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From classrooms to careers: an exploration of how undergraduate Latina engineering students achieve their post-baccalaureate
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From classrooms to careers: an exploration of how undergraduate Latina engineering students achieve their post-baccalaureate
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Content
FROM CLASSROOMS TO CAREERS: AN EXPLORATION OF HOW UNDERGRADUATE
LATINA ENGINEERING STUDENTS ACHIEVE THEIR POST-BACCALAUREATE
GOALS
by
Christina Mireles Martin
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2023
Copyright 2023 Christina Mireles Martin
ii
DEDICATION
To the Black, Indigenous, and Latinx women striving to be scholars, social justice warriors, and
institutional change agents for a more inclusive world; the physical, emotional, and mental labor
of this work is dedicated to you. You are seen, you are valued, you belong.
To my family, I dedicate this work and this achievement to you. It would not have been possible
without you. To my parents, you were my first source of capital, and the wealth of love and
support you have shared with me has allowed me to preserve, thrive, and succeed. To my sisters,
we are of one mind, heart, and soul, and we did this together. To my husband, you kept me
whole when I frayed, and finally, to my children. Elena, Isaiah, and Alma, may this work
demonstrate that I am your champion and may it validate that you are loved, seen, and belong in
this world.
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to first acknowledge my chair, Dr. Patricia Tobey. Her unwavering support
and dedication to this work, her ability to see me as a whole person with intersecting identities,
and her encouragement made this possible. I am incredibly grateful and cannot thank her enough
for her patience, support, and insights. I first learned about the world of engineering education
from Dr. Anthony Maddox. His work inspired me to look at the intersection of STEM students,
their identities, and their belonging. I want to acknowledge that I would not have started down
this road were it not for his inspiration. Finally, to the third member of my committee, Dr.
Martha Encisco, I have learned about the power of Latinas. She is an agent of change, she is a
scholar, she is authentically herself, and she inspired me to dare to want more for myself. Thank
you for giving me a dream.
Dr. Terri Thomas was my first cheerleader in Rossier. She was the kind voice of support,
the push of encouragement, and warm friendship I needed to get through my coursework. I
would not have made it through my first year without her, and I am endlessly grateful to her.
I could not have completed this without the unwavering support of my friends and
colleagues, Traci Thomas Navarro, Sheryl Koutsis, Miguel Anzelmetti, Ally Hong, and Merci
Willard. Their friendship has been the rock I stabilized on during waves of doubt.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge my family, to whom this entire work is dedicated.
The support and encouragement of my parents and siblings made this process possible. They
provided me with childcare, inspiring words, and the push to keep going when I staggered. A
special thank you to my husband, Jason, who had faith in me when I lost faith in myself, and to
my children, who have been with me through every step of this journey. Elena, Isaiah, and Alma,
I acknowledge that as we are of one heart, this work is yours as much as it is my own.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... vi
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... vi
Chapter One: Overview of the Study ...............................................................................................1
Background of the Problem .................................................................................................4
Statement of the Problem .....................................................................................................5
Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................................7
Significance of the Study .....................................................................................................9
Limitations .........................................................................................................................10
Definition of Terms............................................................................................................11
Chapter Summary ..............................................................................................................12
Chapter Two: Review of Literature ...............................................................................................13
Latino/as in Higher Education and STEM .........................................................................14
Social Capital and Cultural Capital....................................................................................18
Characteristics of URMs ....................................................................................................23
Co-Curricular Involvement ................................................................................................27
Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................32
Chapter Summary ..............................................................................................................36
Chapter Three: Methodology .........................................................................................................39
Sample and Population ......................................................................................................41
Instrumentation ..................................................................................................................43
Data Collection ..................................................................................................................44
Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................45
Chapter Summary ..............................................................................................................45
v
Chapter Four: Findings ..................................................................................................................46
Interviewee Demographics and Biographies .....................................................................46
SHPE Chapter at PRU .......................................................................................................56
Data Collection and Analysis.............................................................................................56
Review of Findings ............................................................................................................57
Summary ............................................................................................................................81
Chapter Five: Discussion and Recommendations..........................................................................82
Research Question .............................................................................................................82
Significance of the Study ...................................................................................................83
Methodology ......................................................................................................................83
Discussion of the Findings .................................................................................................84
Implications for Practice ....................................................................................................93
Implication for Institutional Leadership ............................................................................94
Recommendations for Practice ..........................................................................................96
Further Research ................................................................................................................98
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................100
References ....................................................................................................................................101
Appendix A: Interview Protocol ..................................................................................................110
Appendix B: Research Matrix .....................................................................................................114
Appendix C: Document Review Protocol ....................................................................................115
Appendix D: Study Information Sheet ........................................................................................116
vi
ABSTRACT
This study explored how participation in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)
supports Latina undergraduate engineering students’ ability to achieve their post-baccalaureate
professional or academic goals. Using Community and Cultural Wealth (CCW) as a theoretical
framework, a qualitative study was conducted to determine the ways participation in SHPE help
sustain the six forms of CCW. The study also examined how students use their CCW capital to
achieve their professional or academic goals after graduation in the form of pursuing graduate
school or obtaining professional engineering roles. The findings from this revealed that the six
forms of CCW; aspirational, familial, social, navigational, resistant, and language; are all
sustained by the relationships, activities, and support services offered through student
involvement in SHPE. Two additional themes of institutional agents and peer mentorships were
explored as the mechanisms through which the forms of capital are sustained and built upon.
This case study yielded insights for student affairs practitioners working with engineering
students to better support Latina engineering students in attending graduate school or securing
professional positions upon degree completion, contributing to a national effort to further
diversify the engineering profession in the United States.
Keywords: Engineering education, Community and Cultural Wealth, Social Capital,
identity, STEM, engineering, Latina, persistence, student development, student involvement
1
CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
This case study explored the experiences of undergraduate Latina engineering students at
a mid-sized Private Research University (PRU, a pseudonym). This chapter will provide an
overview of the role that engineers hold in the U.S. workforce, and the current state of diverse
representation in the engineering workforce and the importance of continued efforts to further
diversify the field. A background of the limited diversity of professional engineers will be
provided, including a discussion on the limited diverse representation of ethnic minority college
students studying engineering in the United States. This background will provide context for the
statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, and the study’s significance, also described in
this chapter. The chapter will conclude with a review of the case study’s limitations and
delimitations, as well as a list of defined terms used in this dissertation.
The world has become smaller with fewer boundaries because of the rapid growth of
technology and globalization occurring in the last century (Fisher, 2008). As a result of
industrialization, innovation, and the technology boom, the world is experiencing unprecedented
globalization, connecting communities in new ways (Fisher, 2008). The outcome is a global
society aware of and responsible for the social injustices that occur near and far, as well as for
the stewardship of the world around us. Our society is impacted daily by the rapid growth of
technology as well as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines, which are
well-positioned to affect the most mundane tasks to address large societal dilemmas (Wang &
Lake, 2021). Global challenges of poverty, access to clean water, healthcare, and cyber security
have become magnified with more awareness and understanding of these issues than ever before
(Bugliarello, 2005). The National Academy of Engineering argued that engineers are well-
positioned to address these challenges (Fisher, 2008). Through interdisciplinary education and
2
training to look for pioneering advances and solutions to some of the world’s most complex
problems, engineers can create beneficial impacts in their local and global communities.
According to the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists
(2021), a professional engineer is
[a] person engaged in the professional practice of rending service or creative work
requiring education, training and experience in engineering sciences and the application
of special knowledge of the mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences in such
professional or creative work as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning or
design of public or private utilities, structures, machines, processes, circuits, buildings,
equipment or projects, and supervision of construction for the purpose of securing
compliance with specifications and design for any such work. (para. 2)
As a profession, engineers are committed to the facilitation of “sustaining a nation with a vibrant
economy, good health, security, and a good quality of life” (Vest, 2011, p. 6). As a nation, the
United States recognizes the importance of this work and made bipartisan congressional efforts
to identify key actions that the federal government should take to “enhance the science
technology enterprise so that the United States can successfully compete, prosper, and be secure
in the 21st century” (Vest, 2011, p. 6). Despite engineers’ vital role in society, the United States
is behind global industry leaders such as India, Asia, or European countries in producing
professional engineers (Bugliarello, 2005; Vest, 2011). International job markets are seeing an
increasing growth of engineers as their economies host more accessible opportunities for them to
enter the workforce, contribute to breakthroughs in the field, and avoid the increasingly arduous
process of navigating immigration policies for foreign-born workers in the United States.
3
The United States’ inability to maintain competitive practitioners in engineering will
leave us behind and out of a globalized market that is seeing a rise in innovation and
entrepreneurship designed to address societal concerns of health, wellness, and national security
(Fisher, 2008). Our inability to produce professionals in this field is rooted in our education
system. Beginning in elementary and secondary education, school systems are inadequately
introducing students to STEM subjects and failing to prepare students for the rigorous
coursework of these disciplines in postsecondary education (Vest, 2011). The hardest hit by
these gaps in education are students in under-resourced school districts, often underrepresented
minorities (URMs). Despite the trend of population growth in these communities, these students
are not adequately prepared for careers in science and engineering. As a result, we see small
numbers of underrepresented minority students, specifically African Americans and Latinos,
complete college degrees in engineering.
Despite increasing efforts on behalf of education administrators, teachers, and even
government support, our education pipeline in STEM careers still largely excludes URMs (Wang
& Lake, 2021). With a limited number of URMs completing engineering degrees, there is little
diversity among engineers entering the professional workforce, keeping the profession from
diversifying in terms of gender and ethnicity. Engineering is a gateway to addressing new and
innovative solutions in a growing, complex, global community. Studies on the effectiveness of
diverse teams affirm that they outperform homogenous work groups with a great likelihood of
developing strategic solutions to complex problem-solving (Hong & Page, 2004). Improving
inclusivity in STEM industries will yield more effective and competitive breakthroughs
benefiting the national and global economy. This case study explored the experiences of a group
of URM students through the lens of their campus engagement to better understand how being
4
involved in co-curricular programs in college supports their ability to attain degrees and enter the
professional engineering workforce.
Background of the Problem
According to the American Society of Engineering Education, the total number of
bachelor’s degrees awarded in engineering in 2019 was 144,818. Black students represented less
than 5% of those degrees, and Latinx students accounted for 12% of degrees earned across the
country that year (American Society for Engineering Education [ASEE], 2021). The same study
reported that women earned 22% of bachelor's degrees earned in engineering (ASEE, 2021).
Women are underrepresented in the engineering workforce as well. In 2015, only 1.6% of
women were reported as having careers in this field; while that number has grown, they remain
few (National Student Clearing House Research Center, 2015). As the demographics of our
population continue to change with the increasing growth of African American and Latino
communities, the number of professional engineers and the quality of production will continue to
drop if the profession fails to find ways to promote and integrate URMs in the field.
For the United States to stay competitive and relevant in a global market where science
and technology are booming, a more deliberate effort must be made to foster diversity in the
engineering workforce. As we strive to continue excelling in invention, pursuing free enterprise,
and contributing to the global solutions of our changing world, increasing the diversity and
inclusion of underrepresented populations in engineering is critical. Vest (2011) and the National
Academy of Engineering argued the following:
The diversity and quantity of the engineering workforce are directly related to its quality.
