Education Research Grant--Understanding the Persistence of African American Male Engineering Students at HBCUs: A Mixed Method Approach

HBCUs每年毕业的非洲裔美国学生约占全国的24%，为这些学生提供了成功所需的培育和支持环境，但非洲裔美国学生没有完成工程本科课程的风险很高。今天，非裔美国男性在HBCU校园中是少数群体，非裔美国女性在HBCU的入学率几乎是非裔美国男性的两倍。然而，这种关于性别的人口变化并没有发生在工程学领域，因为工程学仍然是男性主导的领域。理解这种独特的二元角色——工程学院占多数，校园其他地方占少数——是非裔美国男性工程专业学生在HBCUs中所扮演的角色，将是本研究中关于持久性的主要问题之一。霍华德大学提议进行一项混合方法研究，以调查影响黑人男性在HBCU攻读工程学士学位的因素。在保留理论、社会资本理论和成就目标理论这三种理论的指导下，本研究旨在调查HBCU非裔美国男性工程专业学生经历的三个方面——(i)驾驭他们的二元角色，（ii）探索他们教授的种族和文化的影响，（iii）检验他们对学士学位的坚持。该项目将有助于阐明最适合理解HBCU环境下非裔美国男性坚持不懈的理论，并为未来旨在提高少数族裔STEM学生坚持不懈的干预措施提供信息。该项目还将调查教师多样性在影响持久性方面的作用，这对于解决必须考虑的文化匹配和不匹配问题非常重要。

HBCUs graduate approximately 24% of the country's African American students each year providing the nurturing, supportive environment needed for these students to succeed, yet African American students are at high risk for not completing an engineering undergraduate program. Today African American males are the minority on HBCU campuses and enrollment of African American females at HBCUs has almost doubled the enrollment of African American males. However, this demographic shift with respect to gender has not occurred in engineering which still remains a male dominated field. Understanding the unique dichotomous roles--majority in the engineering school and a minority elsewhere on campus-- that African American male engineering students at HBCUs navigate will be one of the primary issues examined in this study on persistence.Howard University proposes to conduct a mixed method study to examine the factors that impact persistence to the baccalaureate degree of African American males in engineering at an HBCU. This study proposes to investigate three facets of the experiences of African American male engineering students at an HBCU--(i) navigating their dichotomous roles, (ii) exploring the influence of their professors' race and culture and (iii) examining their persistence to the bachelor's degree, guided by three theories--Retention Theory, Social Capital Theory and Achievement Goal Theory.The project will help clarify theories of persistence that are most appropriate for understanding persistence by African American males within the HBCU setting and it can inform future interventions aimed at improving retention of minority STEM students. The project also will investigate the role of faculty diversity in impacting persistence and is important in addressing issues of cultural match and mismatch that must be considered.