The Role of Faculty Mentoring in Improving Retention and Completion Rates for Historically Underrepresented STEM Students

Kelli Chelberg,Lisa Bosman

doi:10.5430/ijhe.v8n2p39

Abstract

There is a growing recognition of the need for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers who provide diverse perspectives enabling companies to keep up with the demands of the 21st-century workforce. Creating a diverse workforce requires improving access to STEM education for historically underrepresented students, including low-income students and first-generation students. However, significant challenges and barriers exist. The purpose of this paper is to showcase an innovative approach to mentoring historically underrepresented STEM students which integrates photovoice and photo-elicitation. This new approach in mentoring takes student participation one step further by asking students to document and share their lived experiences through photographs (e.g., photovoice). Then, photo-elicitation is used to further engage students in discussing what led to their subsequent empowerment in leveraging successes or overcoming barriers. The study was conducted with 19 participants who were primarily American Indian students attending a small college in Wisconsin, USA. The findings suggest students benefited from the mentoring program and perceived it as an enriching learning experience which aided in goal development, accountability, and an opportunity to learn more about strategies for student success. The implementation of this new approach and the results gathered from this study are important as they may inform educational leaders and postsecondary institutions serving historically underrepresented STEM students on supports and strategies that could be carried out on their campuses.

Highlights

1.1 Problem IdentificationThe increased demand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals has resulted in considerable focus and attention to the enrollment, persistence, and completion of STEM students at higher education institutions worldwide (Graham, Frederick, Byars-Winston, Hunter, & Handelsman, 2013; Latz, 2015; Lichtenstein, Chen, Smith, & Maldonado, 2014)
According to the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering Indicators Report 2018, minorities including Hispanics, African Americans, and American Indian/Alaska Natives comprise 27% of the U.S adult (21+) population, yet only make up 11% of workers employed in science and engineering occupations
Student participation in a mentoring program and photovoice project provided psychosocial support that is critical for underrepresented STEM student development, retention, persistence, and navigation of the postsecondary setting

Summary

Introduction

1.1 Problem IdentificationThe increased demand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals has resulted in considerable focus and attention to the enrollment, persistence, and completion of STEM students at higher education institutions worldwide (Graham, Frederick, Byars-Winston, Hunter, & Handelsman, 2013; Latz, 2015; Lichtenstein, Chen, Smith, & Maldonado, 2014). Not surprisingly, creating a diverse workforce requires improving access to STEM education for historically underrepresented students, including low-income students and first-generation students (Dika, Pando, Tempest, Foxx, & Allen, 2015; MacPhee, Farro, & Canetto, 2013). From a higher education perspective, in 2015, the percentage of science and engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded to minorities, including Hispanics, blacks, and American Indian/Alaska Natives, was only 22.5% and for women, 20.1% (National Science Board, 2018). To add to this disparity, first-generation students are four times more likely to drop out of college before graduating (Engle & Tinto, 2008)

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Conclusion