Research clearly shows that in industry and other organization settings, teams of
5
individuals from diverse backgrounds consistently arrive at better solutions to problems
and challenges than homogeneous teams. (p. 7)
With globalization, more light has been shed on the severity of the challenges we face in our
global community. The diversity of the engineers working to solve those problems increases the
likelihood of our ability to preserve and provide a valuable quality of life. Increasing the
diversity of engineers in the United States begins with understanding and addressing the barriers
to entry URMs face in their educational journeys.
Statement of the Problem
Both women and URM, specifically African Americans and Latinos, have been
historically underrepresented in engineering disciplines. Latinas continue to complete bachelor’s
degrees in engineering in small numbers despite their growing representation in our population;
only about half who enter college as declared engineering students earn that degree. In 2012 only
9.2% of bachelor’s degrees awarded in STEM fields, in general, went to Latinas (National
Center for Educational Statistics, 2013), a much smaller number compared to those bachelor’s
degrees awarded to African American, White, and Asian women in STEM (Gándara, 2015). In
2015, Latinas represented 7% of the workforce in engineering (National Science Foundation
[NSF], 2017). When the Latino population is growing in this country, Latinas with bachelor’s
degrees still earn significantly less than the average income for all women with the same level of
education and less than Latino males with the same degrees (Gándara, 2015). In a field where the
earning potential is significant, the opportunity for community impact is invaluable, and there are
pathways for upward mobility, Latinas must be supported in their pursuits of engineering
degrees.
6
Thus far, practitioners and scholars continue to focus on increasing the inclusion of these
underrepresented groups in STEM from a deficit perspective (Harper, 2010). Significant effort
has been made to determine why these students are underrepresented in these disciplines by
looking at the gaps in their achievement and disparities in the resources offered. “As such, we
know little about those students, who despite all that we know about what complicates and
undermines achievement for their particular racial groups, manage to successfully navigate their
ways to college and through the STEM postsecondary pipeline” (Harper, 2010, p. 64). Not
enough is known or understood about Latinas’ college experiences to reach degree completion in
engineering or their destinations in their post-baccalaureate lives. Equipping practitioners to
support these students in their academic and professional aspirations requires a better
understanding of successful Latinas. Latina students earn bachelor’s degrees in engineering at a
lower rate than their proportional representation in higher education and the general U.S.
population (Gándara, 2015; National Center for Educational Statistics, 2013).
More needs to be understood about the college experiences of Latinas who earn
engineering degrees. Student affairs practitioners and those who work in student support services
have insufficient knowledge about what makes undergraduate Latinas successful. With more
information about what helped these students thrive in the college environment and how those
tools helped them attain their goals after college, higher education practitioners can do more to
support Latinas pursuing engineering degrees and professions, particularly those who work in the
areas of cultural/diversity centers, academic support services, and STEM programming. With
better knowledge about the tools and resources that help these students succeed, practitioners can
increase access to those resources and support students through degree completion and post-
baccalaureate employment or graduate studies.
7
Purpose of the Study
This study sought to understand the experiences of undergraduate Latina engineering
students who completed or were close to completing degree programs. By examining the
experiences and factors that supported these students’ persistence to degree completion, this
study sought insight into how to widen academic support for more URM students and increase
persistence and degree attainment. Using community cultural wealth (CCW) theory as a
framework, the six forms of cultural capital offered by Yosso (2005) were used to gain insight
into Latina students’ experiences. Specifically, this case study investigated how participation in
the student organization SHPE supported undergraduate Latinas’ ability to thrive, reach degree
completion, and meet their post-baccalaureate goals in either employment or continued
education. By understanding the experiences of Latinas who succeeded in their academic
pursuits, higher education practitioners can be more informed about the practices they should
increase and build on to support Latina engineering students.
Despite the wide scope of literature on the Latino student experience, few studies have
utilized an assets- or strengths-based perspective to assess academic and professional success.
Through work on CCW, Yosso (2005) offered a counter-response to URMs’ widely accepted
social and cultural capital gaps by describing six forms of more progressive capital inherent in
URM communities. Utilizing CCW as a theoretical framework to describe Latina engineering
undergraduates’ experiences, new insights can be gained from these students’ success in and
after college.
Extensive studies have linked the benefits of student involvement with various forms of
student success and thriving, including persistence, self-efficacy, and degree completion
(Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). For Latino students, studies have found that more capital is
8
sustained and derived from meaningful peer-to-peer interactions than any institutional program,
service, or intervention (Pérez et al., 2017). The peer-to-peer engagement in co-curricular
involvement aligns with Astin’s (1999) widely accepted involvement theory that the more
involved a student becomes, the greater their learning and personal development. Given the
critical role student organizations play in Latino student life, this case study explored student
success through the lens of campus involvement. Higher education practitioners are aware that
involvement in student organizations can yield important benefits for a student’s academic
experience; however, research seldom disaggregates these experiences by ethnicity and gender,
and few studies draw connections between campus involvement and sustained sociocultural
capital.
Using qualitative methods, a strong effort was made to understand how participation in
these types of student organizations helped Latina students achieve their academic and career
aspirations, highlighting how SHPE sustained or fostered the development of capital in the forms
outlined by CCW theory. As this study aimed to describe, understand, and interpret these
students’ experiences based on the information they shared, an interpretive or constructivist
approach to qualitative research was applied (Merriam, 2009). This case study addressed a
specific research question: How does participation in the Society of Hispanic Professional
Engineers by undergraduate Latinas in engineering support their ability to achieve their post-
baccalaureate academic or career aspirations?
Through semi-structured interviews and a review of the organization’s website and other
published statements, themes were derived to explain how SHPE involvement supported
academic endeavors and helped to reach professional goals. This study’s goal was to identify
specific ways the function and organization of SHPE sustain sociocultural capital for Latina
9
students to enable them to persist to degree completion and meet their post-baccalaureate goals.
By fostering socio-cultural capital in the forms Yosso (2005) described, I believed that SHPE
equipped and directly influenced students’ ability to reach their professional career trajectories.
Significance of the Study
The discourse around the Latinx student experience does not currently emphasize the
effectiveness of nurturing the development of an individual’s assets and strengths. Practitioners
often expend time and energy on examining achievement gaps or seeking to identify at-risk
populations in need of interventions. For reasons of stereotype threat, impostor syndrome
(Packard & Fortenberry, 2015), and other challenges that can taint self-concept and academic
experience, it is critical that we promote a shift in perspective in higher education. It is the hope
that this case study will provide insight into alternative ways to think about Latina students as
well as services and programs designed for their participation and support. Using student
involvement experience as the cornerstone of their developmental journey, this case study drew
connections between student organizations as sources of sociocultural capital and the significant
role that type of engagement plays in a student thriving in their academic environment. This is
based on literature that validates the importance of engagement in student organizations in a
student’s ability to thrive (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Pérez et al., 2017).
As the American labor market becomes more competitive, graduating well-rounded
engineers prepared with technical, collaborative, and critical thinking skills is essential to help
graduates make use of their degrees. The additional skills students gain from becoming involved
on campus provide them the competitive edge necessary for either continuing in academia in
master’s or Ph. D. programs or securing professional careers upon graduating. This case study
sheds light on how co-curricular involvement in student organizations aligned with a student’s
10
academic and professional goals can support goal attainment. The SHPE supports students
through their intersecting identities: Latino, engineer, student, and others. This organization
strives to support students’ academic, professional, and personal development. The multi-
dimensional approach to support helps build students’ capacity, interest, and sense of belonging
(Packard & Fortenberry, 2015; Pérez et al., 2017; Revelo & Baber, 2018). This organization’s
best practices and successes were identified and applied to the work that minority engineering
programs, academic engagement, or student involvement programs and practitioners seek to
accomplish. These best practices and findings also informed how faculty interact with students
and informed how institutions support underrepresented female engineers. Practitioners and
faculty can support students in helping them identify their capital and develop those assets into
strengths they can apply to academic and professional goals.
Limitations
As a qualitative study, the findings were intended to be transferable but not necessarily
generalizable. The small sample provided a deep, rich narrative of the participants’ experiences.
Using this data and current research, inferences were made about services and interventions that
could encourage these students’ degree completion and employment. However, individual
program assessment would be necessary. The findings of this research were intended to expand
our knowledge and understanding of these students’ experiences. Individual program assessment,
first destination data collection, and direct institutional research will inform the effectiveness of
specific programs and services.
Furthermore, this study’s site also limits its generalizability. The institution’s enrollment
of female undergraduates in engineering is above the national average, as is its enrollment of
URMs at a predominately White institution. Moreover, it is a high-selective, Research-1 private
11
school. These combined factors create a unique student experience that is not necessarily
generalizable across populations. The insights gained through personal narratives, however, can
provide useful foundations of understanding and insights for areas of further research.
Definition of Terms
The terms, acronyms, and phrases commonly used throughout this dissertation are listed
and defined in the following sections.
Latino/a(s) refers to ethnic minorities of Latin American origin or descent (Schut, 2021),
with Latino as the masculine form including men and women, or Latina specifically referring to
women.
Latinx is a term that describes the Latino/a community from a gender-inclusive lens.
(Torres, 2018).
Predominantly White institution (PWI) is a term used to describe a college or university
where the ethnic make-up of White students accounts for 50% or greater of student enrollment
(Jenkins, 2009).
Professional engineer refers to individuals employed in the professional practice of
engineering or engineering-related work that requires education, training, experience, and/or
license or certifications of special knowledge of math, science, and engineering (Board for
Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists, 2021).
Student affairs practitioner(s) refers to the staff employed at a college or university
working in the areas of student services in non-faculty positions (Taub & McEwen, 2006).
Underrepresented minority (URM) is used to describe ethnically minoritized populations
that have been historically underrepresented in education and engineering. Specifically, in this
study, the phrase describes Black and Latinx populations.
12
Chapter Summary
The purpose of this chapter was to provide context for the importance of diversifying the
professional engineering industry and, in particular, emphasize the underrepresentation of
Latinas earning bachelor’s degrees in this field and entering the workforce. A summary of terms
found in the dissertation was included as well as the limitations of the study. Chapter Two will
review the literature on the themes explored in this dissertation and provide the frameworks used
to structure the study. Chapter Three presents a review of the methodological approach used to
conduct the study and how the data were analyzed. Chapter four offers a review of the findings
from the interviews and document review. The dissertation concludes with Chapter Five,
offering a discussion and interpretation of the findings, their implications for practice, and
recommendations for future research and practitioners working in student services in higher
education.
13
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
The academic experiences of Latino/a students have been long studied, beginning with
early education through the educational pipeline to degree completion. Such studies have
emphasized the critical problem of Latinos’ underrepresentation in higher education, STEM
studies, and professional industries. These problems are often attributed to leaks in the
educational pipeline or gaps Latinos bring to the educational environment (Wang & Lake, 2021).
This review of literature examines the experiences of URMs in higher education, sociocultural
capital theory as a historically utilized lens in understanding those experiences (Harper, 2010),
the role of student organization involvement in URM student success (Pascarella & Terenzini,
2005), and the use of CCW theory as an opportunity to reframe URM student experience from an
assets-based perspective (Yosso, 2005).
This literature review will explore what is currently understood about the Latino student
experience in higher education and STEM. This review provides a foundational understanding of
the significance of the study and Latinos’ personal experiences in higher education. Social and
cultural capital theory will be explored as these have been used to explain these experiences.
