2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

In engineering, Black students face stereotypes against the ability of Black people to “do math and science” and the racist beliefs and actions of professors, administrators, and students. These beliefs permeate the culture, policies, and practices of engineering programs. Many Black students rely on minority engineering programs (MEPs), programs created at institutions to recruit and retain minority students in engineering, to serve as a safe space that can lead to elevated levels of agency and positive identity development despite their engineering culture. MEPs emerged to provide minority students with community and academic support in response to the alarming number of minority students that left the major each year. MEPs can be community focal points and provide resources that help them succeed in engineering. Some Black students attribute their engineering success to MEPs, mentioning the positive environment, academic support, and access to representative advocacy. While some studies show that Black students primarily use MEPs as a form of social capital, MEPs can serve as a counterspace for Black students by providing them with a space to empower their racial identity. The argument can be made that MEPs push back on cultural norms by existing as a space that rejects the stereotypical narrative of what it means to be Black in engineering. A space like this can lead to elevated levels of agency and positive identity development and facilitate thriving within one’s engineering program. This introductory narrative literature review aims to identify the current state of the literature regarding the effect of MEPs on the experiences of Black students in undergraduate engineering programs at predominantly White institutions. The findings of this review have the potential to support further MEPs’ role in the collegiate experiences of Black students in engineering. This paper will also identify the gap in the literature regarding the study of MEPs in the context of Black student engineering education at predominantly White institutions.