Research Institute for STEM Education STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics

1. Research Institute for STEM EducationSTEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics Susan E. Walden (Director), Cindy E. Foor (Asst. Director), Randa L. Shehab (IE, PI-STEP), Deborah A. Trytten (CS), Teri J. Murphy (Math., PI-GSE), Jeanette R. Davidson (AFAM), Betty J. Harris (Women’s Std.), and Teri Reed-Rhoads (Purdue) K20 Center for Educational and Community Renewal

2. Purpose • To study the complex array of factors contributing to diverse students’ academic experiences and success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors (STEM) and make recommendations to academic policy makers based on those factors. • Two National Science Foundation funded projects: • GSE-0225228 “Why Does It Work? A Study of Successful Gender Equity in the School of Industrial Engineering at the University of Oklahoma” • STEP- Type II #0431642 “Portraying Success Among URM Engineering Majors”

3. Methods • Open-ended conversational interviews with engineering undergraduates • Semi-structured protocol contains basic questions and suggestions for follow-up questions • Experiences in classrooms, in CoE, at OU • Expectations: met or unmet • Experiences with others in official capacity or with peers • Targeted sampling • Varies by project • Solicit volunteers, but provide financial incentive for time • Longitudinal interviews at one-year intervals • Collect academic transcripts to examine course-taking patterns and possible speed-bumps • Observe student groups activities • Interview faculty and advisors as determined by data

4. 2003 – 2006 Seeking to identify the complex set of factors that resulted in 58% female undergraduate enrollment in IE in Fall 2001 185 students / former students; 4 CoE fields/schools; 4 institutions 12 faculty IE at OU Key Findings Attributes of the Discipline Attributes of the Department Relocators 11 papers, 10 presentations, 1 paper submitted, at least 3 in preparation “Why Does It Work? A Study of Successful Gender Equity in the School of Industrial Engineering at the University of Oklahoma

5. Attributes of the discipline • Breadth of career options • Female IE: I think it is really cool that they can actually make a difference in any kind of industry all over the place. They can work anywhere that they want to. • Problem-solving • Male IE: You don’t have to be confined unnecessarily you don’t have to be confined to the IE. area wherever their hiring, you can find somewhere to fix problems. And that’s what IE is, the problem solver. • Important lessons for other disciplines – • Make the effort • Make the picture clear and relevant to students

6. Attributes of the Department • 3 roles – Promoter, First Sergeant, Attentive VIPs • Personal Invitation and Support • Male: … I walked in and saw (director)…Tell me why I should go into industrial engineering….And she gave me one of the best (spiels) I’d heard in a long time…. So she really won me over.It was personable, more, we wanna know who you are….She said, hey we’re having the banquet that they have at the end of the year, you know, you should come and stuff like that. It’s more, I think a personal touch because in (former department), I couldn’t even tell you who the director is. I couldn’t tell you what they look like, but in industrial they’re more personable.

7. Relocators • OU CoE is higher than national average in students who change from one eng. major to another and continue on to graduate from that major. • Of our IE undergraduate participants, 24 of 52 had been in other major (13 F, 11 M) • 13 F came from 10 majors in 4 colleges • 11 M 8 came from one school in CoE, others all CoE • Stories demonstrate Push and Pull forces • Push – similar to literature • Demonstrate need to reach students early • Pull – attributes of discipline and department • Demonstrate positive power of unintended consequences

8. Power of Unintentional Consequences • Department goal was NOT to attract students away from other majors • Female relocators & deciders contributed to increasing % in IE undergraduate enrollment • Decreasing female enrollment % over past few years combination fewer females and more males

9. Power of Unintentional Consequences • Recruiting – HS visit seen by one girl influenced another to change her major to IE when she decided first choice not right for her • Female: I was talking to my friend who had moved down here to Norman and when I told her about that (participant’s high school work experience) she’s like oh my gosh I know the perfect major for you because she had learned about industrial engineering... It appealed to me a lot. And I was like, maybe I should keep that open…my parents were still pushing me to do (health profession). • Positive Attention -- supportive, student-friendly faculty turn happy majors into ambassadors • Male: Going back to my freshman year, my resident advisor was in a service fraternity and I decided to join that service fraternity. Within that service fraternity you meet other people and then the engineers tell you who to take, who not to take, and stuff like that. And one of the people is this girl I know and she is an industrial engineer and she was telling me about it... All the (specific other engineering majors) are somber and bitter, while the IE students just seem so happy.