Social and Cultural Capital theory applied to the Latino student experience still leaves much
unknown about how students succeed and does not answer for these students’ unique
characteristics. Literature on the characteristics attributed to URM students’ ability to succeed
will also be explored. These characteristics are the foundation of the forms of capital described
by Yosso (2005) in the CCW framework. The purpose of this case study was to connect Latina
students’ co-curricular involvement and their ability to sustain their forms of cultural capital.
This review of literature includes an exploration of studies on co-curricular student involvement,
its role in student success, and how the URM ethnic identity affects co-curricular involvement.
14
This chapter concludes with a review of Yosso’s (2005) CCW theory as a relevant theoretical
framework for this case study.
Latino/as in Higher Education and STEM
Although the Latino community is growing exponentially in the United States, Latinos
continue to be underrepresented in various sects of society. They are underrepresented in higher
education, particularly at 4-year institutions, and Latinos who enroll in college do not graduate at
the same rate as majority students (National Student Clearing House Research Center, 2015). As
a result, there are fewer Latinos represented in professional industries. Disaggregating the
research further, few Latinas complete bachelor’s degrees, and fewer enter the professional
workforce. Both women and URMs, specifically African Americans and Latinos, have been
historically underrepresented in the engineering disciplines (National Student Clearing House
Research Center, 2015).
Latinas, in particular, continue to complete bachelor’s degrees in engineering in small
numbers despite their growing representation in our population. Only about half who enter
college as declared engineering students earn that degree. In 2012 only 9.2% of bachelor’s
degrees awarded in a STEM field went to Latinas (National Center for Educational Statistics,
2013), a much smaller number compared to bachelor’s degrees awarded to African American,
White, and Asian women in STEM (Gándara, 2015).
While the experience of Latinas in the education pipeline is a critical component of
understanding Latinas in higher education, they are less likely to earn a STEM degree, despite
performing better than Latino males in STEM coursework (Harper, 2010). In general, the
number of Latino males and females enrolling in college is low; even lower is the number
enrolling in 4-year colleges or universities (Solórzano et al., 2005). Latino students are
15
overrepresented in community colleges, with an increased risk of not completing a bachelor’s
degree due to a lack of transfer culture (Solórzano et al., 2005).
In STEM majors, Latinos often face challenges in their academic preparation (National
Science Foundation, 2009). Nationally, great attention has been given to preparing URMs in
STEM. National agencies, government offices, and education administrators have joined efforts
in various committees and studies to examine places for improvement in the educational pipeline
of K–12 to college, with special attention to science, math, and technology. Two key findings
have emerged in this area over the last several years. The first is that an important foundation in
the K–12 stage of a student’s academic career will influence their future academic trajectory, and
the leaks in that pipeline must be repaired. The second is that special attention must be given to
the recruitment, retention, and support of URMs in STEM degree programs (National Academy
of Sciences, 2011).
Interventions dedicated to repairing leaks in the STEM education pipeline include
curriculum development, teacher support, and access to resources. Evidence in K–12 student
performance suggests an achievement gap between Latino students and White, majority students
(Gándara, 2006; Nora & Crisp, 2009). As a result, they are less academically prepared than their
peers for high school and, subsequently, college. Latino students are less likely to participate in
advanced placement courses, drop out at a higher rate, and underperform in math and science
courses (Gándara, 2006; Gándara & Contreras, 2009; National Science Board, 2014). These
present significant obstacles that Latino students must overcome. Those who transition to college
often enter underprepared for the transition (Stephens et al., 2012).
As a result of Latino students’ low enrollment and retention, influencers of a student’s
persistence have gained national attention, with a specific emphasis on the study of URMs’
16
persistence in STEM. Self-efficacy and capacity are significant influencers of persistence in
STEM (Dawson, 2014; Packard & Fortenberry, 2015). A student’s sense of belonging and
institutional climate also contribute to persistence. Studies have found that Latino students face
unique challenges due to the combination of their cultural background and prior K–12
experience or high school preparation (Cole & Espinoza, 2008; May & Chubin, 2003). In
addition, markers of URM retention in STEM have also been well studied, although many
studies do not disaggregate their results by ethnicity. Institutional climate has been largely
credited with retention abilities (Seymour & Hewitt, 1997; Tsui, 2007). Hispanic-serving
institutions have been found to more successfully support students in degree attainment, likely
for their ability to address the factors that influence persistence, including capacity, interest, and
belongingness (Crisp et al., 2009; Packard & Fortenberry, 2015).
Beyond culture, multitudes of factors influence Latino student persistence. Institutional
culture, academic department climate, and psychosocial factors have an important role in a
student’s ability to persist (Nora & Crisp, 2009; Packard & Fortenberry, 2015). In some cases,
background and culture can support a student’s educational aspirations. The familial structure
can offer emotional support and encouragement or influence personal aspirations and goals.
Students’ experiences before entering higher education can greatly influence how they
experience their new academic landscape. Personal experiences can be celebrated and framed as
achievements, assets, and personal successes (Revelo & Baber, 2018). Students have performed
better academically, persisted, and earned degrees in these cases. In other cases, students have
struggled with language barriers, assumptions about their abilities, access to resources, limited
financial support, or family structures that resulted in heavy burdens on them. Lack of adequate
support to reframe how a student experienced those challenges hinders persistence.
17
Understanding the factors influencing Latina engineers’ persistence is essential in ensuring they
reach degree completion. Without earning degrees in engineering, Latinas will not be qualified to
enter the workforce in that field, limiting the industry’s ability to diversify ethnically and by
gender.
Recent STEM studies have looked at the experiences of URMs pursuing engineering.
This discipline is unique within the STEM majors because it can directly lead to specific
professional trajectories. As a result, the ability of URMs to succeed in engineering is significant
as it can improve ethnic minorities’ representation in the workforce. There is increasing research
being done to better understand these students’ aggregated and disaggregated experiences.
Within some Latino ethnic groups, specifically, studies have found that engineering is regarded
as equally valuable or prestigious as a medical doctor (Camacho & Lord, 2011). As a result,
many studies have demonstrated that, among STEM degrees, Latino students pursue this
discipline more frequently, and many enter their programs with high aspirations in the industry
(Camacho & Lord, 2011; Gándara & Contreras, 2009).
The preparation of the next generation of engineers is commonly referred to as
engineering education. The field has a long history in our country, dating to the late 1800s,
during a time of growth in American higher education (ASEE, 2021). In recent years, the
pedagogy of this education has shifted with closer looks at increasing URM students’ access to
the profession. In general, various institutional efforts and interventions have been credited for
students’ increased recruitment, retention, and completion; however, URM students’ specific
experiences have also been studied. Self-efficacy, K–12 college preparation, campus climate and
culture, and staff/faculty engagement have all been credited with supporting URM students
(Brown, 2002; Camacho & Lord, 2013; Ong et al., 2011; Packard & Fortenberry, 2015).
18
Experiences in and out of the classroom are simultaneously valuable in students’ persistence and
degree completion. For instance, institutions with minority engineering programs, formalized
program support such as mentorships, summer programs, or active student organizations are
better equipped to support URM students (May & Chubin, 2003; Packard & Fortenberry, 2015;
Tsui, 2007). A deeper look at these interventions with respect to specific ethnic and gender
influences can further help higher education practitioners understand the influencers of success
for URM students.
While Latinas are generally underrepresented in higher education, there is an upward
trend in their degree attainment; however, most of their degrees are not conferred in engineering,
science, or math (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). The persistence of URMs is well studied
in higher education, but a critical gap exists in the disaggregated study of students’ experiences
by ethnicity and gender. These intersecting identities are salient parts of students’ experiences
and greatly influence their lives. Latinos, in particular, are multi-ethnic, and disaggregated
studies have demonstrated cultural differences in how students perceive or approach education
(Solórzano et al., 2005). For instance, all Latino groups have been found to have college
aspirations, but there are distinct differences across ethnic groups. In some communities, those
aspirations or familiar support are stronger than others (Solórzano et al., 2005). Social capital
and cultural capital theory provide frameworks for better understanding the nuanced academic
and personal experience of URM students navigating educational systems. These theories offer
insight that explains the gaps in URMs’ higher education achievement.
Social Capital and Cultural Capital
The underrepresentation of URM students in higher education is well-studied, as are the
challenges they face in education. There is consensus that the educational pipeline to higher
19
education for URMs is leaky, resulting in students dropping out. In other words, at different
stages in their educational journeys, minority students face challenges and barriers that keep
them from pursuing a baccalaureate degree. Many who enrolled in college must navigate
challenges to persistence; some carried over from their high school experiences. For many
URMs, long-standing institutional policies and structures in the educational environment are the
barriers and obstacles they have had to overcome. The frameworks and structures on which
educational environments are developed are based on cultural norms that inherently exclude
URM communities’ needs, life experiences, and cultural norms (Bourdieu, 1986). As a result,
social capital and cultural capital theory would argue that URMs arrive in higher education
despite sociocultural gaps and face obstacles and challenges to persistence that their counterparts
do not.
Social capital and cultural capital theory seek to explain the cultural mismatch URM
students face in the education pipeline, often resulting in obstacles and barriers to completion
(Stephens et al., 2012). While not interchangeable, social capital and cultural capital are closely
related, difficult to disaggregate in many studies, and often coupled when discussing URM
students (Strayhorn, 2010). Defined, social capital refers to the relationships, personal networks,
and personal connections a person collects or inherits through familial connections or class status
(Bourdieu, 1986). Similar to the principles of economic capital, social capital is cumulative, can
produce profits to benefit its holders, result in tangible resources, and be passed down (Bourdieu,
1986; Stanton-Salazar, 1997). In the same way that more-privileged communities benefit from
economic capital, social capital is perpetuated in the cycle of power and privilege. Similarly,
cultural capital is acquired from one’s circumstances and environment and refers to figurative
forms of wealth, knowledge, and norms (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977).
20
Similar to social capital, cultural capital is greatly influenced by an individual’s family
structure, race or ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (Swartz, 1997). In a society where,
majority culture has influenced policy, structure, and bureaucratic systems, sociocultural capital
informs societal norms, practices, and functions (Bourdieu, 1986; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977;
Swartz, 1997; Wells, 2008a, 2008b). In the United States, this is the representation of White
Americans as the majority culture where URMs are expected to assimilate to succeed and
survive (Jost, Whitfield, & Jost, 2005). White Americans are afforded privileges based on race
and class that URMs are not always able to access. As a result, underrepresented communities
are often left under-resourced as they fall between the cracks of societal social services. In
underrepresented communities, resources such as schools continue to be under-resourced and
understaffed, with teachers not equipped with the tools to help students break these cycles
(Stanton-Salazar, 1997; Vest, 2011). As a result, those who are privileged are more likely to pass
through the educational pipeline to higher education, attain degrees, and more swiftly move into
their professions, perpetuating and preserving their sociocultural wealth and privilege (Jost et al.,
2005). Conversely, those without social and cultural capital are less likely to reach degree
attainment and meet their professional aspirations, making it difficult to break cycles of
oppression and gain upward social mobility (Wells, 2008a, 2008b).
