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The 12th Annual Graduate Research Symposium 2021 Poster Tu Dublin: How To Recruit And Retain Women In Computer Science, Alina Berry, Susan Mckeever, Brenda Murphy, Sarah Jane Delany

Other resources

While in recent decades a number of efforts have been coordinated to address the issue of gender imbalance in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines, the problem still persists. Many authors speak of the ‘leaky’ pipeline metaphor that describes the loss of women in STEM areas before reaching senior roles. Research shows that women who leave are unlikely to return. The issue is particularly severe in the area of computer science, where women represent less than 20% of the labour force across the EU.

This poster introduces a summary of findings from the literature on how to effectively recruit …

Women Living History: An Exploration Of Transformational Learning In A Living History Group, Amanda Silva, Joseph Polizzi

Education Faculty Publications

Although transformational learning has been studied in numerous contexts (English and Peters, 2012; Foote, 2015; Mezirow, 1990; Mezirow, 1997; Nohl, 2015), one area worth further exploration is the activity of living history. Living history, as defined by Anderson (1982), is essentially the simulation of life in another time. The present study focuses on a group of women in a small living history organization and how their participation in this group has changed them. Participant observation and interviews were used to determine what the women gain from their participation and to uncover some of the reasons they continue with the group. …

A Phenomenological Study Of Female Stem Majors Who Have Decided To Become Educators, Porcia Richardson-Spears

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to investigate, identify, and describe the lived experiences that influence female STEM majors to become secondary educators rather than enter a STEM-related corporate profession. This study was guided by Mezirow’s transformative learning theory (TLT) and Lent, Brown and Hackett’s social cognitive career theory (SCCT) as they related to self-awareness, which guides and motivates the behaviors involved in choosing a career path. The research questions for this study were designed to investigate the experiences that prompted females to major in STEM majors and to enter the field of teaching rather than enter corporate …

Gender Bias In It Hiring Practices: An Ethical Analysis, Harmony L. Alford

Student Scholarship – Computer Science

With the current movement to increase the number of women in STEM-related careers, modified IT hiring practices may be considered debatably unethical. Studies cited in this work have asserted that female representation in STEM fields is integral not only to encouraging continued progression toward gender equality in the workplace but also to creating more inclusive products. In turn, some argue that when faced with reasonably comparable female and male candidates, a hiring manager should select the female candidate in order to increase the female representation in the company and provide a female perspective. However, it is simultaneously debatably unethical and …

Influence Of Robotics On Women In Stem, Nicole Costa

Undergraduate Research

There is an underrepresentation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields that influences society’s perception of women’s abilities in math and science. This study researches the implications of robotics on girls’ achievement abilities. Specifically studying the population at the high school of Mount Saint Joseph Academy, it searches for a correlation between members of the Firebirds Robotics Team and higher GPA scores, SAT scores, and percentages of having a major in STEM compared to students not on the team. Data was collected on the control group (non-robotics students) and experimental group (robotics students) using a survey. Analysis …

Evaluating A Four State Workforce Education Project: Questions Of Investigative Interest And Impact, Neal Grandgenett, Elliott Ostler, Applied Information Management Institute, Jeanne L. Surface

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

How can a large scale, multi-state, collaborative workforce development project be evaluated? This article describes the evaluation process of the Midwest Center for Information Technology (MCIT). The project uses “impact threads” to connect the outcomes of the project to strategic evaluation questions. The MCIT project, involving 10 public two-year colleges located in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota, strives to assist partner colleges in enhancing information technology training and related degree programs. The MCIT was funded as a regional center within the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). This article details the evaluation plan …

Perceptions Of Subtle Gender Discrimination, Hostility, And Sexual Harassment Among Senior Women Faculty At Western Washington University, Linda D. (Linda Darlene) Clark, Pamela Jull, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

In 1999, the Faculty Senate approved Western's participation in a national survey of faculty conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI). Western's preliminary analysis of the data revealed that Westerns full-time female faculty reported experiencing sexual harassment at a higher percentage than did full-time female faculty at peer institutions--with each cohort made up approximately 62% tenured faculty and 38% non-tenured faculty. It was also noted that Western's female faculty were more likely to report feeling subtle discrimination than female faculty at peer institutions and less likely to agree that women faculty are treated fairly. Limited by the survey data …

Western Experience Survey, Jacqueline M. Andrieu-Parker, Gina S. Gould, Joseph E. Trimble, Gary (Gary Russell) Mckinney

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

Results of a survey of Western students' experience, especially concentrated on the experience of female students.