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Where Do We Start?: Measuring Systemic Educational Wellness at a Minority-Serving Engineering and Technology College

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Conference

2024 ASEE PSW Conference

Location

Las Vegas, Nevada

Publication Date

April 18, 2024

Start Date

April 18, 2024

End Date

April 20, 2024

DOI

10.18260/1-2--46071

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/46071

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Paper Authors

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Corin L. Bowen California State University, Los Angeles Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-0910-8902

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Corin (Corey) Bowen is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Education, housed in the Department of Civil Engineering at California State University - Los Angeles. Her engineering education research focuses on structural oppression in engineering systems, organizing for equitable change, and developing an agenda of Engineering for the Common Good. She teaches structural mechanics and sociotechnical topics in engineering education and practice. Corey conferred her Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor in April 2021; her thesis included both technical and educational research. She also holds an M.S.E. in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor and a B.S.E. in civil engineering from Case Western Reserve University, both in the areas of structural engineering and solid mechanics.

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Gustavo B Menezes California State University, Los Angeles

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Menezes is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Cal State LA. His specialization is in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering. Since becoming part of the faculty in 2009, Menezes has also focused on improving student success and has led a number of

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Yilin Feng California State University, Los Angeles Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-8843-8987

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Yilin Feng is an assistant professor at California State University, Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. degree from Purdue University. Her research interest is in airport simulation, operation, and management.

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Kenya Mejia California State University, Los Angeles

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Kenya Z. Mejia is a second year PhD student at the University of Washington in the Human Centered Design and Engineering program. Her work focuses on diversity and inclusion in engineering education focusing on engineering design education.

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Lizabeth L Thompson P.E. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

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Lizabeth is a professor at Cal Poly, SLO in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. She has been teaching for 22 years and has continued to develop innovative pedagogy such as project based, flipped classroom and competency grading. Through the SUSTAIN

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Abstract

The [name] team at [institution] has embarked on an NSF-funded transformational change project in STEM education. [Institution] is a very high Hispanic-enrolling Minority Serving Institution that serves as an accessible resource to its regional community but does not experience desirable or equitable educational outcomes. In an effort to construct a healthy environment for students, as well as teachers and staff, [name] offers a year-long Community of Practice for STEM faculty members designed to facilitate the development of critical consciousness and transformative action. It is therefore prudent to measure the wellness of our educational ecosystem to better understand the “starting point” of our desired transformation.

We have previously published the results of a survey that defines this “starting point” for students in all STEM programs at [institution]. This paper narrows the quantitative results to students enrolled in the [engineering and technology college]. The [survey name] consists of validated, Likert-scale survey instruments measuring six constructs of educational wellness taken from existing educational literature. Variations in responses among students of many demographic groups are determined using T-tests and ANOVA models. The results provide the [engineering and technology college] detailed insight into the experiences and needs of students in its programs, highlighting discrepancies in the levels of ecosystem health reported by, for example, students who are LGBTQIA+ and those who do not have access to stable housing. The results of the [survey name] are useful to us and to other colleges and institutions who strive to better serve students from historically marginalized backgrounds.

Bowen, C. L., & Menezes, G. B., & Feng, Y., & Mejia, K., & Thompson, L. L. (2024, April), Where Do We Start?: Measuring Systemic Educational Wellness at a Minority-Serving Engineering and Technology College Paper presented at 2024 ASEE PSW Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada. 10.18260/1-2--46071

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2024 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015