A student’s capital has become an integral part of the discourse for college student
success. It offers a clear descriptor and tangible language for URMs’ university experiences after
overcoming great obstacles to enroll in college and still struggling to persist in the academic
environment. Using this widely accepted framework, the lack of social capital Latinas inherit and
fail to gain in their academic preparation for college leaves them unprepared to succeed in the
STEM fields. They are generally not prepared academically for the rigor of their coursework, fail
21
to have a fundamental understanding of cross-disciplinary education that comprises engineering
(Vest, 2011), and often lack the social capital to obtain internships and hands-on co-curricular
professional development opportunities during college. Empirical evidence demonstrates that
students with less capital have a lower probability of persistence and that Latino students,
compared to students of other races and ethnicities, have the least amount of social and cultural
capital upon entry (Strayhorn, 2010; Wells, 2008a, 2008b). A good understanding of
sociocultural capital is a critical aspect of understanding and supporting URM students, given the
significant role it plays in students’ academic achievement (Strayhorn, 2010).
While many studies offer evidence of a gap between White and URM students’
sociocultural capital, there is also evidence that capital can be gained in the college environment.
By becoming involved with campus programs, services, and interventions, URM students can
build sociocultural capital and develop tools to support persistence and degree completion
(Nuñez, 2009; Ovink & Veazey, 2011; Sandoval-Lucero et al., 2014; Strayhorn, 2010; Wells,
2008a, 2008b). Engaging with faculty and peers in courses and study groups expands students’
social network, builds their capital, and supports their efforts toward academic achievement
(Strayhorn, 2010). Furthermore, developing a sense of belonging by engaging in peer community
spaces such as student organizations allows students to gain sociocultural capital and increases
academic achievement (Nuñez, 2009).
Nuñez (2009) and others have also suggested that while capital is gained from becoming
involved in curricular and co-curricular programs and services, URMs enter college with
sociocultural capital that goes unrecognized and underutilized because it encompasses strengths
not traditionally valued in a majority-normed environment (Harper, 2010; Ovink & Veazey,
2011; Sandoval-Lucero et al., 2014). This perspective accounts for the great challenges and
22
obstacles students overcome to reach higher education and argues that with achievement, capital
was gained. While upbringing, socioeconomic status, and cultural background can have a great
influence on a student’s aspirations and life expectations, a different lens offers that lack of
traditionally accepted social capital can act as a motivator for students to persist, characterized
through their academic and professional aspirations (Ovink & Veazey, 2011). While not
necessarily accepted as a traditional form of sociocultural capital, this aspirational nature is an
asset and strength (Ovink & Veazey, 2011; Yosso, 2005).
Similarly, as URMs seek to build capital by developing a sense of belonging and
community by joining diverse student organizations, Nuñez (2009) found that students also
develop a critical consciousness that may be more difficult for some students to obtain. Nuñez
found that Latino students who became more aware and educated on issues of diversity and
inclusion through participation in cultural centers, cultural student organizations, or courses
simultaneously built strong communities and grew their social capital while also becoming
acutely aware of institutionalized racism or hostile campus climates. Feeling connected to their
college while acknowledging that the environment is flawed is a higher-level cognitive
development that URM students engage in early in their educational careers. The capital gained
in developing this critical consciousness while seeking to fill a social capital gap can be applied
to other dimensions of their lives and academic experience (Nuñez, 2009). It becomes an asset
that can be developed into a strength their counterparts may struggle to develop.
While social and cultural capital theories have been widely used to explain URMs’
academic experiences, these experiences have historically been studied from a deficit
perspective. Utilizing the concept of sociocultural capital, arguments have been made that these
students have unique characteristics due to their background that can be valued as capital
23
(Harper, 2010). In only applying White, majority-accepted forms of capital, academic barriers
and challenges URMs face are attributed to gaps in student experience or knowledge based on
their cultural or socioeconomic backgrounds. Applying this deficit analysis of academic
experiences results in success stories celebrated as outliers wherein students achieve despite their
circumstances (Harper, 2010).
Examining URM student achievement, common characteristics suggest that despite a
lack of traditional forms of sociocultural capital, these students bring unique attributions
influenced by their upbringing, families, and background that have supported them on their road
to success. A better understanding of these inherent strengths and assets can provide a clearer
picture of those who succeed and inform institutional programs, services, and interventions for
persistence, degree, attainment, and student success. The characteristics of URM college students
can greatly inform education practitioners on development models for student success and ways
to transform the educational environment to provide a more inclusive climate.
Characteristics of URMs
In reviewing the information on URM students, multiple studies have suggested that
these students retain key characteristics that have supported their persistence and success.
Viewing those characteristics collectively and applying them to the URM student experience can
help practitioners value and understand the assets these students bring to college and implement
a growth mindset in the educational environment. Incorporating a growth mindset into practice
entails believing that students can increase their abilities and encourages them to work on
strategies to develop their skills and competencies (Yeager & Dweck, 2012), supporting overall
student success and goal achievement.
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Aspirational
In a critical look at URM students, motivation and aspirations to be successful, achieve
their goals, and persist have been commonly identified and attributed to their upbringing (Ovink
& Veazey, 2011; Yosso, 2005). The familial influence on personal aspirations is prevalent in
Latino culture. For many, aspirations are derived from the sacrifices and challenges families
overcome to provide the next generation with the best opportunity (Gándara, 1995). Despite the
challenges they face in the education pipeline, many Latino students report higher aspirations
than what educators have expected of them or what they perceive to be expected of them
(Araujo, 2012). Many Latino students’ aspirations or goals are derived intrinsically from their
and their families’ lived experiences, yielding an ability to be aspirational (Araujo, 2012; Yosso,
2005). Many understand education as a form of upward mobility, financial autonomy, and an
opportunity to support their families (Cantú, 2012). This innate emphasis on aspiration drives
Latino student persistence and goal achievement and is a form of capital brought on from their
cultural upbringing.
Family- and Community-Oriented
While traditionally valued forms of social capital reflect well-connected social networks
of individuals in positions of power and influence, there is significant value in the tight social
network URM students have in their families and communities. Cantú (2012) referred to the
education and support families and communities pass down as an intellectual scaffolding. They
are the early educators that lay the groundwork of fundamental learning that students will apply
in their academic pursuits (Yosso, 2005). In a study on Latinas in STEM, Cantú (2012)
recounted stories shared by women who were inspired to pursue their professions by their
families’ early influences. One biologist explained that her grandparents and parents told her to
25
“observe the plants and animals and maybe they would reveal the answers to her many questions
about the natural world” (Cantú, 2012, p. 479). Others described early forms of encouragement
from their families outside of the classroom and traditional settings. The students’ experiential
learning outside of school inspired curiosity and fostered their desire to learn (Cantú, 2012).
Through that practice, students develop skills that become useful in an educational environment.
Students’ strong communities via their extended families become a model for
belongingness in their college environment (Packard & Fortenberry, 2015). In their efforts to
find belongingness and be community-oriented, students develop strong networks in student
organizations and cultural centers (Banda & Flowers, 2017). These networks are central to URM
higher education success, particularly in fields where current workforce demographics might
seem unwelcoming to URMs (Packard & Fortenberry, 2015). The ability to quickly build
networks in college, support one another, maintain relationships, and pass down the early
fundamental education they received from their families are forms of capital students use to
navigate the challenges of higher education.
Navigational
As they enter college, many URM students have already achieved many
accomplishments in overcoming obstacles and barriers to entry. They have navigated difficult
academic systems and engaged in social adaptation as strategies to succeed (Johnson, 2016;
Vega, 2016). Even in applying to college, students must navigate inherent disadvantages
(Pascarella et al., 2004). These challenges range from nuanced details such as application
timelines or fees to course plans and standardized testing strategies. Some whose families are not
equipped with the information to assist them in that process must network with other resources
and support systems (Engle et al., 2006). Many students have also navigated multiple
26
responsibilities prior to entering college, such as meeting academic responsibilities, co-curricular
commitments, employment, and family obligations (Pike & Kuh, 2005). These students have
already been managing difficult schedules and maintaining multiple responsibilities that can be
framed as strengths and assets to support them in navigating challenges in the college
environment.
A tool to support URM students in navigating through academic and societal systems or
barriers is language and communication skills (Yosso, 2005). Yosso described the rich asset of
linguistic capital as two-fold. Multilingual URMs are equipped with a more pluralistic form of
communicating and understanding others (Cantú, 2012). Negotiating monolingual educational
systems while speaking multiple languages at home is another navigational tool these students
obtained from their background and upbringing. Common language, both literally and
figuratively, also becomes a tool for finding and building community (Camacho & Lord, 2011).
Connecting with peers like themselves and speaking in a comfortable and familiar way deepens
their personal relationships and bonds, expanding social networks and support systems
(Camacho & Lord, 2011; Lu, 2015; Vega, 2016). This common language is passed down in
families and becomes the tool for sharing oral histories. Those shared histories give way to
inherent resistance.
Resistance
Closely tied to the navigational characteristics of URM students, Yosso (2005) proposed
that they are also resistant and that they demonstrate resistant behavior by pursuing and
navigating a system that has systematically oppressed URMs. This resistance, facilitated by their
ability to be navigational and aspirational, is a “confrontation of ideological domination through
oppositional behaviors that enact radical transformations of systemic oppression” (Revelo &
27
Baber, 2018, p. 254). By engaging in higher education systems, URM students position
themselves to enter their professional industries prepared to bring systemic change based on their
lived experiences. To change social systems, they must engage them (Freire, 2009; Solórzano &
Delgado Bernal, 2001). This study explored the experiences of Latinas in the male-dominated
industry of engineering. The engagement of Latinas in the field is a form of resistance to the
industry’s status quo.
Careers in STEM are projected to grow, and the majority of these positions require a
minimum of a bachelor’s degree (Carnevale et al., 2010). When the barrier to entry is a college
degree, understanding the success of Latinas who earn a degree and continue into careers as
professional engineers is essential. In engineering, URMs are more likely to leave or change
majors before degree attainment (Seymour & Hewitt, 1997). There are many places in the
educational pipeline where students may divert their pursuit of STEM careers. However,
interventions in a student’s collegiate experience can build on their achievements and successes
leading up to college enrollment. Student organizations are a tool for supporting student success
(Pascarella et al., 2004).
Participation in student organizations promotes critical thinking skills, degree progress,
active ownership over one’s academic success, a networked community of students and alumni,
and connections with resources. Involvement in co-curricular organizations is essential to
developing sociocultural capital to position students for success during and after college.
Co-Curricular Involvement
Astin’s (1984) widely accepted student involvement theory suggests that the most
positive influence on a student’s college experience is their ability to become involved with their
campus. Additional studies have supported the concept of student involvement as a tool for
28
academic success, and many have looked deeper at how co-curricular experiences support
overall student development. Involvement in co-curricular experiences can influence a positive
self-concept (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) and student growth and experience (Astin, 1993;
Tinto, 1987). According to Astin’s student involvement theory, the more students invest in a
well-rounded academic experience, the more likely they are to persist and obtain a degree. Astin
(1984, 1993) asserted that a student who spends more time on campus by being involved will
also spend more time studying, engaging with faculty or staff resources, and be better equipped
to manage the challenges of higher education.