10. More Power of Unintentional Consequences I just wish that I belonged more in this whole engineering group, with the students and the teachers. I never got that feeling. It might be me, I don’t know. • Inez – the “other” • 1st generation college attending, from economically disadvantaged background, average-achieving, multi-minority female • Faculty: should you be here? Well this was in my physics class. I went for help with one of my problems and I guess I didn’t understand the basics of physics, really. So I didn’t understand one of the basic principles. He was like, “What are you doing? Why are you an engineer? I would quit if I were you.” • In-Class Marginalization Inez: I am not a co-op and have not done an internship. Most of the other students have. They really get to apply their knowledge. The teachers then think that I don’t know anything. I haven’t had a chance to be involved in something like that. You can tell that certain teachers click with certain groups of people. We have seven people in my class and every class I have with them the teacher calls on them first. Not just calls on them, but points them out. [For example] ‘Oh, well (female student) is blah, blah, blah.’ Nothing against her. Teachers don’t realize that it is not inviting for other students when they do that. Makes it like they are buddy, like they are buddying.

11. More from Inez • Commitment – My boyfriend’s mom got her kitchen redone, and I was there during the process. They had the sink and right next to the sink was a counter and then the refrigerator and then the stove. I was like, ‘Why are you putting the refrigerator there? That’s not going to be really convenient for her to go from the stove to the sink.’ He told his Mom and they made the change, and now it works out a whole lot better for them. Interviewer: Has your interest in {engineering major} increased or decreased? Inez: Increased, definitely increased. For example, the kitchen. I enjoyed being able to say that and it be something they had not realized. I don’t know if it is just me, or they just really didn’t think about it. I don’t know. I enjoyed that. • Persevere in spite of it all • but do all our students have that resolve and belief in self

12. STEP – Portraying Success Among URM Engineering Majors • Commitment – stickwithitness is a significant strategy among OU’s URM students • Is this the environment we want? • The single most important qualification for completing an engineering degree is stubbornness!

13. STEP – Portraying Success Among URM Engineering Majors • 2005-2008, Study of URM persistence to graduation at OU in CoE Graduation by Ethnicity, 1996 Cohort Members (Percent) • All disciplines, from “Executive Summary 2000-2001 CSRDE (Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange) Report: The Retention and Graduation Rates in 344 Colleges and Universities” from Center for Institutional Data Exchange and Analysis, OU • From data in “Aiming High: Improving Achievement and Closing Gaps,” Katie Haycock, Director, The Educational Trust • May include students continuing after 6 years; calculated by subtracting % not retained at OU from 100%. • Non-URM includes white, Asian, non-resident aliens, and those choosing not to report ethnicity data.

14. Research Question • Based on previous research which: • Addressed URMs as a whole • Examined STEM as a monolithic whole • Focused on loss from STEM pipeline Our Research Goal: to disaggregate similarities and differences among under-represented and under-served populations and to construct models founded not on systemic failure but rather on individual successes • To that end, we seek to identify the strugglesfaced and the strategiesemployed to persist beyond those struggles specifically by • Engineering students from any under-represented or under-served population, • Engineering students from specific under-represented or under-served populations, and • The individual engineering student from an under-represented or under-served population.

