: 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual Conference
Publication Date: July 26, 2021
Start Date: July 26, 2021
End Date: July 19, 2022
Conference Session: Bridging Content and Context in the Classroom
Tagged Divisions: Equity and Culture & Social Justice in Education
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 17
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--37574
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/37574
Download Count: 208

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Paper Authors

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Stephanie Lezotte Rowan University orcid.org/0000-0002-1270-7949

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Dr. Stephanie Lezotte currently serves as the Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies at Rowan University. She received her Ph.D. in education, with a concentration in postsecondary and higher education. Using organizational theory, she is interested in systems and structures that contribute to the oppression of underserved and underrepresented college students, particular STEM students. She is active in the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).

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Harriet Hartman Rowan University

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Professor of Sociology, Chair of Sociology and Anthropology Department Rowan University. Co-p.i. of RED NSF RevED project at Rowan University. ֵEditor-in-chief, Contemporary Jewry. She studies gender and diversity among undergraduate engineering students, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the experiences of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff in higher education.

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Stephanie Farrell Rowan University

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Dr. Stephanie Farrell is Interim Dean and of the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering and Professor and Founding Chair of Experiential Engineering Education at Rowan University (USA). Prior to 2016 she was a faculty member in Chemical Engineering at Rowan for eighteen years. Dr. Farrell has contributed to engineering education through her work in inductive pedagogy, spatial skills, and inclusion and diversity. She has been honored by the American Society of Engineering Education with several teaching awards such as the 2004 National Outstanding Teaching Medal and the 2005 Quinn Award for experiential learning, and she was 2014-15 Fulbright Scholar in Engineering Education at Dublin Institute of Technology (Ireland). She has been awarded Honoris Causa from the International Society for Engineering Pedagogy, and has received that society's highest honor, the Nikolai Tesla Award for outstanding contributions to engineering pedagogy.

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Tiago R. Forin Rowan University

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Tiago Forin is a PhD candidate in Engineering Education and researcher at Purdue University affiliated with XRoads Research Group, the Global Engineering Program and the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment, and Effectiveness. He received a Bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Florida State University and a Master's degree in environmental engineering from Purdue University.

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Theresa F.S. Bruckerhoff Curriculum Research & Evaluation, Inc.

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Theresa Bruckerhoff is the Principal Research Associate and Operations Manager at CRE., with nearly twenty-five years of evaluation experience, ten years as the principal evaluator. She studies and evaluates training, professional development and other education change programs funded by state, federal and private sources and is a member of the American Evaluation Association, ASEE, and other content and education focused professional organizations.

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Abstract

The National Science Foundation’s Revolutionizing Engineering and computer science Departments (RED) grant was awarded to the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at Midsized MidAtlantic University in 2016. This RED grant enables the institution to improve the inclusion of underrepresented and underserved engineering students over the course of five years. One of the ways our RED research team implemented this grant was to conduct climate surveys distributed to all engineering students to document students’ academic preparation and participation, feelings of otherness in the College of Engineering, engineering self-efficacy, sense of inclusion and belonging in the College of Engineering, and their commitment to engineering as a major and career. We also surveyed students’ perceptions of the inclusiveness of the engineering curricula. While extensive research has been done on female and sexual minority students’ perceptions of belongingness in engineering, fewer studies have looked at how these students view the engineering curricula. This paper describes the responses of women and sexual minorities from the 2018 survey. We found that when it comes to their perceptions of coursework, they (in comparison to classmates without these identities) are less comfortable sharing in class, less likely to think bias/discrimination polices are stated and reinforced, and more likely to feel that their experiences and interests are excluded from the engineering curriculum. Not only do they feel their own identity’s interests are excluded, they felt the curriculum more broadly excluded the interests, experiences, and achievements of racial/ethnic groups, disabled groups, and low-income groups. In other words, their status as minority students made them more attuned to exclusionary coursework, practices, and attitudes for other minority identities as well compared to their male and heterosexual peers. The paper will discuss ways in which the RED team is intervening to make the engineering curricula more inclusive for all groups of students, and discuss recommendations for other programs to implement.

Citation
Format

Lezotte, S., & Hartman, H., & Farrell, S., & Forin, T. R., & Bruckerhoff, T. F. (2021, July), Perceptions of the Engineering Curricula from Women and LGBTQIA+ Students Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37574

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The National Science Foundation’s Revolutionizing Engineering and computer science Departments (RED) grant was awarded to the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department at Midsized MidAtlantic University in 2016. This RED grant enables the institution to improve the inclusion of underrepresented and underserved engineering students over the course of five years. One of the ways our RED research team implemented this grant was to conduct climate surveys distributed to all engineering students to document students’ academic preparation and participation, feelings of otherness in the College of Engineering, engineering self-efficacy, sense of inclusion and belonging in the College of Engineering, and their commitment to engineering as a major and career. We also surveyed students’ perceptions of the inclusiveness of the engineering curricula. While extensive research has been done on female and sexual minority students’ perceptions of belongingness in engineering, fewer studies have looked at how these students view the engineering curricula. This paper describes the responses of women and sexual minorities from the 2018 survey. We found that when it comes to their perceptions of coursework, they (in comparison to classmates without these identities) are less comfortable sharing in class, less likely to think bias/discrimination polices are stated and reinforced, and more likely to feel that their experiences and interests are excluded from the engineering curriculum. Not only do they feel their own identity’s interests are excluded, they felt the curriculum more broadly excluded the interests, experiences, and achievements of racial/ethnic groups, disabled groups, and low-income groups. In other words, their status as minority students made them more attuned to exclusionary coursework, practices, and attitudes for other minority identities as well compared to their male and heterosexual peers. The paper will discuss ways in which the RED team is intervening to make the engineering curricula more inclusive for all groups of students, and discuss recommendations for other programs to implement.
AU  - Stephanie Lezotte
AU  - Harriet Hartman
AU  - Stephanie Farrell
AU  - Tiago R. Forin
AU  - Theresa F.S. Bruckerhoff
CY  - Virtual Conference
DA  - 2021/07/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Perceptions of the Engineering Curricula from Women and LGBTQIA+ Students
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/37574
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--37574
ER  -