Astin (1984, 1993) suggested that student involvement is critical in the learning and
developmental process, two necessary elements of degree completion. Astin proposed that
extracurricular involvement will yield higher benefits for academic pursuits. Thus, there is a
direct connection between the time students spend in the classroom and the time spent in
programs related to their major. Outside-of-the-classroom experiences are an important element
in student success. Cooper et al. (1994) found that students who have participated in university-
sponsored activities during their undergraduate career have developed thorough education,
career, and personal plans. This positive student growth can be attributed to their student
involvement. For students arriving at college underprepared or with experiential gaps, co-
curricular involvement can help complement their in-classroom experience and foster further
academic success by addressing key elements of persistence: capacity, interest, and belonging
(Packard & Fortenberry, 2015). The limited number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Latinas
demonstrates the gaps with which these students enter college because of being underprepared or
underexposed in STEM disciplines.
29
While widely accepted, a critique of involvement theory is that it does not fully account
for unique barriers and challenges URM students experience in higher education. Involvement
theory is rooted in a historically traditional student experience under the assumption that students
are traditional college age, matriculated as freshmen at 4-year institutions, and generally align
with the majority ethnic representation of their campus (Rendón, 1994). For non-traditional
students, a deeper understanding of what is defined as “involvement” can be useful in
understanding the elements of co-curricular involvement that support student success (Rendón,
1994).
Student engagement, in general, is a strategy for student success. However, the way
students engage varies based on their background. Engagement on campus extends beyond
student organizations, including research, meeting with faculty, connecting with the career center
or alumni, working on campus, or utilizing academic support services like mentoring or tutoring
(Packard & Fortenberry, 2015; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). For URMs, spaces that are
accessible and useful to their unique needs are central to their becoming involved or engaged
with their community (Outcalt & Skewes-Cox, 2002). Students with access to involvement are
more likely to feel a sense of belongingness and persist. An institutional climate that encourages
URMs’ involvement can be useful in retention efforts. Students participating in university-
sponsored programs are generally more well-rounded and better prepared, as they have
opportunities to develop academically, personally, and professionally (Cooper et al., 1994). In
highly technical programs, supporting students’ development of soft critical thinking skills is
important for their success in the classroom and future work environments. A student’s ability to
combine their social and intellectual experiences through co-curricular involvement can help
students develop those skills more successfully (Eyler & Giles, 1999). The development of these
30
skills can build a student’s self-concept, self-efficacy, and overall sense of capacity (Fischer,
2007).
Studies have found that the type of student organization and the institution’s overall
environmental climate are factors in how involvement contributes to student success (Baker,
2008; Rendón et al., 2000). Students are more likely to feel a sense of belonging on campuses
where they connect with organizations they can identify with ethnically, such as cultural centers
or culturally focused student organizations (Banda, 2012; Jones et al., 2002; Ortiz, 2004).
Students are less likely to persist when they lack spaces where they can identify with community
members. Involvement in STEM student organizations can influence students’ ability to identify
as engineers, fostering interest and belongingness (Packard & Fortenberry, 2015). Involvement
in ethnically diverse STEM-focused organizations also develops belongingness, interest, and
capacity as primary influencers on persistence. For many URM students, involvement in co-
curricular programming, particularly related to their major or culturally focused, allows them to
gain the social and cultural capital necessary to succeed academically and professionally.
Student organizations that intersect cultural backgrounds and academic programs foster
intercultural spaces that allow URMs to “strengthen their cultural wealth so other students may
also become aware of how to use it to their benefit” (Peralta et al., 2013, p. 915). In other words,
students can pass down the capital they gain to others in their community. Chang et al. (2014)
found that URM students who participated in a student organization related to their major had a
greater probability of persisting. They specifically looked at culturally focused engineering
organizations and found that these organizations pursue targeted membership of URM students
and provide them with an extensive portfolio of opportunities for career, academic, personal, and
31
leadership development (Chang et al., 2014). Their efforts promote socially and academically
supportive peer networks that support persistence and increase academic capital.
Students who are involved outside of the classroom are more likely to persist and develop
a critical consciousness as well as critical thinking skills that support their cognitive development
(Terenzini & Pascarella, 2005). Engineering students who engage in academically focused
student organizations are even better positioned to perform well academically (Figueroa et al.,
2013). Engaged students gain the benefits of involvement in general and additional support to
address their nuanced needs (Rodriguez et al., 2018). Involvement in engineering student
organizations, specifically, fosters a sense of engineering identity and a commitment that aligns
students with their career trajectory and supports their ability to persist to degree completion and
enter the engineering industry. Helping students identify as engineers as early as their major
declaration can help them maintain their interest in the discipline and commit to persisting with
their academic programs (Carlone & Johnson, 2007; Meyers et al., 2012). Demystifying
engineering as a profession early and helping students understand the various disciplines within
engineering are also valuable in helping students maintain interest and an ability to persist in
engineering (Packard & Fortenberry, 2015).
The unique and nuanced experiences of URM students in engineering merit further study.
While recent work has sought to understand high achievement and student success, much work
on URM students in STEM is based on the gaps these students are thought to bring to the
academic environment. A better strategy to ensure URM students’ degree and professional
success is to build on their intrinsic assets and strengths to develop those into personal strengths.
Yosso (2005) provided a theoretical model with an asset-based perspective to understand URMs’
experiences. Yosso asserted that URMs hold CCW via six forms of capital and gives a
32
framework for shifting the lens through which their academic and personal backgrounds can be
understood.
Theoretical Framework
As social capital and cultural capital theory suggest, parents, families, and communities
pass knowledge, resources, and social networks to new generations. Traditionally interpreted
sociocultural theory emphasizes the value of majority-culture-accepted forms of capital but fails
to value the capital within diverse communities (Revelo & Baber, 2018). Sociocultural capital
theory has been widely used to explain URMs’ higher education experiences from a deficit
perspective focused on what URM students are missing compared to their peers. Critical race
theory (CRT) uses an assets-based approach that acknowledges URMs’ unique experiences and
values those experiences as useful tools for academic success. Yosso et al. (2005) offered an
alternative lens or perspective to understand the underrepresented student experience through
CRT. Solórzano et al. (2000) applied the principles of CRT to educational pedagogy,
environment, and theory with the centralizing tenet that “the experiential knowledge of women
and men of color is legitimate, appropriate, and critical to understanding, analyzing, and teaching
about racial subordination in the field of education” (Solórzano, 1998, p. 122).
Yosso (2005) built on that work and offered CCW as a CRT that reframes the deficits
implied in social and cultural capital theory into assets or strengths that can be developed into
skills and tools. Yosso noted there is great value in URMs’ personal experiences. Where
Bourdieu saw gaps, Yosso identified assets, believing that “an array of knowledge, skills,
abilities, and contracts possessed and utilized by Communities of Color to survive and resist
macro and micro-forms of oppression” (p. 77). Therefore, CCW offers six forms of intersectional
33
capital that are not mutually exclusive: aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and
resistance.
Aspirational capital is defined as the hopes, dreams, or goals URMs hold for their futures
despite barriers or challenges that lay ahead of those aspirations (Yosso, 2005). Often celebrated
as resilience in higher education, aspirational capital is the inherent desire to do better or have
better for oneself or the next generation. Linguistic capital is another asset of communities of
color that has often been viewed as a deficit or barrier. Yosso (2005) argued that “linguistic
capital includes the intellectual and social skills attained through communication experiences in
more than one language and/or style” (p. 78). Multilingual environments, or ones that embed
storytelling and oral histories, diversify the communication skills students bring to school
environments. Familial capital refers to the cultural knowledge nurtured in the family structure.
This form of capital fosters an individual’s ability to expand the concept of family to their
community, a commitment to community members’ well-being, and an ability to support or be
supported by peers (Yosso, 2005).
Social capital is the “networks of people and community resources” (Yosso, 2005, p. 79),
commonly used in other frameworks that incorporate social capital. In CCW, the assumption is
that communities of color have social capital via large social networks of support and a tradition
of members being aware of how to utilize resources in their networks. Navigational capital is the
skill of maneuvering through social institutions or functioning in environments historically
designed to exclude them. Finally, resistance capital “refers to those knowledges and skills
fostered through oppositional behavior that challenges inequality” (Yosso, 2005, p. 80). This
form of capital acknowledges “the legacy of resistance to subordination exhibited by
34
communities of color” intersecting with other forms of capital, assuming that these stories and
histories are passed down (Yosso, 2005, p. 80).
The CCW framework has been applied to several studies of URMs in higher education
that validated these forms of cultural wealth and how they are sustained in the academic
environment. For Latino students, forms of CCW are derived from their home lives, where their
first teachers were parents and community members. As explained by Aragon (2018), the
foundation of CCW theory is that these forms of capital are accumulated through the cultural-
thinking learned at home, and there is power in allowing URM students to explore the counter-
narrative of their lived experience in taking ownership of such capital. The critical examination
of their upbringing and the capital they gained from it serves as their antitheses to the often-
negative societal narratives about URMs. Owning their capital contributes to their sense of self-
concept and supports persistence (Aragon, 2018; Pérez, 2018; Pérez et al., 2017). With the
foundational skills and strengths gained from insights into their capital, students can further
sustain their capital in the academic environment through various forms of campus engagement.
Some studies have attempted to understand how URM student engagement sustains their
CCW, and findings have yielded that Latino students derive capital from participation in student
organizations most influentially (Pérez, 2018; Pérez et al., 2017). Qualitative studies have
supported Yosso’s assertions that forms of capital intersect and can present in multiple forms.
For instance, familial capital presents in two ways: the relationships and networks of support
students have in their families or communities at home (Aragon, 2018; Pérez et al., 2017) and a
shared sense of responsibility and commitment to supporting other members of their ethnic
communities on campus (Revelo & Baber, 2018). Furthermore, Latino students’ personal
narratives have also revealed how their home lives fostered their aspirational capital. Some
35
students sought education to escape poverty, help meet their family’s goals and ambitions,
provide for their families, or gain financial autonomy (Pérez et al., 2017; Revelo & Baber, 2018).
This intersection of the strong relationship with family and personal aspirations demonstrates
Yosso’s (2005) argument that these forms of capital intersect and are not developed in isolation.
In the same way familial and aspirational capital intersect, linguistic capital intersects
strongly with familial capital. Common language and common storytelling become points of
entry as students look for community and belongingness on college campuses. The sense of
family developed within multicultural student organizations sustains additional forms of capital,
such as social, navigational, and resistance. Pérez et al. (2017) validated the assertion made by
several other studies that Latino students rely more heavily on peer networks for support in
persistence, thriving, and achieving goals. In some cases, depending on the nature of the
relationship, faculty or staff can be conduits of student success in the forms of social,
navigational, or even familial capital. However, these relationships have not been directly found
to influence Latino students thriving as strongly as they do for other ethnic minority groups
(Pérez et al., 2017). Instead, peers play a more influential role in Latino students’ ability to
thrive, as these relationships sustain their familial and social capital. In this sense, CCW offers a
framework for understanding this phenomenon in the Latino student experience. Latino students’
peer networks serve as surrogate families, a dynamic that further sustains other elements of
capital. Within this family dynamic and linguistic capital in oral histories, students are resistant.
Their resistance capital forms because these communities provide students “with the knowledge,
skills, and resources to resist micro-and macro-forms of oppression” (Pérez, 2018, p. 26).
