Surmounting the Barriers: Ethnic Diversity in Engineering Education: Summary of a Workshop (2014)
Chapter: APPENDIX C: HIGHLIGHTS OF PRE-WORKSHOP SURVEYS
APPENDIX C: HIGHLIGHTS OF PRE-WORKSHOP SURVEYS
To prepare for the workshop, attendees were surveyed in advance and asked to answer eight questions ranging from why past attempts to enhance racial and ethnic diversity in engineering had not succeeded to why there aren’t more summer programs or research assistantships for students from underrepresented minority populations. These questions were developed after analyzing a preliminary survey of a smaller number of attendees that helped crystallize the main issues.
About the Surveys
Attendees’ views and insights on challenges to increasing racial and ethnic diversity in engineering education were explored via two pre-workshop surveys. The first survey asked attendees (n=17) to define impediments to implementing established best practices and previous recommendations for increasing diversity in engineering education, and to identify barriers to removing them. The answers were analyzed and consolidated into a number of factors impeding diversity. A second survey was then sent in which respondents (n=33) rated these factors by importance and relative difficulty in addressing, and also indicated which stakeholder (academia, government, foundations, or associations) bears primary responsibility for addressing each factor.
Survey Results
The results of the second survey were analyzed and are presented below. For each of the eight questions, the tables list the emerging impeding factors ranked in descending order by their mean importance scores, ranging from 4-Very Important to 1-Not Important. The other two columns show the relative difficulty of addressing the factor and whose responsibility it is to address it. The last table lists common factors across all eight questions.
A perceived lack of financial support and resources surfaced in the answers to many of the questions, as it often does. Survey respondents also tended to see this issue as one of the hardest to address. In general they saw it as the responsibility of government, rather than academia, foundations, or associations, to meet this need.
On other issues, however, there was a clear call to academia to address nagging problems hindering diversification. For example, when respondents were asked what prevents colleges and universities from maintaining a statistical equivalence in the retention, persistence, and graduation rates of minority and majority students with similar academic and socioeconomic profiles, they identified educational institutions themselves as the best place to address five factors ranging from a lack of social integration and student support services to the lack of standardized metrics.
No fewer than 10 contributing factors were offered in response to a question about why more doctoral institutions don’t include more underrepresented minorities in STEM as research assistants, from too few students in the pipeline to competition from foreign students.
Some themes recurred in answers to different questions. These included a lack of institutional incentives, cultural stereotypes and insufficient cultural competency, and the limited availability of qualified staff and faculty.
Q1. Why were past recommendations on mechanisms to enhance racial and ethnic diversity in engineering not implemented; i.e., what factors impeded the implementation of such prior recommendations?
| Importance (mean) 4 = very important 1 = not important |
Difficulty of addressing (mean) 4 = extremely challenging 1 = very easy |
Who should address it? (percentage of responses) |
||||
| Academia | Government | Foundations | Associations | |||
| Limited financial support and resources | 3.45 | 2.78 | 10% | 71% | 10% | 10% |
| Not enough underrepresented students entering the pipeline, especially at the graduate level | 3.39 | 3.21 | 36% | 58% | 3% | 3% |
| Lack of institutional incentives | 3.09 | 2.38 | 58% | 29% | 10% | 3% |
| Low priority and lack of institutional motivation, will, and commitment | 3.07 | 2.58 | 88% | 3% | 3% | 6% |
| Cultural stereotypes, insufficient cultural competency, and lack of cultural sensitivity training | 3.06 | 3.00 | 78% | 0% | 3% | 19% |
| Resistance to change | 2.91 | 3.00 | 94% | 3% | 0% | 3% |
Q2. What barriers, if any, do colleges and universities face in strengthening the institutional receptivity towards a more diverse student body in engineering and science?
| Importance (mean) 4 = very important 1 = not important |
Difficulty of addressing (mean) 4 = extremely challenging 1 = very easy |
Who should address it? (percentage of responses) |
||||
| Academia | Government | Foundations | Associations | |||
| Limited financial support and resources | 3.30 | 2.66 | 16% | 81% | 3% | 0% |
| Lack of diversity among faculty themselves | 3.21 | 3.09 | 71% | 16% | 7% | 7% |
| Cultural stereotypes, insufficient cultural competency, and lack of cultural sensitivity training | 3.00 | 2.70 | 90% | 3% | 3% | 3% |
| Lack of social integration efforts and student support services | 3.00 | 2.19 | 87% | 3% | 3% | 7% |
| Lack of institutional incentives | 2.88 | 2.24 | 58% | 23% | 16% | 3% |
| Supreme Court rulings | 2.45 | 2.84 | 7% | 81% | 7% | 7% |
Q3. What impedes colleges and universities from creating targeted outreach and recruitment activities that constitute a coordinated “feeder system” for higher education institutions to help cultivate underrepresented minority students?
