2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work in Progress: Exploring the Relationship between Female Engineering Faculty and Degree Attainment of Women in Engineering

Presented at Student Division (STDT) Technical Session 5: Motivation and Support for Success

In a globally competitive economy, a diverse workforce is crucial for providing creative viewpoints, producing innovative products, and increasing financial returns. Additionally, having equal participation of individuals from different social identities can lead to equitable distribution of resources and create inclusive environments. Sadly, a problem of underrepresentation of women in engineering professions exists. In 2021, women comprised 14 percent of the engineering workforce. Women also receive fewer college degrees in engineering than their male counterparts. To increase the number of women in the engineering workforce, higher education administrators need to invest in initiatives that positively affect the graduation rates of females in this field. Research indicates how the presence of female faculty can influence women's choice of major and serve as role models and mentors (Bettinger & Long, 2005). Borrowing from the fields of public administration, the theory of representative bureaucracy suggests that a larger representation of individuals from a particular demographic background at an institution can lead to beneficial outcomes in the interest of that demographic group (Keiser, Wilkins, Meier, & Holland, 2002; Lee & Won, 2016).
Employing representative bureaucracy as a theoretical framework, we will investigate in this study the relationship between women's representation in engineering tenured/tenure-track faculty positions and the percentage of degrees awarded to women in engineering fields at doctoral universities in the United States. The study will control for institutional factors such as private/public institutions, Carnegie classification, university size, and engineering research expenditures. We use Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis to determine if the percentage of female engineering faculty is positively associated with the percentage of engineering degrees awarded to women at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels when controlling for institutional factors.
The study will draw data from the American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE) Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Survey. We anticipate a significant positive relationship between the variables studied. The results of this study can be beneficial for higher education administrators interested in knowing if a greater representation of women in faculty positions can positively affect gender-equitable outcomes such as graduation rates. Future studies in engineering education can implement the theory of representative bureaucracy to study if an increase in other underrepresented groups can create positive outcomes for marginalized populations.

Authors

Claudia Vanessa Garcia Society of Women Engineers [biography]

Claudia Vanessa (CV) Garcia is a doctoral candidate and research assistant in the Higher Education Administration program at Kent State University. She also serves as a research intern for the Society of Women Engineers. CV holds a B.S. in Biology and an M.A. in Education from the University of Texas at El Paso. She has over ten years of experience working in higher education assisting marginalized students as they transition into the college environment. Her research interest focuses on higher education policy, access, and representation of marginalized groups in STEM disciplines.
Dr. Roberta Rincon Society of Women Engineers [biography]

Roberta Rincon, Ph.D., is the Director of Research and Impact for the Society of Women Engineers. She is responsible for overseeing the research activities for the organization, including collaborative research projects with external researchers and dissemination of SWE research through academic conferences, the SWE Research website, and the annual SWE State of Women in Engineering magazine issue. She is the Principal Investigator for the NSF INCLUDES-funded Women of Color in Engineering Collaborative, whose mission is to work cooperatively with other organizations to provide resources to create a supportive, encouraging, and inclusive environment in the engineering workplace. Her SWE research centers on equity issues in STEM education and the workplace, with studies on gender bias, the development of an engineering identity, and the community college transfer pathway. Prior to joining SWE, she worked in higher education policy research and on programs focused on faculty productivity and student success. She received her B.S. in Civil Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, MBA and M.S. in Information Management from Arizona State University, and Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Planning from UT Austin.
Daniel E. Chand Kent State University [biography]

Daniel E. Chand is an associate professor of political science and public administration at Kent State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Arkansas in 2013. His research applies policy and public administration theory to immigration policy. He also researches nonprofits in the policy process. He has recently published articles in Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Administration and Society, Social Science Quarterly, American Review of Public Administration, Public Performance and Management Review, and Voluntas.

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