Sustaining multiple forms of capital through participation on campus is consistent with
the findings of Pascarella and Terenzini (2005) that involvement and relationships with peers are
36
a “powerful socializing agent in shaping persistence and degree completion” (p. 418). This
finding further supports the value Latino students gain from participating in culture-focused
student organizations. CRT and CCW note there are strengths in the lived experiences of
communities of color and that URMs’ unique lived experiences can be leveraged to help them
succeed without assimilating into majority cultural norms (Rendón et al., 2000). While these
existing applications of CCW theory have begun to better explain URMs’ experiences in higher
education, further research can continue to identify the ways CCW capital intersects and is
sustained by disaggregated identities, such as via a specific investigation into URM women or
specific academic majors. This case study, in particular, sought to understand better how CCW
capital sustained by Latina engineering students in the SHPE allows them to reach their post-
baccalaureate goals of continued education or employment.
Chapter Summary
Challenges and social injustices diminish populations’ quality of life or safety in a global
community connected through technology. Engineers play a critical role in advancing the tools
and methods to improve quality of life, promoting sustainability, and fostering safety in
industries like civic infrastructure, cyber security, biomedical advancements, and environmental
preservation (Bugliarello, 2005; Fisher, 2008). Engineering offers its professionals an
opportunity to make great strides in societal advancements, make long-lasting positive impacts
for social change, and upward mobility for those trained in the technical skills to do the work. In
an industry dedicated to innovative solutions for diverse problems, professional engineering in
the United States has limited diversity. The field has an overrepresentation of White males but,
over time, has become closer to approaching gender parity.
37
More women are earning engineering degrees and entering the workforce. However, their
ethnic diversity continues to be limited. Despite their growing representation in the national
population, Latinas in the United States are underrepresented in this field. Few are matriculating
in engineering programs, and they are some of the lowest-paid professionals in the workforce
(National Student Clearing House Research Center, 2015). Their rapid growth in the U.S.
population and the need for diverse representation in an industry that relies on creative
innovation in problem-solving call for increasing their numbers in engineering degree programs
and the workforce. By better understanding Latinas’ higher education experiences, education
practitioners can be better equipped to support their students’ academic pursuits.
More needs to be known or understood about the college experiences of Latinas who earn
engineering degrees. With more information on what helped these students persist and how they
were supported, higher education practitioners can replicate these experiences for future
students. While many of these gaps may be difficult for faculty to address alone, student services
and student affairs professionals are well-positioned to assist these students. By facilitating co-
curricular learning experiences, student affairs practitioners can support underrepresented
students in keeping pace with their peers. Through programs, services, and interventions,
practitioners can support students’ academic and professional endeavors; however,
understanding students’ needs and success is central to that support. Student organization
advisors, staff, and administrators must implement additional support systems and pathways that
address the sustainability and development of student capital. With a better understanding of how
participating in STEM-focused student organizations support Latina engineering students’
academic and professional pursuits, advisors and administrators can more strategically support
these organizations to continue fostering student success. Utilizing the categories of capital as
38
outlined in CCW theory (Yosso, 2005), this case study investigated how involvement in a
STEM-focused student organization supported Latina students’ achievement of post-
baccalaureate goals.
39
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Latinas’ college experiences from a CCW framework are not well studied. This case
study explored how participating in the SHPE sustained undergraduate Latina students’ CCW
capital and how they used that capital to achieve their post-baccalaureate goals. Yosso (2005)
asserted that the personal and lived experiences of URMs are central to CCW capital. In
alignment with that framework, this study aimed to understand the participants’ individual
experiences, how they made meaning from their experiences, and how they conducted
themselves according to the meaning they derived. Given the nature and purpose of this inquiry,
a qualitative design was pursued. As the purpose of this study was to describe, understand, and
interpret the experiences of these students based on the information they shared, an interpretive
or constructivist approach to qualitative research was applied (Merriam, 2009). Two key
characteristics of qualitative research validate this method as appropriate for this study: the focus
on meaning and understanding and the inductive process. “The overall purposes of qualitative
research are to achieve an understanding of how people make sense out of their lives, delineate
the process of meaning-making, and describe how people interpret what they experience”
(Merriam, 2009, p. 14).
This chapter describes the methodology employed in this case study, describing how a
qualitative approach was best suited for answering the research question. This chapter describes
the study’s location, sample, and population. The data sources were qualitative interviews,
observations, and document reviews. This chapter discusses the data collection process and
concludes with a description of the data analysis process that accounted for elements of
trustworthiness/credibility through member-checking and triangulation.
40
Pérez et al. (2017) suggested that CCW capital should be further studied in the
experiences of URM students. Little is understood about how these areas of capital intersect,
how capital is sustained among disaggregated groups of URMs, or how sustaining this capital
allows students to persist and thrive. In examining the intersection of CCW capital in Latino
males, Pérez et al. (2017) concluded that students’ ability to sustain and derive capital as
described by CCW theory enhanced their success. Still, there is insufficient research on how
students experience and take personal ownership of their CCW capital. While there are several
gaps in the research using CCW, this case study investigated the experience of undergraduate
Latina engineering students specifically.
There are widely accepted findings that co-curricular involvement supports higher
education students’ success (Astin, 1993; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Rendón et al., 2000;
Tinto, 1987). This involvement leads to improved self-concept, increased cognitive development,
and higher rates of persistence and degree attainment. This case study investigated the
experiences of Latina engineering students in the context of their involvement in the culturally
focused engineering student organization SHPE. This case study sought to answer a central
research question: How does participation in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers by
undergraduate Latinas in engineering support their ability to achieve their post-baccalaureate
academic or career aspirations?
To investigate these areas of the student experience, interviews, observations, and
document reviews were conducted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect
qualitative data. This approach allowed for the use of guiding questions to ensure the dialogue
was relevant to the research question while providing the opportunity to ask follow-up probing
questions. As discussed previously, Latina success in STEM needs to be better researched. While
41
interviews allowed for deeper insight into these students’ experiences that current literature
might not address, given the limited information on CCW capital among Latina students,
metacognitive knowledge gaps are inherent in the design of interview protocols (Weiss, 1994).
Despite being primary data sources, interviews can still leave gaps in research and information
gathering. To help triangulate the data, I also conducted a document review of relevant literature
related to the SHPE. The documents reviewed were the SHPE-PRU chapter website, the
organization’s constitution, and a fundraising package for major donors.
Sample and Population
The participants were recruited from PRU, which is located in the southwest region of the
United States and is an elite institution that awards bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees.
The university multiple academic schools and academic units that enroll just over 20,000
undergraduate students. The university’s admission rate is between 10% and 12%, and the
institution is considered a PWI, with nearly 15% of undergraduates identifying as Latino/a in
2018. Across all academic units, PRU reports a 4- to 6-year graduation rate of over 90%. Its
engineering school enrolls just under 3,000 undergraduate students.
According to the data published by the ASEE (2021), in the last 3 years, PRU’s
engineering school enrolled approximately 2,500 undergraduate students, with approximately
13% identifying as Latino/a. The school supports over a dozen majors and minors. The
university also hosts a strong student chapter of SHPE. The chapter supports over 130 members
and is one of the largest engineering student organizations at PRU. The chapter is comprised of
45% women and is representative of all seven academic departments. In the last 3 years, PRU’s
SHPE chapter has been nationally recognized by its parent organization with high-level
42
distinctions and awards. The SHPE-PRU is a strong chapter with high female membership,
positioning it well for examining student success.
This study was designed to incorporate nonprobability, purposeful sampling to identify
participants. The goal of this study was to understand and gain insight into a specific population
and their experience; therefore, I selected a sample that maximized the opportunity to learn about
these students’ specific experiences (Merriam, 2009). The specificity of the population, as
outlined by the research question, informed the approach of a purposeful sample. This approach
to sampling “is based on the assumption that the investigator wants to discover, understand, and
gain insight [to a specific population and experience] and therefore must select a sample from
which the most can be learned” (Merriam, 2009, p. 77). All participants self-identified as Latina
women. They reported that their academic transcripts reflected that they were enrolled in or had
recently completed an engineering bachelor’s degree program. Participants reported being active
SHPE members as undergraduates, which the SHPE defined as having paid their organization
dues, regularly participating in general meetings, and taking on at least one leadership or
volunteer role with the organization.
Participants Recruitment was limited to seniors and recent alumni, with the goal of
interviewing 10 students. Ultimately, nine participated. All interviewees were in their last
semester of coursework or had graduated within 3 years of the interview. Six participants were
alums, having graduated between 2018 and 2021. The remaining three participants were seniors
projected to graduate in the spring of 2022. This criterion ensured that students had sufficient
time to reflect on the meaning of their campus engagement while not allowing so much time to
pass that their recall was compromised. Recruitment for most engineering professions is
conducted in the fall of a student’s senior year. Many contracts are signed by the spring semester
43
of that year. As a result, I anticipated that most graduating students knew what their employment
would be. I received consent to audio-record the interviews and collected observation notes in
alignment with the institutional review board’s approved process. In addition to semi-structured
interviews, I conducted document reviews.
The document review examined the SHPE-PRU chapter website, the organization’s
constitution, and a fundraising package for major donors. These documents offer insights into
how the organization represents itself, serves members, and communicates its purpose.
Integrating these elements into the data collection allowed for data triangulation, increasing the
likelihood of reliable results (Merriam, 2009).
All forms of documentation during the data collection and analysis process will be
considered confidential and destroyed after the dissertation defense process has been completed.
Instrumentation
Researchers can employ several interview approaches (Merriam, 2009; Patton, 2002).
These range from highly structured interviews with a systematic line of questioning to
unstructured/informal interviews that use topics to guide and direct a conversation. In alignment
with a qualitative design, I conducted semi-structured interviews and document reviews to
triangulate the data. This approach allowed for covering specific topics as supported by the
literature. As stated previously, I selected a semi-structured interview approach to discuss
specific topics supported by the literature on CCW capital and student involvement while asking
follow-up or probing questions that emerged from the conversations with respondents. This is
reflected in the interview protocol. I established basic guiding interview questions with possible
probing questions designed to increase participants’ disclosure of personal experience. This
allowed the participants to ease into a dialogue about their backgrounds and experiences
44
(Merriam, 2009). Patton’s (2002) list of six types of questions for qualitative research and the
literature review informed the questions asked. I designed the questions using this list to
determine how to best achieve the desired findings: experience/behavior questions, opinion
questions, feeling questions, and background/demographic questions. Appendix A provides the
interview protocol, and Appendix B provides the protocol matrix outlining the connection to the
theoretical framework.
To support the document review, specific documents or meaningful artifacts relevant to
the study can provide additional insights into the research as they are ready-made data sources
not subject to the same level of subjectivity as observations or interviews (Merriam, 2009). I
reviewed the SHPE-PRU chapter website, the organization’s constitution, and a fundraising
package for major donors. In document review, finding relevant materials is a systemic
procedure that can evolve from the inquiry (Merriam, 2009). Where possible, documents were
authenticated and assessed based on confirming the author, publication location, and purpose.
Appendix C presents the document review protocol that guided this process, as informed by
Merriam (2009).
Data Collection
Utilizing interviews and document reviews resulted in various forms of data. I conducted
all interviews virtually, using the video conferencing tool Zoom. This allowed for audio and
visual recording, which provided a more accurate data transcription for analysis, and allowed me
to be more present and available to the respondent (Weiss, 1994). I transcribed all interviews for
coding. To supplement the interview transcripts, I took observational notes during interviews. I
recruited participants and scheduled interviews through email communication.