| Importance (mean) 4 = very important 1 = not important |
Difficulty of addressing (mean) 4 = extremely challenging 1 = very easy |
Who should address it? (percentage of responses) |
||||
| Academia | Government | Foundations | Associations | |||
| Engagement, cooperation, and linkages with community colleges and high schools | 3.42 | 2.38 | 81% | 10% | 7% | 3% |
| Limited financial support and resources | 3.33 | 2.72 | 13% | 68% | 19% | 0% |
| Low priority and lack of institutional motivation, will, and commitment | 3.27 | 2.88 | 91% | 6% | 3% | 0% |
| Lack of institutional incentives | 3.06 | 2.58 | 63% | 22% | 13% | 3% |
| Availability of qualified staff and faculty | 3.03 | 2.63 | 94% | 3% | 3% | 0% |
| Cultural stereotypes, insufficient cultural competency, and lack of cultural sensitivity training | 3.00 | 2.82 | 78% | 0% | 0% | 22% |
Q4. What prevents colleges and universities from maintaining a statistical equivalence in the retention, persistence, and graduation rates of minority and majority students with very similar academic and socioeconomic profiles?
| Importance (mean) 4 = very important 1 = not important |
Difficulty of addressing (mean) 4 = extremely challenging 1 = very easy |
Who should address it? (percentage of responses) |
||||
| Academia | Government | Foundations | Associations | |||
| Socioeconomic disparities among students | 3.26 | 3.27 | 15% | 48% | 22% | 15% |
| Bad alignment between systems and lack of coordinated efforts | 3.19 | 2.87 | 59% | 38% | 0% | 3% |
| Limited financial support and resources | 3.19 | 2.83 | 14% | 72% | 14% | 0% |
| Lack of social integration efforts and student support services | 3.19 | 2.47 | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Lack of institutional incentives | 3.00 | 2.42 | 63% | 13% | 20% | 3% |
| Cultural stereotypes, insufficient cultural competency, and lack of cultural sensitivity training | 2.81 | 2.77 | 83% | 0% | 0% | 17% |
| Lack of a standardized set of metrics for retention and graduation | 2.23 | 2.62 | 55% | 31% | 3% | 10% |
Q5. What precludes colleges and universities from implementing widespread summer programs in STEM that target underrepresented minority high school students?
| Importance (mean) 4 = very important 1 = not important |
Difficulty of addressing (mean) 4 = extremely challenging 1 = very easy |
Who should address it? (percentage of responses) |
||||
| Academia | Government | Foundations | Associations | |||
| Limited financial support and resources | 3.67 | 2.45 | 14% | 43% | 43% | 0% |
| Low priority and lack of institutional motivation, will, and commitment | 3.40 | 2.72 | 89% | 4% | 4% | 4% |
| Engagement, cooperation, and linkages with community colleges and high schools | 3.37 | 2.31 | 71% | 18% | 0% | 11% |
| Availability of qualified staff and faculty | 3.03 | 2.42 | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Liability and legal aspects of recent youth policies regarding equal opportunity | 2.67 | 2.68 | 30% | 67% | 0% | 4% |
Q6. What inhibits colleges and universities from increasing the recruitment, preparation, professional development, and retention of well-qualified elementary and secondary teachers in STEM who are prepared to teach diverse students?
| Importance (mean) 4 = very important 1 = not important |
Difficulty of addressing (mean) 4 = extremely challenging 1 = very easy |
Who should address it? (percentage of responses) |
||||
| Academia | Government | Foundations | Associations | |||
| Negative views of the teacher profession and lower salaries | 3.39 | 3.29 | 15% | 48% | 11% | 26% |
| Lack of institutional incentives | 3.17 | 2.68 | 70% | 22% | 4% | 4% |
| Availability of qualified staff and faculty | 3.16 | 2.72 | 76% | 17% | 3% | 3% |
| Longer-term hiring strategies | 3.11 | 2.74 | 63% | 26% | 4% | 7% |
| Lack of partnerships with professional development schools | 2.68 | 2.43 | 63% | 7% | 7% | 22% |
| Low standards of teacher education accreditation | 2.61 | 2.90 | 30% | 44% | 0% | 26% |
Q7. What constrains the ability of doctoral institutions to include more underrepresented minorities in STEM as research assistants?
