PEEPS - Program for Engineering Excellence for Partner Schools

California Polytechnic State University Foundation, San Luis Obispo CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project presents an institutional approach towards recruiting, retaining, and graduating engineering students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Targeted students come from high schools that have large percentages of students who qualify for the National School Lunch Program. Data suggests that these students are not only more likely to have low socioeconomic status, but also be first generation college students and/or underrepresented minorities (URM). Scholarships of up to $10,000 for four years are extended to engineering students with high financial need. The first cohort is expected to include six Mechanical Engineering (ME) students and the second cohort is a mix of six College of Engineering students starting the second year. A long-term benefit of the project is that is increasing the ability of the California Polytechnic State University to improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged students effectively and efficiently. The technical merit of the project rests on research that has suggested that reasons for the lack of comparative success of disadvantaged students include feelings of isolation, lack of self-efficacy, financial pressures, and the lack of appropriate academic support. The project meets those identified needs, and the evaluation and assessment of the program measures the impact of the combined support mechanisms on the students' academic success. Specific features of the project's implementation include the formation of cohorts of student learning communities to support one another and create a sense of belonging and to build community. The cohorts also take several engineering support courses together, and are automatically enrolled in supplemental workshops in Science and Mathematics and the Engineering Success courses. The project removes obstacles and integrates several proven student success strategies to help students develop their personal academic and professional goals. Thus, project components not only include financial support, but also block scheduling of gateway engineering support courses with supplemental workshops, frequent advising, individualized coaching and mentoring of personal academic and professional goals, professional development opportunities, and STEM outreach activities. The proposed activities help strengthen student identities as an engineer increase self-efficacy. Assessment and evaluation of the project contributes to the knowledge of how engineering students succeed, and how the learning community model may be expanded to more students.