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  • The Impact of Student Engagement, Institutional Environment, College Preparation, and Financial Support on the Persistence of Underrepresented Minority Students in Engineering at a Predominately White Institution: A Perspective from Students
Title: The Impact of Student Engagement, Institutional Environment, College Preparation, and Financial Support on the Persistence of Underrepresented Minority Students in Engineering at a Predominately White Institution: A Perspective from Students
The persistence and attrition of underrepresented minority (URM) students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) continues to remain a steadfast problem in education and the workforce. Research has shown that educators, administrators, and policy makers all play a vital role in shaping the future generation of STEM education, programs and the workforce, however, much of the research is deficient in providing URM student perceptions on how key factors such as student engagement, financial support, higher education preparation and institutional environment all impact their persistence in the STEM pipeline. This study employs qualitative research methods, semi-structured interviews and casual conversations to gain insight on common trends for the persistence of four (2 males, 2 females) URM students that were enrolled in a 2012 Summer Bridge Program at Mississippi State University (MSU), a predominately large white institution (PWI). Within this study, emphasis will be placed on the engineering branch of STEM. The research found that small diverse organizations such as NSBE and IMAGE along with financial support in the form of scholarships and alumni waivers, and pre-freshmen summer engineering programs such as Summer Bridge played a major role in URM student persistence in engineering disciplines.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1649312
PAR ID:
10078664
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice
Volume:
18
Issue:
2
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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