Focus on Retention in Cohorts of Engineering Students - Plus (FORCES+)

University Of Texas At Arlington, Arlington TX

Investigators

Abstract

This project will pursue a promising approach towards recruiting, retaining, and graduating engineering students who transfer from a community college into a four-year degree program. The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) College of Engineering (COE) will implement a program called: FORCES+ (Focus On Retention in Cohorts of Engineering Students to Provide Lasting University Success). The program will provide scholarships and support activities to incoming freshman and new transfer students in engineering majors. The objectives of FORCES+ are to increase educational opportunities for financially needy, talented undergraduate engineering students; improve retention of freshman and transfer students; and increase participation in internships, cooperative education, research experiences or service opportunities related to their majors. The project at this Hispanic Serving Institution focuses on building cohorts that of students that enter with comparable levels of readiness to purse an engineering major. Cohorts of incoming students will be formed based on the extent of completion and success in pre-engineering courses such as calculus and physics. The project then utilizes a university-wide required college success course to group transfer students into the same section of the course. This course will then form the foundation for building a cohort for the transfer students. The approach will enable the course to address issues specific to the needs of transfer students. This model is based on an approach that was found to be successful for first year students at this institution. Academic success will also be fostered through support provided for career development and career transitions through optional collaborative research with faculty or industry-based internships with local industry partners. The FORCES project will carry out formative and summative evaluations of the project through placement exams, surveys, focus groups and exit interviews. These will be used in the context of both baseline data and longitudinal evaluation. Expected improvements in retention of freshman and transfer students in coursework leading up to the engineering professional programs will be measured along with graduation rates and participation in internships, cooperative education, research experiences and/or service opportunities.