Voices of Successful Women Advanced Technological Education Graduates: Counternarratives

• In Event: Disclosing Women Voices Around STEM Fields and Applied Uses

Abstract

Only 26 percent of graduates earning sub-baccalaureate degrees from Advanced Technological Education (ATE) programs are women, which declined from 31% since 2006. Funded by the National Science Foundation, ATE programs focus on training technicians in advanced technology disciplines critical to the economic and domestic security of the United States. This qualitative research study focused on women’s experiences in ATE programs and the six women participants shared four sources of support: STEM identity, patchwork of support, microaffirmations, and resilience. These results are significant because of the dearth of research on women earning sub-baccalaureate degrees from ATE programs. By understanding the successes of women in ATE, this study fills a critical gap in research on women and STEM education.

Authors

• Courtney Rudd Paulger, WestEd

• Stephanie L. Sisk-Hilton, San Francisco State University

• Norena Norton Badway, University of the Pacific