Engineering Achievement: An Exploratory Case Study of Minority Engineering Organization Chapter Activities

Abstract

Studies such as Omer, Sampson & Lee highlight the importance of minority-focused engineering organizations to the achievement of minority students. With over 250 collegiate chapters and nearly 12,000 domestic collegiate members, the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) provides a programmatic infrastructure for academic support of students pursuing engineering degrees. However, chapters conduct a wide range of activities that tend to be highly individualized. Thus, the organization seeks to understand how these chapters contribute to the success of each member. In partnership with the Evaluation and Action Research Associates, NSBE executed an original research study to focus on chapter activities in the collegiate demographic. Participants in this study, which utilized surveys and existing NSBE data, included student chapter leaders as well as advisors (minority engineering program directors, engineering college faculty). Four major questions guided the survey design: 1. What are the characteristics of each chapter? 2. What activities do the chapters engage in, by type? 3. What assessment methods do the chapters employ to track success? 4. What outcomes are the chapters achieving, by type? The outcomes of interest directly align with NSBE’s 2025 strategic goal to graduate 10,000 black engineers annually and include GPA, engineering program retention, graduation rate, and graduate school entrance rates. Ultimately, the analysis paints a more comprehensive picture of who the chapters are and what they do. Many other engineering organizations utilize the chapter model; this research provides an exploratory framework for chapter activities and offers suggestions for better tracking and measuring the key factors that influence success on the collegiate level.