Girls In Science, Engineering, And Technology (Giset)

While the proportion of women earning bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering (S&E) has increased, the proportion remains significantly lower than that of women earning bachelor’s degrees in non-scientific areas, indicating a critical need for additional retention and recruiting techniques specifically for minority females. In the last few decades, recruiting of minority females has been a challenge to say the least. At Norfolk State University, the student population is 88% African American, 64% of this population is female, yet there is a disproportionately small percentage of African-American female students majoring in the Science, Engineering, and Technology (SET) fields (0.22% Engineering, 0.50% Technology, and 1.98% Computer Science). Revised retention and recruitment techniques were needed for these SET majors among others. The Girls in Science, Engineering, and Technology (GISET) is a newly founded club at NSU with the main purpose of retaining currently enrolled SET female students and recruiting more female students from the immediate community as well as nationwide.