| Importance (mean) 4 = very important 1 = not important |
Difficulty of addressing (mean) 4 = extremely challenging 1 = very easy |
Who should address it? (percentage of responses) |
||||
| Academia | Government | Foundations | Associations | |||
| Not enough underrepresented students entering the pipeline, especially at the graduate level | 3.40 | 3.19 | 63% | 20% | 10% | 7% |
| No commitment from faculty | 3.23 | 2.81 | 50% | 27% | 20% | 3% |
| Lack of diversity among faculty themselves | 3.13 | 3.11 | 47% | 30% | 13% | 10% |
| Fewer mentors and sponsors for minority students | 3.13 | 2.63 | 43% | 33% | 17% | 7% |
| Insufficient information on graduate schools for first-generation doctoral students | 2.93 | 2.12 | 40% | 27% | 20% | 13% |
| Limited financial support and resources | 2.90 | 2.65 | 33% | 40% | 10% | 17% |
| Engagement, cooperation, and linkages with community colleges and high schools | 2.90 | 2.38 | 37% | 33% | 13% | 17% |
| High selectivity of some schools | 2.73 | 2.69 | 23% | 47% | 10% | 20% |
| No cross-departmental support structure | 2.59 | 2.44 | 21% | 38% | 21% | 21% |
| Competition for foreign students | 2.41 | 2.24 | 21% | 35% | 10% | 35% |
Q8. Why has removing impediments to broadening participation of domestic racial and ethnic minorities been such a challenge?
| Importance (mean) 4 = very important 1 = not important |
Difficulty of addressing (mean) 4 = extremely challenging 1 = very easy |
Who should address it? (percentage of responses) |
||||
| Academia | Government | Foundations | Associations | |||
| Quality of high schools in areas with diverse populations | 3.47 | 3.62 | 63% | 22% | 16% | 0% |
| Limited financial support and resources | 3.31 | 2.82 | 56% | 25% | 13% | 6% |
| Lack of substantial, sustained, and coordinated pressure throughout all parts of the education system | 3.25 | 3.21 | 53% | 22% | 22% | 3% |
| Socioeconomic disparities among students | 3.13 | 3.14 | 38% | 44% | 13% | 6% |
| Lack of institutional incentives | 3.09 | 2.62 | 34% | 44% | 19% | 3% |
| Lack of involvement of university and colleges in K-12 | 3.06 | 2.76 | 44% | 25% | 25% | 6% |
| Rising tuition of higher education | 3.03 | 3.29 | 34% | 38% | 25% | 3% |
| Importance (mean) 4 = very important 1 = not important |
Difficulty of addressing (mean) 4 = extremely challenging 1 = very easy |
Who should address it? (percentage of responses) |
||||
| Academia | Government | Foundations | Associations | |||
| Availability of qualified staff and faculty | 2.88 | 2.79 | 25% | 44% | 25% | 6% |
| Lack of learning communities that address a holistic approach to college retention | 2.88 | 2.48 | 28% | 38% | 28% | 6% |
| A difficult curriculum heavy on math that is a challenge for underrepresented students | 2.74 | 3.00 | 32% | 23% | 32% | 13% |
| Cultural stereotypes, insufficient cultural competency, and lack of cultural sensitivity training | 2.69 | 2.79 | 19% | 34% | 44% | 3% |
| Standardized testing | 2.66 | 2.86 | 13% | 53% | 22% | 13% |
| Liability and legal aspects of recent youth policies regarding equal opportunity | 2.23 | 2.70 | 13% | 20% | 43% | 23% |
| Ineffective ranking systems for colleges and universities | 1.90 | 2.62 | 10% | 19% | 23% | 48% |
Common factors across questions. Blank items indicate “not applicable.”
| Average importance rates across questions 4 = very important; 1 = not important |
||||||||
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Q5 | Q6 | Q7 | Q8 | |
| Limited financial support and resources | 3.45 | 3.30 | 3.33 | 3.19 | 3.67 | 2.90 | 3.31 | |
| Lack of institutional incentives | 3.09 | 2.88 | 3.06 | 3.00 | 3.17 | 3.09 | ||
| Cultural stereotypes, insufficient cultural competency, and lack of cultural sensitivity training | 3.06 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 2.81 | 2.69 | |||
| Availability of qualified staff and faculty | 3.03 | 3.03 | 3.16 | 2.88 | ||||
| Engagement, cooperation, and linkages with community colleges and high schools | 3.42 | 3.37 | 2.90 | |||||
| Low priority and lack of institutional motivation, will, and commitment | 3.07 | 3.27 | 3.40 | |||||
| Not enough underrepresented students entering the pipeline, especially at the graduate level | 3.39 | 3.40 | ||||||
| Lack of social integration efforts and student support services | 3.00 | 3.19 | ||||||
| Socioeconomic disparities among students | 3.26 | 3.13 | ||||||
| Lack of diversity among faculty themselves | 3.21 | 3.13 | ||||||
| Liability and legal aspects of recent youth policies regarding equal opportunity | 2.67 | 2.23 | ||||||
