Catalysts and Barriers Faced by Native American Engineering Undergraduate Students in Arizona
Publication: Journal of Civil Engineering Education
Volume 147, Issue 2
Abstract
Engineering schools have been unable to recruit and retain Native American students at the same rate as other students. Consequently, the Native American representation in engineering has been declining over the years in Arizona, even though the state ranks third in the number of degrees earned in the US by Native Americans. To understand the barriers and catalysts faced by Native American students in engineering, the authors interviewed 29 undergraduate Native American students from various engineering majors at three Arizona universities. The results were compared to factors identified by the Millennium Falcon Persistence Model. Family support and institutional support were mentioned by the students as catalysts to success in higher education, whereas themes related to tribal community support were brought up as barriers. Specifically, the students expressed concerns with the perceived lack of engineering jobs on the reservations and the negative environmental impact of the engineering industry. The authors discussed the implications of such findings to engineering schools and the role of the university in supporting Native American students’ desire to give back to their communities.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are proprietary or confidential in nature and may only be provided with restrictions (e.g., anonymized data). The interview protocol and the data interpretation report produced by ASU’s University Office of Evaluation and Educational Effectiveness are available from the corresponding author by request; the interview transcripts are confidential according to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Broadening Participation in Engineering program, EEC 1542731. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. The authors would also like to thank the University Office of Evaluation and Education Effectiveness (UOEEE) at Arizona State University for the help in coding and analyzing the data. The authors are also thankful for Dr. Jameson Lopez, who was generous with his time and agreed to a conversation about his model. Finally, the authors thank Dr. Bryan Brayboy and Jacob Moore for their invaluable feedback.
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Published In
Journal of Civil Engineering Education
Volume 147 • Issue 2 • April 2021
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© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 25, 2019
Accepted: Jun 29, 2020
Published online: Nov 19, 2020
Published in print: Apr 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Apr 19, 2021
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