2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This Work in Progress paper describes a mentorship structure to support the professional formation of engineers that advance the science of mentorship, retention, diversity, and inclusive (DI) perspectives in engineering. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the overall persistence rate improved as first-time in college (FTIC) students declined sharply by 9.9% in 2021. The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) 2023 diversity and STEM reports show the representation of women reached 35% in 2021, a 3% increase from 2011 data. Though successes have been made in the past decade to increase the number of female students in STEM, their persistence rate is still low due to factors like lack of confidence, self-efficacy, and their definition of success. Mentoring plays an important role in college success depending on the mentor’s level of self-efficacy, cultural responsiveness, and the process for matching mentors to mentees (surface or deep-level similarities). An effective mentorship structure supports the mentee’s growth and development by using multiple mentors for academic, career, and psychosocial support functions.
For the mentees, a buy-in on the mentor’s credibility is necessary to understand the mentor’s motivation for sharing information and experiences. Could similar social and cultural identities promote trustworthiness in female engineering students? For mentees from underrepresented and underserved populations, the social-psychological concept of a mentor’s credibility might be critical to hone from the onset of each mentoring relationship to foster a sense of expectancy and candidness that promotes retention. The FTIC population, especially women, experience culture shock and lack of mentorship. They struggle with their engineering identities, and most lack how to navigate higher education bureaucracy. This study investigates the impact of a guided mentoring relationship on female students’ academic progression in the college of engineering at the University of South Florida. FTIC female undergraduates are paired with third-year female peer mentors and are provided with structured discussions and modules that impact mentees learning and sociocultural awareness. It is anticipated that the study would reveal a possible pathway for increased persistence of females in STEM and DI practices and potentially help create a national systemic mentoring program that addresses academic disparities in STEM education for FTIC students alongside historically underrepresented and underserved populations.