15. Organization • Randa Shehab, PI (IE), Jeanette Davidson, co-PI (AfAm), Susan Walden, co-PI (RISE), Teri Murphy, co-PI (Math.), Deborah Trytten, co-PI (CS), Teri Reed-Rhoads, co-PI (now Purdue) • Coding teams • Arranged by ethnicity • Interviewers and other students of the appropriate ethnic group • Member of the PI/co-PI team • Advisory boards • National • Lived experience: Karina Walters (chair; UW), David Bugg (BP), Paul Rocha (former member) • Research experience: Elaine Seymour (consultant; retired), James Borgford-Parnell (UW), Mary Anderson-Rowland (ASU), Larry Shuman (Pitt.) • Local • Kim Rutland, Tony Lee (Center for Student Life); Francey Freeman (Pet.Eng.); Mayra Olivares (PSS) • Looking to add a few new people – especially familiar at research and experiential level with Asian American student lives

16. Data Collected • 234 interviews of 165 students • Every CoE undergraduate program except Environmental Eng. • Includes Petroleum Eng. students.

17. Findings to Date • Academic Struggles and Strategies • Preliminary analysis of paired academic struggles and strategies from each group • 40 interview transcripts • 10 each from African-American, Hispanic-American, Asian-American, and Native American interviews • Evenly divided by sex, as possible • Representative sampling from majors, as possible

18. Framework from Protocol Examples of questions framing this analysis • About academic issues • Who do you go to for help? • About personal expectations and sacrifices • What were the first couple of months like? • What price have you paid to be here? • Role of race in the students lives • Describe the daily experiences you have as a student of color? • Does it matter if there are other students of color in your classes?

19. Common Struggles • Interaction with Faculty • Poor teachers, unable to relate to students • I don’t like the attitude of some of the faculty members. And just the whole thing that, especially large classes, where you’re more just a number rather than student. … But when it comes to doing the actual work it’s so much more difficult because you’re not teaching me, you’re just showing me stuff. (Male African American junior) • Grades or GPA • Fear of failing a class, consequences of low GPA • At this point it’s hard to even know what to make of when I get a low grade. (Male Native American sophomore) • … those Fs, and then you get numb like whatever. And that’s the worst feeling. (Male African American senior) • Curriculum and coursework • Difficulty in a particular class, curriculum load, pedagogy • All I ever did was went to my advising … And they said you’re supposed to take this, this, this, this, and this according to the layout. And I said OK, I’ll do it but not that one. That one would be too much so just put that one off… (Male Native American sophomore)

20. Common Strategies • Finding the right person • May be difficult for students isolated in the classroom • Well, for some of my classes I have to go out and reach out to the other races, and try to get help. … So I actually go to my neighbors sitting around me and trying to exchange numbers, try to meet up sometimes outside of class, to get help because some of the stuff I’m not getting. (Male African American junior) • Informal Advisor • I think MEP [Multicultural Engineering Program] advisement is great because you talk to … [MEP Director] she is like “you can’t take this, are you crazy?” (Male African American senior) • Go to TA or Professor • Our students of color do not feel comfortable asking professors for help and do not trust that they will receive effective support from the faculty if they do seek help. • Commitment to Earning Engineering Degree • Tough it out, what else can I do? I only got a few more classes to go, not much I can do, just tough it out. It’s hard, but (what am I going to do)? (Male Asian American senior) • Learning and Studying Strategies

21. Divergent Struggles • Poor Preparation • Hispanic and African American • … our whole high school was like a joke. We have my AP classes and stuff, but they are not hard. … I mean, it didn't prepare me for college at all. (Female Hispanic senior) • Uh, kind of like a slap in the face, because you realize how hard this stuff is and you realize you’re not prepared for this kind of stuff. You’re not at the level where you can study and compete on the same level as some of these other students. (Male African American junior) • Isolation • Hispanic, African American, Asian American • …the classes where I’m the only African American or where it’s another African American that I might not know, those are the classes that I feel intimidated in and feel less inclined to speak or ask questions. (Male African American junior) • Gender Discrimination • Hispanic • Guys treat you, like when you have to be in groups, … like you don’t know what you’re talking about which drives me crazy. (Female Hispanic senior)

