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Social Responsibility and Veteran Student Retention in Engineering

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Conference

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Tampa, Florida

Publication Date

June 15, 2019

Start Date

June 15, 2019

End Date

June 19, 2019

Conference Session

Military and Veterans Division Technical Session 1

Tagged Division

Military and Veterans

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--33273

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/33273

Download Count

491

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Paper Authors

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Jeffrey Chase Hood MA Kansas State University

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J. Chase Hood is a doctoral student in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Kansas State University. He studies cognitive psychology, experimental design, statistical analyses, and seeks to apply his research to improving education.

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Stacey E. Kulesza P.E. Kansas State University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-3283-6235

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Dr. Stacey Tucker-Kulesza is an assistant professor in the civil engineering department at Kansas State University. Dr. Tucker-Kulesza teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in geotechnical engineering and is a licensed engineer in the state of Kansas.

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Jia G. Liang Kansas State University

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Jia Grace Liang is a faculty in the Department of Educational Leadership at Kansas State University (USA). Her research interests focus on school leadership, professional development and learning in STEM, equity for women and racial minorities, and leadership for community engagement. She holds a PhD from the University of Georgia in Educational Administration and Policy.

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Eric J. Fitzsimmons Kansas State University

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Dr. Eric Fitzsimmons, P.E. is an assistant professor in the civil engineering department at Kansas State University. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering with a specialization in transportation from Iowa State University. Dr. Fitzsimmons is a graduate of the American Society of Civil Engineers Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEED) and also has served as an assistant mentor. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in transportation and railroad engineering.

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Jeff Zacharakis Kansas State University

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Jeff Zacharakis is a professor of adult learning and leadership in the Department of Educational Leadership. His areas of research include leader and organizational development.

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Abstract

Despite considerable gains made towards increasing students interest in STEM education, one specific population, Veterans in engineering, suffers from disproportionally high attrition. Social responsibility (SR) is one motivating factor for becoming an engineer and was identified as a successful intervention strategy to improve retention of first-year engineering students. SR is also a core value instilled by all branches of the U.S. military while actively serving. Therefore, the objective of this research study was to examine Veterans’ perceptions of SR as it related to engineering. For this study, a survey instrument was designed, piloted, revised, and launched for instrument validation and exploratory examination if a relationship between SR and Veteran students’ core beliefs existed. Results of this study showed that both Veteran and first-year non-Veteran students strongly value the tenants of SR. The results of this study indicate the potential for curriculum and policy changes to increase Veteran retention in engineering programs.

Hood, J. C., & Kulesza, S. E., & Liang, J. G., & Fitzsimmons, E. J., & Zacharakis, J. (2019, June), Social Responsibility and Veteran Student Retention in Engineering Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--33273

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