African American and Hispanic STEM Students’ Engagement at Predominantly White Institutions

Although research has shown that involvement is a helpful predictor of students’ future success, underrepresented minorities (i.e., African Americans and Hispanics) face unique obstacles at predominantly White institutions, which limit their engagement in educationally purposeful activities. Survey data from a 2007 administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) were analyzed to measure African American and Hispanic students’ engagement in educationally purposeful activities. Results from the present study found that student satisfaction in college is positively related to time spent preparing for class and frequency of interactions with faculty members about careers. Furthermore, African American and Hispanic science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students who engage peers of different opinions or spend significant amounts of time studying academic work report higher scores on personal and social gains than their same-race peers who do so less frequently.