22. Divergent Strategies • Personal Accommodation Strategies • Asian Americans • Work harder, study more, determination • I didn't really know what I was doing or why I was doing it. All I knew was to hit the books, and I did that. That was it. (Male Asian American senior) • Acceptance • Hispanic • Suggest they can work in whatever environment they experience • Like I wasn’t thinking during class “Man, where did all the minorities go?” It was just, we worked, I worked with everybody at one point or another so um, it just, I don’t really think about it, you know. (Male Hispanic senior) • Playing the Game • Asian Americans and Native Americans • Having savvy about how the system works and using it to advantage; having cultural capital • … it shows that you’re willing to put out the effort and a lot of times, like I said, that’s all that you have. And if the professor thinks that you’re trying as hard as you can, they’re going to pass you. (Male Native American sophomore) • African American students rely on commitment and determination.

23. Primary Data Collection ended March 2007 Identifying key faculty and staff to interview in Summer 2007 Asian American Group Identify from interviews characterizations of racism and discrimination across sub-groups Will examine coping mechanisms used by Asian American students Native American Group Identified from interviews many students claiming Native American status express ambiguous identity Will examine stresses and strategies encountered in claiming Native American status within an environment that provides mixed messages about the value of cultural identity Hispanic Group Surveying participants still in school regarding acculturation Will examine struggles and strategies as a function of acculturation African American Group Examining the development of student academic identity based on messages they receive from influential members of their community Will examine perceptions and experiences of white privilege and the strategies/supports used to overcome, survive, and succeed Meet with advisory boards in July 2007 Current Directions

24. References and Acknowledgements • Papers and presentations available at our website http://www.ou.edu/rise • Research assistants and former faculty colleagues: • GSE: Angela Beauchamp, Tyler S. Combrink, Randall W. Evans, M. Jayne Fleener, Rebecca L. Heeney, Elizabeth Kvach, Stephen M. Lancaster, Gabriel Matney, Lindsey S. McClure, Reinheld E. Meissler, Sandra Kay Moore-Furneaux, Anne Reynolds, Donna L. Shirley, Kelly K. Shockley, Kim Warram, Emily Weisbrook • STEP: William Stephen Anderson, Tiffany Davis-Blackwood, Rosa Cintron, Bach Do, Van Ha, Quintin Hughes, Walter Lewis II, Ben Lopez, Ruth Moaning, Brittany Shanel Norwood, Sedelta Oosahwee, Tracy Revis, Lauren Rieken, Johanna Rojas, Jeff Trevillion, Anna Wong Lowe, Yi Zhao.

25. STRUGGLES

26. STRATEGIES

27. Internship and Student Organization Experiences of Asian American Students • Of 21 students in sample, only 5 successfully acquired engineering internship prior to interview. • Nine had not applied and two did not mention • Issue – lack of cultural capital • Students did not understand importance of internship or research experience for future employment. • Students who did understand, didn’t know how to apply or where to get one. • Information on resume’ needs typically disseminated through student technical societies and ethnic student organizations. • Cultural focus on grades as primary goal prevents AsAm students from participating in technical societies. • OU CoE lacked ethnic student organization for AsAm students. • CoE recently formed Society of Asian and Pacific Engineers

28. Combination of Push and Pull • Push: Reasons given for leaving old major correspond with literature for leaving STEM • Pull: The attributes of the discipline –well-articulated and relevant • Female: And I was just reading the paper do you like fixing problems? (chuckle) That was like the little catchy phrase, do you like fixing problems, what do you think you can do to alleviate some people’s anger at having to wait on the elevator, … Well, maybe you’re meant to be an industrial engineer. (laugh) I was reading it and I (thought) that sounds really cool. (laugh) • Pull: The attributes of the department – supportive faculty • Male: She sat down with me and helped me plan my next two years and (other female faculty) also sat down with her to help mess with the whole curriculum thingy. … so it worked out to where I was in school for two more years instead of three. I really appreciated that… I didn’t have to argue or beg or kiss up or anything. They just were there for me.