First-Generation College Students and "Othering" in Undergraduate Engineering

Presenter Information

Dr. Harriet Hartman, Professor of Sociology, Rowan UniversityFollow
Dr. Stephanie Farrell, Experiential Engineering Education, Rowan UniversityFollow
Dr. Ralph Dusseau, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rowan UniversityFollow
Dr. Kauser Jahan, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rowan UniversityFollow
Sarah Bauer, Rowan UniversityFollow
Dr. Tiago Forin, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rowan UniversityFollow
Dr. Beena Sukumaran, Vice President for Research, Rowan UniversityFollow
Stephanie Lezotte, CRA, Director of Strategic Research Initiatives and Outreach, Rowan UniversityFollow
Danilo Zeppilli, EIT, Civil Engineering, Rowan UniversityFollow
Theresa Bruckerhoff, Principal evaluator for Curriculum Research and Evaluation, Inc.

Location

Glassboro

Start Date

13-2-2019 11:00 AM

End Date

13-2-2019 12:00 PM

Document Type

Presentation

Description

We have baseline data collected from a sample of all Rowan engineering students in 2015-6, and have analyzed the differences between first-generation engineering students (FGES) and non-first-generation engineering students (Non-FGES) with respect to (a) their perceptions of “otherness” in a variety of situations in engineering at Rowan (FGES do not perceive themselves as “other” in most situations); (b) their background in engineering-related subjects and extra-curricular activities in high school (FGES background differs from Non-FGES); (c) their satisfaction with various aspects of the engineering program at Rowan (there are few differences); (d) their self-confidence as engineers (there are some differences); and (e) their commitment to and belief in a future career in engineering (FGES are strongly committed to, and believe they have, a future in engineering).