Latina Resilience in Engineering: Strategies of Success in a Hispanic-Serving Institution (Poster 10)

• In Event: Constructing Educational Possibilities for Latin* Engineering Students: Call to Action for the Institutions and Systems That Serve Them

Abstract

Objectives or Purposes
The objective of this study is to understand what strategies successful undergraduate Latina engineering implement and what they experience as they navigate a Texas HSI. Challenges encountered by Latinas in engineering are recognized in the literature (Garriott et al., 2019; Ong et al., 2020). This study utilizes a resilience model based on community cultural wealth because it largely applies an asset-based approach in the analyses of such success strategies. The purpose of this study is to inform leadership, particularly those working within engineering majors, of Latina resilience or strategies as this information can inform on how to tackle retention issues, particularly through an asset-based approach.

Perspective(s) or Theoretical Framework
This study utilized the Latina/e/o resilience model (Author, 2020) which centers the individual’s Latine culture and its interaction with five contexts (college, home, school, community, and workplace). The framework considers Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth and utilizes an asset-based approach to counter historically deficit approaches to underrepresented groups, such as those in STEM fields.

Method and Data Sources
Qualitative methodology was utilized. Individual interviews of junior and senior (and thus persisting) Latina undergraduates pursuing engineering majors were conducted. Transcribed interviews were coded using inductive (emerging codes) and deductive (resilience model contexts as preliminary codes) approaches. Content analysis and the constant comparative method were used (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

Findings
Participants frequently reported direct support from peer networks, particularly through Latine student organizations. These relationships nourished their resilience through social support and provided a space to enhance academic performance. Additional support, though to a much lesser degree, was provided from faculty and staff. Family influence through encouragement and motivation was also key to Latina persistence in engineering, from social to financial support. Participants also described engineering as a responsible career choice with social challenges along the way. Some of these challenges reported were a highly competitive and exclusive environment, as well as racialized and gendered experiences (an interesting finding for this diverse HSI). Nonetheless, participants framed obstacles as successful challenges, suggesting that resilience played a role in their persistence in higher education.

Scholarly Significance
STEM fields such as engineering not only offer great career opportunities, but they are also fields in need of more people and greater diverse experience and expertise. This study furthers the understanding of a student population (Latinas) that is growing in the U.S. but currently is underrepresented in engineering.

Authors

• Elsa M. Gonzalez, Texas A&M University

• Emma Claudia Perez, Texas A&M University