HBCU-DCL EAGER: Unraveling Academic Success: Identifying High Impact Practices to Support Academic Persistence and Degree Completion for Underrepresented Populations in Engineering

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Growing a talented STEM workforce is critical to ensuring America's future advancement. The creation of this desired STEM workforce is vital to virtually all of our national goals' accelerating economic prosperity, maintaining global competitiveness, securing national defense, creating clean and renewable energy sources, protecting the quality of our air, water, soil and environment, and advancing national health solutions for all citizens. This project responds to the challenge of growing a diverse talented engineering workforce by conducting research to identify the specific educational policies, practices, and programs that impact diverse students' academic persistence to degree completion within the engineering enterprise. The outlined research activities will yield results that identify high impact practices that positively influence student learning outcomes, academic persistence, and graduation rates of under-represented students in engineering majors.This research utilizes a mixed-method case study of underrepresented students currently enrolled in or alumni of the College of Engineering at a historically black college and university, located in the southeastern part of the country. Specifically, interviews utilizing open-ended questions with current and former engineering graduate students, alumni, and faculty in the College of Engineering will be implemented to accomplish the following: (a) reveal the policies, programs and practices that impact students? willingness to persist to degree completion; and, (b) identify the components of the policies, programs and practices perceived by students to be concentric to their success. Additionally, the project will include survey data collections that will help triangulate interview findings. Thus, a blueprint for designing and implementing institutional practices, procedures, and policies proven to ensure the success of diverse students in Engineering degree programs will be created.