Luận án về giới tính và học tập kỹ thuật: Một nghiên cứu định lượng về tuyển sinh đầu tiên

Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Open Access Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 12-2016 Race, class and gender in engineering education: A quantitative investigation of first year enrollment Canek Moises Luna Phillips Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of the Engineering Commons, Higher Education Commons, Science and Mathematics Education Commons, and the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Phillips, Canek Moises Luna, "Race, class and gender in engineering education: A quantitative investigation of first year enrollment" (2016). Open Access Dissertations.edu/open_access_dissertations/987 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact epubs@purdue.edu for additional information. i RACE, CLASS AND GENDER IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION: A QUANTITATIVE INVESTIGATION OF FIRST YEAR ENROLLMENT A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Canek Moises Luna Phillips In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2016 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana Graduate School Form 30 Updated PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL Thesis/Dissertation Acceptance This is to certify that the thesis/dissertation prepared By Canek Moises Luna Phillips Entitled Race, Class and Gender in Engineering Education: A Quantitative Investigation of First Year Enrollment For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Is approved by the final examining committee: Alice Pawley Stephanie Zywicki Co-chair Matthew Ohland Co-chair Brent Jesiek Keven Stainback To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the Thesis/Dissertation Agreement, Publication Delay, and Certification Disclaimer (Graduate School Form 32), this thesis/dissertation adheres to the provisions of Purdue University’s “Policy of Integrity in Research” and the use of copyright material.

Approved by Major Professor(s): Alice Pawley and Matthew Ohland Approved by: Senay Purzer and Brent Jesiek 8/15/2016 Head of the Departmental Graduate Program Date ii For Alicia iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This document is a paradox in that it signifies both the culmination of one journey and the start of another. I would not have been able to make it to this point in my life without the help of so many and I want to take the time to make that known. I’ve decided to do this chronologically by the places I’ve been in my life and the people I met and who made indelible marks in my life. To Pacha Mama, who gives me everything I need.

One day I will come back to you. To my family, who I blame everything on. You made me this ultra-critical and argumentative man. To Moira, who became my godmother when I was born.

You’ve stayed in my life since then, and have always been there for me and my family. To Margaret and the Sunshine Camps of Austin, who showed me what love looks like in practice. One day I hope to come back to a place like the one you made. iv To Residence Life at Colorado State University, who opened my eyes to how I could be as a professional.

To Alice and my research lab at Purdue University, who taught what it means to be a feminist. To Felica, Deb, and the regulars at the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, who gave me a place to start to figure out what it means to be Purepecha. To Kevin, Ken, Cary, and the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Program at Purdue University, who supported and funded my graduate studies. To basketball, who has kept me sane all these years even though you drive me crazy too.

To my friends, who love me for all my flaws. To Shawna and the Follis Family, who treated me like family since day one. To the mental health professionals in my life, who taught me to take it easy on myself. v To Mary and the Purdue Global Engineering Program, who supported me and my vision for engineering.

To my dissertation committee, who read this document and helped me through this process. To Tecumseh and the Prophet, who were forced from their homes and gave their life for the land of the big water. You will not leave us. We are still here.

We will keep fighting. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .2 Theoretical Perspective and Methodology. THE ILLUSION OF CHOICE: AN ANALYSIS OF UNIVERSITY INSTITUTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THE ODDS OF WOMEN’S ENROLLMENT IN FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING PROGRAMS .1 Segregation in Engineering by Gender .2 Selection of Institutional Variables .5 Data and Methods .2 Cleaning and Processing the Data .6 Results and Discussion .1 University Institutional Characteristics Profile .2 Female-Male Odds of First Year Engineering Enrollment.3 Organizational Inertia Model .4 Internal Power Dynamics Model .5 Organizational Environments Model. UNDERREPRESENTATION OR JUST SEGREGATION? A CRITICAL INVESTIGATION OF FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING COHORT GENDER AND RACE COMPOSITION, CONCENTRATION, AND EXPOSURE RATES .1 Race and Gender Disparity Research in Engineering Education .3 Historical Continuity of Gender and Race Segregation in Engineering Education .4 The Retrenchment of Public School Segregation and its Relation to the Segregation of Women and Racial Minorities in Engineering Education .2 Analysis of Correspondence and Limitations of Data .6 Results and Discussion .1 Enrollments, Concentration, and Exposure Levels by Gender .1 First-Time First Year Cohort Enrollment by Gender .2 Concentration and Exposure Rates by Gender .2 Enrollments, Concentration, and Exposure by Race at National and Regional Levels 123 3.1 National First Year Full Time Cohort Enrollments by Race .1 First Year Full-Time Cohort Numbers for Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Two or More Races.2 Concentration and Exposure Rates by Race at the National Level .3 Confirmation of Correspondence Between Increasing Levels of Segregation in First Year Engineering and Public School Segregation at the National Level .3 Regional First Year Full-Time Cohort Numbers .1 First Year Full-Time Cohort Numbers by Region.2 Concentration and Exposure Rates by Race at Regional Levels .3 Confirmation of Correspondence Between Increasing Levels of Segregation in First Year Engineering and Public School Segregation at the National Level .4 Enrollments, Concentration, and Exposure Rates at California Public Universities by Race .1 California Public University Full-Time First Year Cohort Enrollment by Race 155 3.2 Concentration and Exposure Rates by Race .3 Confirmation of Correspondence Between Increasing Levels of Segregation in First Year Engineering and Public School Segregation at the California State Level .5 Intersectional Concentration and Exposure at the National Level.

