Patching the pipeline

A Community College Approach To Increasing Women In Technological Fields

About GHSPFirst cohort gathered in 2003 on

Essex Campus

Currently 74 women have passed through the program

Now on all three CCBC campuses

Funded through an NSF-ATE grant

Uniqueness of GHSPInitial Project Team

Mathematics/Computer Science/IMMTWomen’s Studies

CCBC’s first attempt at targeting specifically women for technological career paths

Not much research on women and technology within the Community College

RecruitmentIn class recruitment for all CLM

classes

Mailings

Faculty Referrals

Accuplacer test scores

Application ProcessStreamlined over the years

One letter of recommendation required

An essay about their strengths and why they want to be part of the program

Signed participant contract

Demographic information

About our ScholarsAges from teens to 40’s

Multicultural

Single, Married, Divorced

Some have children and grandchildren

Both full-time and part-time students

MentoringEach student is assigned a mentor

Mentor/Mentee pairings based on career paths or common interest.

Each mentor has training through Maryland State Mentoring Resource Center

Mentor Directory available to all scholars

Contact MUST occur at least twice a semester

TutoringSchedules of scholars and multi-campus format

required alternate forms of tutoring

Online tutoring available in ALL math courses related to degrees and certificates in technology

Faculty tutor higher level courses

Faculty NOT paid, but it is part of their “Service to College”

Winter Bridge ProgramLearn History of Web

HTML

Create web pages about themselves and their mentors

After first bridge, scholars monitored discussion board

Due to scholars experience, no longer a requirement.

Summer Bridge ProgramChanges each summer

Technology related project

Learning Styles Assessment

Interviewing Workshops

Resume Writing Workshop

More Summer FunLunch with mentors

Roundtable sessions from industry professionals

Meet Math and IT faculty at CCBC

ResultsWe didn’t increase the overall numbers of women

in Technological majors of study

Undecided majors at CCBC tend to major in Nursing, Pharmacology and Business

Approximately 10% of students went to any given planned social activity

Accuplacer test scores not successful for recruitment

More Positive ResultsDecline in enrollment went from 52% in 2003

to only 7% in 2006

Support structure in place for women that were interested in technological careers

34% transfer to four-year schools (approx. 10% higher than the CCBC average)

Life after CCBC"The University of Maryland, Baltimore County

(UMBC) encourages Grace Hopper Scholars to consider transferring to UMBC, as they actively represent the best qualities of academic excellence.  In particular, the Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT) at UMBC welcomes women who have demonstrated leadership in the Grace Hopper Scholars program.  Through CWIT, Scholars can access additional doorways that lead to internships, study groups, and leadership opportunities at UMBC.”

 (C. Morrell, Executive Director of CWIT at UMBC)

What a Girl Wants …A peer group they can belong to

Social Interaction

Information on success of former scholars

Money

Things We LearnedFaculty within the Sciences greatly helped in

recruitment

Connecting with CSEMS program also helped

More scholarship money is needed for part-time students

Thank you to NSFThis material is based upon work supported

in part by the National Science Foundation under DUE-0302845. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.

Thank You!Donna Tupper

dtupper@ccbcmd.edu

Barbara Leithererbleitherer@ccbcmd.edu