Impacting the success of under-represented minorities at Louisiana State University: A diversity scholarship and mentoring partnership with ExxonMobil

Abstract

The Louisiana State University (LSU) College of Engineering and ExxonMobil Corporation identified a need to encourage and assist talented minorities to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. Enrollment, retention and graduation rates for underrepresented minority engineering undergraduates at LSU were lagging behind the national averages. In 2003, ExxonMobil Corporation contributed $250,000 over five years to establish a scholarship fund at LSU, and this partnership was renewed in 2009 with a second, five-year phase. The initial goals of the program were to: recruit and retain minorities, fund ten scholars for four years each, develop a mentoring program with ExxonMobil Corporation employees, and increase the participant graduation rate. Scholars were selected from a pool of applicants based on proven superior academic background, i.e. class rank, ACT scores and high school GPA. The scholarship was initially awarded as an incentive to attend LSU, and as it evolved, the scholarship program was implemented as a retention element with the award made during the second semester of the freshmen year after contacting candidates during the first semester. Most scholars were initially awarded an amount equivalent to annual tuition and fees ($4,500) with performance based increases (up to $6,000). To remain in the program, scholars were required to maintain an overall 3.0 GPA. During Phase 1, 19 students were part of the program with eight scholars chosen as entering freshmen, and 11 participants lost financial support from the program due to low GPA or major change. During the two years of Phase 2, 13 scholars participated with seven chosen as second semester freshmen and six chosen as second semester sophomores. The one-on-one mentoring element of the program was directed by the ExxonMobil liaison who selected ExxonMobil engineers and matched them with an LSU ExxonMobil scholar. Additionally, the liaison coordinated workshops with the mentors and protégés, and these events were utilized to communicate expectations, roles and responsibilities of each person. The mentors helped the scholars with professional development and career planning. Feedback for this part of the program was obtained through discussions during Phase 1, and a formal survey of mentors and protégés was added during Phase 2. The 62-item survey results showed that the protégés rated overall mentoring experience a 4.5 on a scale of 1(low) to 5 (high), and they have reported several positive outcomes including "Better understanding of skills used by engineering, science or math professionals." Likewise, the mentors rated the experience 3.9, and reported several positive outcomes such as "Self reflection on my own career." The partnership and program has succeeded in increasing the engineering retention and degree completion rate for the minority scholars. Fourteen of the Phase 1 participants graduated in engineering with an overall mean GPA of 3.005 (s.d. = 0.505), and the remaining Phase 1 scholar is on track to graduate May 2011. This yields a Phase 1 minority engineering graduation rate of 78.9%, which far exceeds the overall LSU engineering six year graduation rate of 39.3%. Of the Phase 2 scholars, 92.8% have been retained in the engineering curriculum, and they had a mean cumulative GPA of 3.171(s.d. = 0.407) at the mid-point of the program. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.