THE DEEPEST CUT: AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INSTITUTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND THE ODDS RATIOS OF BLACK, HISPANIC, AND ASIAN STUDENT ENROLLMENT IN FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING PROGRAMS .5 Data and Methods .4 Cleaning and Processing the Data .7 Results and Discussion .1 University Institutional Characteristics Profile .2 Black-White Odds of First Year Engineering Enrollment .3 Organizational Inertia Model .4 Internal Power Dynamics Model .5 Organizational Environments Model .7 Hispanic-White Odds of First Year Engineering Enrollment.8 Organizational Inertia Model .9 Internal Power Dynamics Model .10 Organizational Environments Model .12 Asian-White Odds of First Year Engineering Enrollment .13 Organizational Inertia Model .1 Internal Power Dynamics Model .2 Organizational Environments Model .1 Implications of Research and Future Research Directions .2 Increasing Race and Gender Enrollments in Engineering Education and the Future of Race and Gender Composition in Engineering Education. 255 APPENDICES Appendix A Data Query Interface Walkthrough. 269 Appendix B Schools Selected and Deleted for Each Study. 296 Appendix C Schools Selected and Deleted for Each Study.

369 xi ABSTRACT Phillips, Canek M., Purdue University, December 2016. Race, Class, and Gender in Engineering Education: A Quantitative Investigation of First Year Enrollment. Major Professor: Alice L. Pawley and Matthew W.

Research explanations for the disparity across both race and gender in engineering education has typically relied on a deficit model, whereby women and people of color lack the requisite knowledge or psychological characteristics that Whites and men have to become engineers in sufficient numbers. Instead of using a deficit model approach to explain gender and race disparity, in the three studies conducted for this dissertation, I approach gender and race disparity as the result of processes of segregation linked to the historic and on-going perpetuation of systemic sources of oppression in the United States. In the first study, I investigate the relationship between the odds ratios of women and men enrolled in first year US engineering programs and institutional characteristics. To do this, I employ linear regression to study data from the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to quantify relationships between odds ratios and institutional characteristics.

Results of the linear regression models showed significant relationships between the cost of universities and university selectivity and the odds ratios of women choosing engineering. I theorize how the results could be related to the operation of occupational xii segregation in engineering, particularly how class-based markers have been historically used by women to overcome gender-based segregation in engineering. In the second study, I examine longitudinal patterns of race, gender, and intersectional combinations of race and gender in enrollments of students in first year engineering programs across the United States (US). Using enrollment data from the American Society of Engineering Education and California Post-Secondary Education Commission, I construct measures of segregation to study how trends in the disparity of students by race could be related to increases in public school segregation nationally over the past 25 years.

I found that as public school segregation levels increased nationally, underrepresentation of Black and Hispanics and overrepresentation of White and Asian students has moved further toward the extremes in first year engineering programs compared to these groups’ shares of high school enrollment. I conclude that the study of public school segregation and its effect on racial disparity needs greater attention, as well as that the investigation I conducted serves as a beginning towards pushing back on deficit model explanations of race and gender disparity in engineering. In the third study, I return to the investigation of odds ratios and institutional characteristics, constructing odds ratios using ASEE and NCES data based on the odds of enrollment in first year engineering programs between Asian, Black, and Hispanic students compared to White students. I again quantify the relationships between odds ratios and institutional characteristics using linear regression models and discuss results using theory based in the perspective of occupational segregation.

In this case, results were inconclusive leading me to conclude that other variables that I did not consider, xiii such as the segregation levels of schools that students come from before enrollment, should be considered as I develop my own future study into the topic.1 Introduction In this dissertation, I use a critical perspective to explain the relationship between systems of oppression and the race, class, and gender composition of first year engineers across the US engineering schools. An extrinsic motivator of this research was the national focus given to the great disparities between racial minorities and women compared to Whites and men in the engineering profession that national agencies such as the National Science Foundation have worked to improve since the 1970s (Lucena, 2000). The disparity in present-day terms has been characterized by The National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (2015), which reported that in 2013 women comprised 14.8 percent of the share of the engineering profession, a proportion much smaller than their 2010 national proportion of 50.8% tallied by the Census US Census Bureau (2015). Similarly, according to the National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (2015) the Black minority formed 3.6% of the engineering profession compared to the national distribution of 12.6% marked by the Census US Census Bureau (2015).

Also, the National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (2015) counted the Hispanic minority as 6.6% of the profession and compared it to the number of Hispanics overall as 16.3% of the general 2 population recorded by the Census US Census Bureau (2015). While Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander engineers are also in the profession like Blacks and Hispanics, their numbers were not available for inspection.