2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

Since 2017, Clemson University has hosted an intensive summer program for underrepresented groups drawn from incoming first-year students who intend to major in a STEM discipline. The summer program is offered through an office located in our College of Engineering called PEER/WISE (Programs for Educational Enrichment and Retention / Women in Science and Engineering). This office aims to “educate, recruit, and retain underrepresented populations in STEM fields through mentoring, academic coaching, and academic enrichment.” The program, called PEER/WISE Experience (PWE), is aimed at first year students who have declared a major in a STEM discipline. It is a three-week, three-credit-hour residential program where students get to experience college life, albeit within a much more structured setting. The program’s stated purpose is to retain students in STEM.
This presentation’s primary focus is to provide a detailed overview of the PWE summer program. The program targets women and underrepresented students though it is open to all first-year students. This three-week, on-campus summer program introduces the participants, many of whom are first-generation college students, to the rigors of higher education. Their daily schedule includes a regimen of condensed STEM courses, with a special emphasis on first-semester calculus. Their days are like those of typical first-year students in a STEM major, with the addition of evening tutoring, mentoring, and coaching sessions.
Program participants arrive on campus on a Sunday in early July, and the students enter what might be termed a “boot camp” setting, where almost every aspect of their life on campus is regimented. Days are filled with classes, and evenings are reserved for mandatory study halls. Tutors, provided by PWE, are available should participants need extra help. Program counselors and tutors are often alumni of the program, giving it a familial quality and a feeling of continuity. One might reasonably assume such continuity leads to a sense of inclusion. It perhaps serves as encouragement for the program participants – seeing previous participants thriving in college gives the new students reason for hope and creates an expectation of academic success.
We also briefly review the results of a longitudinal study (Guest and Brown, 2022) to track the academic progress of students who participated in this enrichment program in the summers of 2017 and 2018. The study has found some evidence that the program is successful in preparing students for Calculus I – both the overall under-represented population and the African American population show some benefit from program participation. It also demonstrates positive results for these populations regarding retention in STEM majors. PWE has a retention rate higher than the college and university.