Social Capital From Professional Engineering Organizations and the Persistence of Women and Underrepresented Minority Undergraduates

• DOI: 10.3389/fsoc.2021.671856
• Publication Date: 2021-05-31T08:37:36Z
• Authors: Chrystal A. S. Smith; Hesborn Wao; Gladis Kersaint; Rebecca Campbell-...; Phyllis Gray-Ray; Ellen Puccia; Julie P. Martin; Reginald Lee; John Skvoretz; George MacDonald
• Keywords: Underrepresented Minority; Persistence (discontinuity); Graduation (instrument); Odds

Professional engineering organizations (PEOs) have the potential to provide women and underrepresented minoritized (URM) students with social capital (i.e., resources gained from relationships) that aids their persistence in undergraduate programs into workforce. We hypothesize URM who participate PEOs are more likely persist major contribute by providing them access insider information supports persistence. Each year for five years we administered surveys closed- open-ended items examine association between participating of a cohort majors 11 diverse universities. used logistic regression thematic analysis analyze data. participated other related activities were second than did not (adjusted odds ratio = 2.18, CI: 1.09, 4.37). Students reported contributed enabling network, reduce gender race/ethnic isolation, professional resources. should be encouraged beginning first increase integration major, which found