45
Documents utilized for review were obtained in two forms. Where possible, SHPE
leadership provided access to relevant documents not available online. They submitted these
documents via email as PDFs. I reviewed the SHPE-PRU chapter website, the organization’s
constitution, and a fundraising package for major donors. The document review protocol guided
my notes.
Data Analysis
Interviews, participant observations, and document reviews provided rich, descriptive
data that yielded common themes and concepts. To analyze the data, I typed field notes and
transcribed interviews. Using the final versions of the field notes, I coded the data using a priori
coding. As an important form of early and continuous data analysis (Miles et al., 2014), there
was an initial coding phase. In my first coding cycle, I used a priori codes determined from the
literature. These a priori codes were based on the CCW forms of capital. A second phase of
analysis derived emergent codes. I edited and revised codes as I conducted additional interviews
and observations. I employed pattern coding as I analyzed data. Pattern codes allowed me to
condense the data into smaller units to be analyzed and begin connecting emerging themes
(Miles et al., 2014). I established relationships between codes as patterns emerged and derived
key themes by identifying similarities and differences in the data (Harding, 2013).
Chapter Summary
This chapter provided an overview of the methods used for this study. I outlined the two
data sources used for triangulation: interviews and document review. The participants’
recruitment was discussed, as was the data collection and analysis approach. The following
chapter presents the study’s findings.
46
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS
The purpose of this chapter is to present this study’s findings regarding how participating
in the SHPE supported the participant’s ability to achieve their post-baccalaureate professional or
academic goals. Yosso’s (2005) CWW model provided the primary framework for this study,
supported by Stanton-Salazar’s (2011) application of social capital to the role of institutional
agents in the empowerment of students. One overarching research question guided this study:
How does participation in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers by undergraduate
Latinas in engineering support their ability to achieve their post-baccalaureate academic or career
aspirations? I conducted interviews and reviewed the organization’s published materials.
Interviewee Demographics and Biographies
The purpose of this study was to describe, understand, and interpret the participants’
experiences in SHPE. To do this effectively, I used a constructivist qualitative approach wherein
I collected data through interviews with nine current or alumna members of the SHPE chapter at
PRU. Semi-structured interviews allowed for addressing specific topics pulled from the literature
as participants spoke on subjects relevant to their experiences that I, as the researcher, may not
have asked about. Interviews ranged from 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes. I conducted all
interviews via Zoom, an online video conferencing platform, in a one-on-one format.
All nine participants met the study criteria: self-identify as Latinx female or a woman, a
current or former active member of the SHPE chapter at PRU, in their senior year or a recent
graduate, and plan to or have earned a degree in engineering. The participants chose from a list
of pseudonyms that recognize powerful Latinx women recently highlighted in animated feature
films. Six participants graduated between 2018 and 2021, and the remaining three were
scheduled to graduate in May 2022. They shared whether they were in-state or first-generation
47
college students. They also shared whether they grew up bilingual, their major, and their
year/academic standing at the time of the interview. Table 1 outlines this demographic
information. Biographical summaries for each participant are also included to offer a deeper
understanding of their background and pre-college experiences to provide context and insight
into their college experiences. The information was gathered from demographic and introductory
interview questions. They are listed in alphabetical order according to their selected pseudonyms.
Table 1
Interview Participant Demographic Information
Pseudonym In- or
out-of-
state
College
generational
status
Language Current
Year
Graduation
Year
Major
Alma In-state 1st Bilingual Senior Spring 2022 Civil engineering
Dolores Out-of-
state
2nd Monolingual Alum Spring 2020 Electrical
engineering
Elena In-state 1st Bilingual Alum Spring 2018 Civil engineering
Imelda In-state 1st Bilingual Senior Spring 2022 Environmental
engineering
Isabela In-state 1st Bilingual Alum Spring 2021 Biomedical
engineering
Julietta In-state 1st Monolingual Senior Spring 2022 Mechanical
engineering
Luisa Out-of-
state
2nd Bilingual Alum Spring 2020 Electrical
engineering
Mirabel In-state 2nd Bilingual Alum Spring 2018 Aerospace
engineering
Peppa Out-of-
state
1st Bilingual Alum Spring 2018 Electrical
engineering
48
Alma
Alma is from a large suburb of Los Angeles in Southern California. She described her
hometown as a “low-income, predominantly Latino community.” Early in high school, Alma’s
teachers and mentors described her as gifted in math and science and believed that because of her
early aptitude, she was steered to co-curricular and pre-college support programs that would
capitalize on her academic strengths. She credits her acceptance at PRU to her involvement in
these programs, although she did not have a clear understanding of engineering when she was
admitted.
Alma explained that only a few graduates of her high school attend 4-year institutions,
and many who go to college after graduation start at the local community college. She shared
that this was her family’s preference for her:
I felt resentment from my friends or from my family for going so far away because
everyone in my community commutes to school or they’re still based at home. I think
that’s just how we’re brought up in our area. You stay. You don’t really leave your
house. You just stay there, do school, and still help out and stuff. I felt remorseful for [not
doing that] because I was leaving my family and leaving my friends to pursue this thing
that I wasn’t really sure that I knew what I was doing. It wasn’t really fully fleshed out
because I was just kind of going in blindly. It was a really rough transition, but I feel like
once I connected with the resources here and with SHPE and with CED and with the
campus in general, I feel like it definitely helped me figure out a little bit of what I’m
doing with my life.
49
Alma credits a teacher with her applying and being accepted to PRU, as this teacher became a
mentor to her. The teacher recognized her aptitude for math and science and steered her toward
engineering and PRU specifically, although she did not know much about the campus.
Dolores
Dolores is from a large city in New Mexico and was enrolled in an engineering Ph.D.
program at the time of this study. Her parents were first-generation college students, although
they are not both first-generation in this country. Although her parents are bilingual, she was
raised primarily speaking English. She understands “quite a bit of Spanish” but does not speak it
well.
As a second-generation college student, she believed college was always in her future and
planned early in high school to attend a 4-year institution after graduation. She knew that STEM
subjects came easily to her, but it took time before she decided a STEM degree was right for her.
Her participation in several STEM-focused pre-college programs allowed her to explore careers,
get a sense of college-level math and science courses, and learn about SHPE:
I was in the summer program, and they had SHPE members come and visit with us. That
was what solidified it for me, and it was right before I applied to college, and I was like,
“okay.” I could see myself doing [engineering] for the first time in a college environment.
It was the first time I heard about SHPE, and I know, “Okay, when I get to college, no
matter where I go, I want to join something like this.”
Dolores believes that early exposure to SHPE, engineering, and the college environment gave
her the confidence to apply and go to school out of state, which no one in her family had done.
50
Elena
Elena grew up several hours away from PRU in a small, agricultural city on the west
coast. Elena’s father passed away just before she started high school and her mother and siblings
worked hard to maintain their household. She described her family as low-income and her
mother’s main priority as ensuring there was enough food on the table, not necessarily her
children’s performance in school.
Elena stated her ability to attend a 4-year institution was due to her involvement in the
academic support program AVID, designed to increase student performance and create pipelines
from high school to college. Elena shared,
[The program] was a really big factor in how I got to [PRU] because they really helped us
throughout the application process. Making sure that we were on top of our schoolwork,
just providing that support through school that maybe our families couldn’t provide for us
because they didn’t necessarily understand the steps to apply for college and make sure
that we succeeded in college. The AVID program really helped me, for sure, in having
that extra support where my mom couldn’t provide for me.
Like other participants, Elena said her ability to go to college came from the academic support
programs around her. Despite needing to leave home to attend PRU, she shared that her family
was “super happy” for her and, despite the challenge of having to move away, were generally
very supportive of her academic journey.
Imelda
Imelda is an immigrant to the United States. She remembers moving to the United States
when she was about 6 years old and became a citizen in 2010. Imelda shared that her transition
to school as a Spanish-speaking student was challenging in most subjects, with the exception of
51
math. She explained, “The thing I remember struggling the least with was numbers because
numbers are universal. So, I think that’s where I started, just excelling a lot more at math than
English.” She described her parents as very supportive of her educational journey, with frequent
rewards and incentives for strong academic work and performance. With her parents’ support,
she excelled academically and often looked toward models of older students in her high school
for pathways to college acceptance and financial support.
Following in the footsteps of students in her high school with similar personal
backgrounds and academic records, Imelda took the initiative to apply to scholarship programs
and was accepted to all her top schools, several of which were Ivy League colleges, with full
scholarships. She chose PRU because of the positive feelings she had after campus visits. She
shared,
I immediately felt like I was a part of the community. The people I interacted with, I was
like, “I feel like these could be my friends.” I could really see myself sitting in the
classroom with them. I really could see myself, like, being taught by these professors,
and, so, basically, [PRU] provided the least amount of financial aid, but this is where my
heart is.
Imelda’s decision to attend PRU meant she would not need to travel far from home to attend
college, but it was a difficult decision for her, nonetheless. Ultimately, she concluded that given
her experience with the community and her participation in SHPE and other PRU programs, it
was the right decision for her.
Isabela
Isabela is a local student and grew up very familiar with PRU. Isabela’s parents enrolled
her in affordable private education after her older siblings struggled with the public education
52
system in their neighborhood. There, she had the opportunity to explore her aptitude for math
and science and take Advanced Placement classes that prepared her for college-level courses.
Her school’s small size and resourceful college counselors made it possible for Isabela to apply
to her dream schools.
Her college counselor’s efforts and her own organization and resourcefulness allowed
Isabela to conduct a thorough and in-depth college search. She spoke about scheduling campus
visits weeks in advance so her parents could plan to take time off to drive her. She managed
spreadsheets with application due dates and fee schedules and guided her parents on the budget
she would need to apply to colleges. She explained,
It was something I had to plan for even before applications started. I remember I had an
Excel sheet, and I told my mom, “I’m going to need this much money. I need your help
to save aside.” And she was always willing. I couldn’t be last minute. Both my parents
were super supportive, and I was able to visit campuses.”
She shared that her reason for selecting PRU was its well-established reputation in her
community. She believed this was an investment in her academic and professional career. She
hoped the engineering program’s reputation would be useful in ensuring a career after
graduation.
Julietta
Julietta, similar to other participants, grew up near PRU and was familiar with its
reputation as a well-established university. Prior to graduating, she received a full-time job offer
as a manufacturing engineer at Boeing’s commercial planes division in Seattle, Washington. This
job offer came through her participation in an SHPE national conference, and she stated that her
time with the organization helped her get her “dream job.”
53
Julietta’s family has long roots in the United States. She identifies as Mexican American
and was raised monolingual, speaking only English at home, despite her extended family
speaking both Spanish and English. She was raised by a single mother, is an only child, and
explained that although her mother did not go to college, she began speaking to her about college
early. She said her mother’s support was key to her admission at PRU. When Julietta was in
middle school, her mother applied for jobs at PRU, hoping the employee tuition benefit for
dependents would allow Julietta to attend without financial burden or stress. “She was a big
proponent of me going to college and specifically of me going to [PRU],” Julietta shared. “She
was like, ‘Okay, I’ll keep my job here. You get good grades, and then you get into the school.’
