Prairie View A&M University: Assessing the Impact of the STEM-Enrichment Program on Women of Color

Over the past two decades, Prairie View A & M University (PVAMU) has sponsored a number of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) enrichment programs to help improve the enrollment and retention of students in these career fields. Of these programs, the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored STEM-Enrichment Program (STEM-EP) is the most comprehensive program offered at the university. Initiated in 1999, STEM-EP is an innovative program designed to promote academic excellence of students who intend to pursue a degree in one of the STEM disciplines. The program is a multifaceted initiative consisting of a nine-week summer residence program for recent high school graduates, coordinated scholarships and tutorials, peer and faculty mentoring, professional development training, and undergraduate research opportunities. Over 95% of the participants have been students of color (i.e., African-American, Hispanics, etc.), of which 35% have been women of color. The objective of this paper is to assess the data from six cohorts of STEM-EP participants (beginning with summer 2000) in order to examine the impact of the program on the retention and academic performance of the participants. The methodology used in the compilation of the data includes a review of the tracking data collected by the STEM-EP program managers for NSF reporting. An analysis of the data presented includes retention information for each cohort, grade point average (GPA), and a comparison of the retention and performance of participants disaggregated by gender. Introduction and History There has been a growing concern for the recruitment and retention of women and minorities in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This issue is particularly acute for engineering and technology disciplines. Historically speaking, women and minorities have made significant strides in increasing their representation in STEM fields. However, the overall percentages in certain disciplines are still quite low. A recent NSF Report indicates women earned more than half of all science and engineering bachelor degrees in 2002 (NSF, 2006). However, there were major variations across disciplines. Women earned 78% of the bachelor degrees awarded in Psychology and 59% in Biology, but only 21% in Engineering and 27% in Computer Science. Similar trends can be seen in engineering for other underrepresented groups. In 2003, the percentages of African Americans and Hispanics that earned bachelor degrees in engineering were 4.6% and 6.2%, respectively (Chubin, May, & Babco, 2005). Despite an overall increase in baccalaureate degree production, the proportion of women and minority freshmen in engineering has steadily declined since 1995 (Chubin, May, &