Resumen de Factors affecting women’s persistence in chemical engineering
Catherine E. Brawner, Susan M. Lord, Richard A. Layton, Matthew W. Ohland, Russell A. Long
Chemical Engineering (ChE) is one of the engineering disciplines with the highest participation of women. This article describes theexperiences of Black and White women in chemical engineering programs that stand out because they attract and retain women athigher rates than peer institutions. We use a mixed-methods approach, quantitatively describing the trajectories of Black and Whitestudents at three Selected and seven Other institutions using data from a large, multi-institution dataset and qualitatively describingthe experiences of seven Black and nine White women through focus groups at those Selected institutions that were identified as‘‘pockets of success’’ for women through the quantitative findings. We find that Black and White students have better outcomes atSelected institutions than at Other institutions; they are more likely to graduate within six years and more likely to remain in ChE.We find through focus groups that women are attracted to their institutions and departments due to institutional reputation andidentify six reasons that these women stay in ChE at these institutions: Sisterhood, Real-World Experience, Real-World Examples,Faculty Caring, Sense of Accomplishment, and ‘‘I Got This Far.’’ We conclude that institutional reputation is a factor in studentschoosing the institution but that the elements of reputation are different at the Selected institutions. Persistence in ChE appears tobe most highly associated with relatedness. This can manifest through relatedness with other students, faculty who care, and thelarger professional community through real-world experiences and examples.
