Strategies For Success: Enhancing Minority Student Success In Science, Engineering, And Technology (Set) Professions

Based on enrollment for the Fall 2003 semester, only 4% of the US citizens/permanent residents pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees in the Lee College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte were African American, 0% were Native American, and less than 1% were Hispanic American. These enrollment demographics, which have remained consistent for many years, are distressing when one considers that 28% of the Charlotte population is African American, North Carolina is home to Cherokee and Lumbee Native Americans, and most recently there has been explosive growth in the Hispanic American population in the Charlotte metropolitan area. Over the last few years, the College has developed a recruiting plan to attract qualified and talented undergraduate students, particularly underrepresented minorities. It has also implemented several programs which, according to assessment data, are having a positive impact on undergraduate retention. These programs are especially important for underrepresented minority engineering students as the graduation rate for students of color in engineering is half that of white students and those who do leave engineering eventually drop out of college altogether. Therefore, the intent is to not only to retain these students through completion of their BS degrees but to also to fuel the graduate program pipeline with qualified and experienced undergraduate researchers from traditionally underrepresented populations. Two years ago, the College implemented an innovative program called Strategies for Success (SFS), which is helping to improve retention and also bridge the undergraduate and graduate curricula for underrepresented minority students. In its first two years, 35 students have participated in the program and 60% of those who completed their BS degree successfully matriculated to graduate engineering programs. As a result of participating in SFS, students indicate a deeper appreciation of their own potential, increased technical competence, increased levels of self-confidence, self-esteem, interdependence, and a desire to pursue technical graduate degrees.