Use Student Affairs Strategies to Retain Women in STEM

Abstract

Many female high school students say they're ready, willing and able to major in one of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. If the numbers at the top of the pipeline are good, why don't more women complete their education, earn advanced degrees and work in the fields? Of course some will change their major when they get to college. But why do others—who enroll in a STEM major and graduate—then not look for work in the field? And despite initial interest, high grades and positive experiences, some skip grad school. Perceived challenges with work/life balance seem to knock out that group. Some encounter a stumbling block early in their undergraduate STEM courses; many not only quit the major but also drop out of school entirely. Since broadening participation among women and minorities in STEM fields is a national issue, why are we losing these students and at what point in the pipeline are they leaving? What background traits and involvement experiences among first-year college students can support their success? With a five-year, $500,000 National Science Foundation CAREER grant, Dr. Terrell L. Strayhorn is seeking answers to those questions and more. Researching ways to support early career choice into STEM fields, he's found that although changes in policies and hiring more faculty can help to increase the number of women and racial/ethnic minority students enrolled in STEM, student affairs staff play a critical role in retaining them. “We found social psychology variables such as academic self-efficacy and self-esteem that played a part in attrition,” he said. Strayhorn outlined some of his research at the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) conference held in Chicago in March 2010. Since then he has moved from associate professor of higher education at the University of Tennessee Knoxville to associate professor of higher education in the college of education and human ecology at Ohio State University. Drawing on empirical data from the annual College Student Experiences Questionnaire of students enrolled at four-year schools, Strayhorn chose a sample of 1,272 first-year students majoring in STEM fields. Of the group, 29% were first-generation, 23% were underrepresented minorities and 82% had aspirations of earning advanced degrees. Women were the majority (57%) of the 1,272 students. When compared with their college-going peers, STEM students face significant challenges: “Bias continues to limit college women's success in STEM fields,” said Strayhorn. “The weight of research evidence suggests that negative beliefs (often unconscious) and/or implicit biases powerfully shape individuals’ perceptions.” Women and minority STEM students often reported an unwelcoming climate or not seeing a critical mass of people who look like them. “Students don't talk about the environments as hostile,” he said. “They tend to describe them as unwelcoming.” For him, there are distinct differences between the two words. While the pipeline continues to fill, low student retention rates in specific STEM fields are prime evidence of a problem. “We tend to lose women and minorities at critical junctures, in the transition spaces in the STEM pipeline,” he said. These three junctures are: A recent survey found that the top reasons women gave for leaving STEM included: Women often lack confidence in their own scientific/technical abilities. Continued negative perceptions and stereotypes about their abilities in math and science add to the problem. There's often a sense of belonging in STEM departments/programs and in the classroom that's missing for women. That perpetuates the lack of a critical mass of female peers or faculty in STEM fields. The dedicated curriculum in most of the STEM disciplines leaves little room for electives or extra-curricular activities. What about the student who wants to try out for a play or work on rape prevention or in the Women's Center? A sense of fit with the college environment was key to persistence, as were other factors such as students seeing themselves working in a STEM field. Students with lots of confidence that they can complete academic tasks and those with an understanding of the scientific process have a higher commitment to a STEM field. They tend to be retained at higher numbers and go on to graduate school. “Women and students of color have high levels of ‘generativity,’” said Strayhorn. “They want to give back to their race, their gender or their community.” The curriculum needs to be presented as a tool to affect change. If the mechanical engineering professor can't explain how thermodynamics will help students solve real-world problems, female students tend to check out. Certain experiences are critical to student success and development. They also help connect a student to a school. Once they're “stuck to campus,” said Strayhorn, “it's difficult for them to break the ties with the school.” The kinds of experiences that female and minority STEM students want are the things being directly or indirectly discouraged by the intensity, the structure, the curriculum or the belief that “engineers don't do that.” Academic and social supports found in student services can mitigate some of the challenges. Strayhorn listed four, high-impact practices that foster a spirit of connectedness for all students but particularly for those in the STEM fields: learning communities, service learning, undergraduate research experiences and first-year seminars. Service learning experiences can focus the connection between classroom and real world. These experiences also help mitigate the work/life balance or workplace discrimination issues that challenge women working in STEM. For some students, service learning can uncover specific aspirations or an interest in a particular field. They can see different roles for STEM degree holders. The undergraduate research experience has to be meaningful and well structured to be effective. Female students who meet frequently with mentors and are involved in conceptualizing a study and/or in collecting and analyzing the data or writing it up as a report, tended to have better retention rates. “Their perceived learning gains are much higher when you have active involvement in the project,” said Strayhorn. First-year seminars targeted specifically to STEM students help them learn study skills and smooth the transition to college. Women and minority STEM students also rely on spirituality resources to help them make sense of their studies. Other supportive experiences include study abroad, capstone courses and projects, collaborative assignments and projects and writing-intensive courses. Strayhorn found consistent support for the hypothesis that campus “involvement is related to STEM students’ learning and development.” His research has convinced him that STEM students, especially women, should be encouraged to participate in broader campus activities for three reasons: Student affairs can play a vital role in “interrupting the conscious and unconscious thought processes that lead to bias and negative stereotypes by hosting workshops and educational programs that make individuals aware of hidden assumptions, challenge forms of bias and discrimination, as well as rewrite mental scripts that led to such beliefs,” said Strayhorn. “Nurturing self-efficacy through mastery experiences, vicarious experiences or modeling and verbal persuasion” go a long way toward plugging the leaky pipeline. Use student services strategies to encourage academic success in the “hard” fields? What a concept! Contact Strayhorn at strayhorn.3@osu.edu or 614.292-7700.