2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Student retention and graduation rates are important indicators of student success and also serve as viable metrics in assessing the quality of a school. The Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas (U of A) has been monitoring undergraduate retention and graduation rates since 2007. The student cohort for the study is defined as the students entering the Introduction to Chemical Engineering class and includes students that had completed the First-year Engineering Program (FEP), new freshmen that chose to take the class because they had satisfied the chemistry prerequisites for the course upon entering the university, students that had transferred from other departments at the university and students who had transferred from another college or university. The students were further classified by gender, math readiness and whether they self-identified as first-generation students.
An analysis of the graduation data showed that transfer students (both inside and outside), first-gen students and non-math-ready students had lower graduation rates from both Chemical Engineering (ChE) and the university when compared to the general ChE population:
• While 71% of all Intro students graduated from ChE (highly significant intercept of 69.571 and p < 0.001) and 86% graduated from the university (highly significant intercept of 82.714 and p < 0.001), only 69% of the students that transferred from departments inside the university graduated from ChE (a non-significant difference with an estimate = 1.500 and p = 0.734) and 85% graduated from the university (a non-significant difference with an estimate = 2.929 and p = 0.448). Only 65% of the transfers from outside the university graduated from ChE (a marginally significant difference with an estimate = -7.214 and p = 0.105) while only 76% from the university (a non-significant difference with an estimate = -5.500 and p = 0.156).
• Only 68% of first-gen students graduated from ChE (highly significant negative estimate of -56.500 and p < 0.001), and 71% graduated from the university (highly significant negative estimate of -66.929 and p < 0.001). First-gen graduation rates have also been falling in recent years, perhaps as a result of COVID.
• While 76% of math-ready students graduated from ChE and 88% graduated from the university, only 62% of non-math-ready students graduated from ChE (highly significant negative estimate of -54.786 and p < 0.001), and 76% graduated from the university (highly significant negative estimate of -64.571 and p < 0.001).
A number of activities are proposed in helping transfer students and first-gen students including the development of dedicated activity fairs, target luncheons, special scholarships and enhanced advising activities. Activities for better preparing non-math-ready students for the rigors of engineering include bridge programs, better math placement, the teaching of mathematics inside the College of Engineering and informing K-12 teachers, students and parents about the importance of math preparation in the study of engineering.