Improving recruitment and retention for engineering degree students in a rural highly underserved community

Abstract

This paper presents an ongoing STEP-NSF and Department of Education-CCRAA funded project and recent findings. The project promotes the increase of engineering enrollment from secondary schools through the baccalaureate level among students from Northern New Mexico College (NNMC). NNMC is a minority serving institution located in a rural area with poverty levels below the level established by the Federal Government. Hispanic and Native American students constitute 73% and 11% of the college population, respectively. The paper presents the social and academic background of the students attending this College as well as some statistics from the main factors that have contributed to low historical retention. It describes later the strategies adopted for the last three years to improve recruitment, retention and graduation rates for engineering degrees: (1) prepare high school students for college-level conceptual analysis, problem solving and the value of experimental replication through a STEM Summer Camp using problem-based learning; (2) supplement college STEM curricula with programs aimed at tutoring college and dual credit students who are at risk with engineering related courses; (3) curriculum and laboratory development to address the high demand of Information Technology majors with industrial credentials through the Cisco® Academy; (4) mandatory advisement for all engineering students; (5) course pre-requisites redefinition to ease early access to the engineering content; and (6) early exposure to the world of engineering for mid school students through the Friday Academy, which include hands-on projects and supplemental tutoring. This paper presents some preliminary findings and the evolution of the different strategies to improve student retention and recruitment. Some practices are very promising and have started to be replicated in other STEM fields at the institution. Surveys and enrollment/retention data have been used to validate the findings. Student grades have been also used to compare the performance of our students to students worldwide, using the available Cisco® Academy's statistics. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.