So, she’s doing her part, and I’m doing my part to make this happen.” She described her
academic journey as a partnership with her mother, and although her mother did not always
know where or how to support her, Julietta was diligent about researching what it would take to
be admitted at her top-choice institution.
Luisa
Luisa’s parents immigrated to the United States shortly after she was born. They received
a college education in Brazil and held professional careers. Her father works at a top tech
company as an engineer. Although college was always her goal and her parents encouraged her,
they initiated a divorce early in her high school career. This greatly impacted Luisa’s college
application experience as they were not readily available to support her through the applications
and manage their difficult divorce. She explained,
I took on most of the application, understanding everyone on my own accord. So already,
I didn’t have, like, parents that knew how the system worked. They had a completely
54
different mindset. And then, it was on to me to try and figure how everything worked by
myself.
Luisa navigated the majority of her high school career on her own, and that experience helped
her maneuver a difficult first year at PRU. She is grateful now when she reflects with her family
on her academic journey; they have validated and acknowledged her struggle, efforts, and
successes. She shared, “my [younger] sister did it with their help. And they always told me, like,
‘I don’t know how you did this on your own. How did you do that?’ But then, also, I think they
were just happy that I got it work out.”
Luisa was offered employment in the fall of her senior year. She is a technical marketing
and product manager for Dell Technologies and described the role as her dream job. While she
majored in electrical engineering, Luisa was not interested in technical roles. Instead, she wanted
to capitalize on the skills she gained from her various leadership roles and across her engineering
school. Her involvement in SHPE helped her understand how much she enjoyed the social
networking aspects of her co-curricular organizations and found a job that brought together her
“soft and hard skills,” as she described them.
Mirabel
Mirabel’s parents are immigrants to the United States who met while they attended a
local community college. Her parents attended PRU, and so did several members of her extended
family. Mirabel’s two older sisters pursued advanced degrees after finishing college, and she
described them as “setting the bar high” for her. Immediately after earning a BS, she pursued a
Master of Engineering Design in Product Design at a prestigious out-of-state institution. Her
career path afforded her the opportunity to take an exciting role with Procter and Gamble, an
55
achievement of which she is very proud. She described education as an important part of her
family’s values:
It’s ginormous. Like, my mom and her sister. Their parents broke their back in order to
pay for their PRU education. Then, same thing with our parents doing the same thing for
us. They stress it so much.
She described the decision to go to college as not an option but an expectation. She grew up with
an interest and passion for aviation and airplanes. She demonstrated an early interest and talent in
math and science. Mirabel’s aunt was an engineer and a primary supporter of her interest in
STEM. She worked to expose Mirabel to engineering early: “I remember, I think I was like 11,
maybe 11 or 12, was when I first heard the word aeronautical engineer.”
Mirabel credits finding her voice and asserting herself in a field where her gender and
ethnicity are underrepresented to her participation in SHPE: “[My confidence] took off in SHPE
and then in other areas of my life. I started being more okay with asking questions, and I had
more faith in myself.”
Peppa
Peppa pivoted from electrical engineering to environmental and suitability engineering in
her professional career. Peppa described her background as growing up in a low-income
neighborhood and attending under-resourced public schools. Her parents applied for a waiver so
she could attend the local STEM high school. She demonstrated an early aptitude for math and
science in middle school, and she stated that her time in the STEM high school prepared her for
college, although she still found the engineering curriculum at PRU very challenging.
Peppa recognized early in high school that many of her peers did not attend 4-year
universities after graduating and described a community where few members move out of their
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hometown. She knew early in her academic career that she wanted to attend a 4-year university
because she believed it would be a gateway to a stable career path. Peppa took the initiative to
find her college readiness and scholarship programs and was accepted to PRU with a full
scholarship. Once on campus, she felt like an outsider immediately and believes her experience
with SHPE helped her survive a difficult transition and 4 years.
SHPE Chapter at PRU
The SHPE chapter at PRU was established in 1975 and was one of the first student
chapters in the nation. The organization’s five pillars are academic excellence, professionalism,
leadership, chapter development, and community outreach. In 2019, the national association
recognized it as the chapter of the year, and it has received several awards and distinctions as
PRU’s student organization of the year. The chapter has over 50 active members representing
undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students, and 40% of the members identify as female. As
stated on their website and aligned with the national organization’s mission, this chapter strives
to empower its community, support its members in reaching their full potential, and create global
impacts regarding STEM awareness, access, support, and innovation. They are considered one of
the strongest student chapters across the country.
Data Collection and Analysis
This study’s data came from two sources: interviews and document reviews. I conducted
and recorded interviews via the application “Zoom,” a tool used for video conferencing. I
downloaded the recorded files onto a computer for further review and analysis. During each
interview, I took observation notes and later transcribed conversations. I downloaded the
documents for review from the organization’s website and saved them onto a computer for
review and annotation. I collected and organized all data into thematic codes for analysis. The
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findings were member-checked to allow each participant to review their responses and confirm
these were interpreted appropriately.
Review of Findings
Research Question 1: Interviews
Through a deep analysis of the interview data, I explored seven primary themes that align
with the CCW model and social capital theory. These themes are aspirational, familial, social,
navigational, resistance, and language capital and institutional agents. In reading and rereading
participant responses, I categorized findings into these themes as supporting or not supporting
assertions made by the CCW model regarding Latinx students’ experiences. In addition, peer
mentorship as a relevant theme emerged from the participants’ narratives. The recurring
reference to peer mentorship as a salient and critical part of their undergraduate journey is
explored in the findings as well. A review of the findings by theme follows.
Aspirational
Yosso’s (2005) CCW model holds that Latinx families have high aspirations,
educationally and professionally, for their students as a means to break from the inequities they
experienced. The interview data suggest that is true and that Latinx students and their families
hold high aspirations to also preserve advancements and achievements they have secured
generationally, as this is not common in their communities.
Dolores’s parents were working professionals and played an integral role in her decision
to go to college to pursue engineering. She describes her father as supporting and encouraging
her to utilize her high school resources for college preparation: “We worked together, and my
dad helped me read through my essays and review my essays.” she describes her father, also an
engineer, as being “very happy” with her career trajectory and choices:
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One of the draws is that it’s very secure employment. Even with just a bachelor’s, you
can get a pretty good job. And I think they want me to make sure I’m good after I
graduate. I think it was nice for them to know that there was a pretty stable career path.
Dolores’s parents played a critical role in her decision to apply to college and pursue engineering
as a professional. The stability a career in engineering could provide and the hardships they
overcame to open those doors for their child was the narrative Dolores grew up with about her
future. They had been preparing her for this academically and financially since she was a child.
Although her parents had a college savings fund for her, Dolores felt guilty about not pursuing
scholarships and selecting from schools that offered her the most financial support. She shared,
It felt like if something didn’t go right. I was so nervous when I was picking my schools
because [they are] such expensive places. I wouldn’t feel bad because I wasn’t really
paying for so much of it, and then also I was kind of thinking about going to grad school,
and I had heard that master’s programs were kind of expensive. So, I was, like, maybe I’ll
save money in undergrad and save it for later.
Dolores’s testament revealed that even for families with generational histories of navigating the
college system and securing fruitful employment, the desire and aspiration for their children was
still a consistent concern in the family’s development over time. Luisa’s journey mirrors the
story Dolores shared.
Similarly, Luisa’s father is an engineer. Despite her parents initiating a divorce while she
was in high school, they still encouraged her to go to college. Although they also had a college
fund for her, the divorce affected how much she expected to utilize, so she sought scholarships.
Luisa, like Dolores, utilized the financial support received to determine which school to choose.
When it came time to select her institution, Luisa’s father reassured her that it would provide “a
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return on investment.” She shared, “He was like, ‘Oh, I know all these people that have
graduated from there. They can do X, Y, and Z. I know you’ll be able to get money out of it.’”
The combination of scholarship aid and her parents’ aspirations to see her pursue engineering at
PRU were important decision-making factors in where and what she pursued as an
undergraduate.
In some cases, students’ aspirations were supported or inherited from their parents’
aspirations, but in others, the students’ aspirations contradicted what their families wanted for
them. Students described instances where their families had limited experience or understanding
of college and directed them toward futures and careers they were more familiar with to create
stability. Alma shared,
[My parents] were like, you can just work at the Baskin Robbins down the street and
make more money and be less stressed and happier. But I was like, no, this is important
to me for such and such reason. And I feel like there’s that disconnect that they really
don’t understand. To them, money has always been an issue. So, the fact that I have a
reliable stable income is the biggest blessing they could ever ask for. I think that’s
something they’ve always wanted for me, to be financially independent, never having to
rely on anybody, or a man, or anything. That I can just take care of myself on my own.
So, I think they’re definitely proud about that. I don’t think they understand what I’m
doing, but they’re just glad I have something figured out that I’m able to support myself.
The outcomes Isabela and her family wanted for her future were similar: financial security and
stability. However, they disagreed on how Isabela could arrive in that future. Similarly, Peppa’s
family were immigrants from Mexico and always envisioned their daughter going to college.
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However, when the college she was admitted to with full financial support was several states
away, they voiced concerns and hesitations. Peppa shared,
It was pretty hard from them. I don’t think they fully understood why I was going far
away for school. I vividly remember my mom telling me, “Why don’t you just go to
community college? Why do you have to go so far away because there’s a community
college a few miles down the street.” I was just like, okay, this is different than
community college. This is a 4-year university, and they're paying for me to go to school.
I won't have to take out any loans. I literally won't have to be in debt, most likely. Them
not really being engaged with higher education or having had to navigate them
themselves, they really didn't understand what that price tag of tuition looked like.
Eventually, Peppa’s family came around: “Once I got started, and they saw everything that I was
doing, they definitely became a lot more supportive and were really proud of me at the end of the
day.”
Each participant shared their family’s deep desire for their success, to do more than their
parents, and to succeed. Not all families and participants agreed on how to navigate toward the
success they hoped to see in this next generation. However, each participant described that once
they began their journeys at PRU, their parents could see the impact of their choices and realized
this pathway, although difficult, would yield the results they all hoped for, professional and
financial stability. Elena captured this dynamic when she shared, “Even now that I have a job
and stuff, I don’t think [my mother] completely understands, but I think she understands enough
to explain to other people that she should be proud of me.”
Many participants shared that it was that core aspiration to succeed, whether intrinsic or
passed down from their parents, that encouraged them to persevere when they were challenged
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during their undergraduate experiences. They drew strength from their aspirations and long-term
goals because of their impact on their own lives as individuals and their family’s lives. The
ability to graduate with careers or plans that offered each woman independence would
simultaneously relieve burdens on their families. This served as both aspiration and motivation to
persist when they faced challenges.
Familial
The CCW model describes familial as a key form of capital inherent in Latinx
communities. Yosso (2005) framed familial capital as the result of the communal and family-
oriented environment prevalent in Latinx families. If used appropriately, this predisposition to
utilize family and community support, resources, advice, and wisdom is an asset in Latinx
students’ transition to college. These skills can transfer to understanding that there are
communities and spaces to support their transition to a new environment by offering resources,
support, advice, and wisdom gained through their own experiences. The data analysis revealed
family as a salient theme in the participants’ experiences and successes. Their institutional family
or families were important support systems that guided them as they navigated their
undergraduate education and expanded their social networks.
In all instances, participants described their family and social capital as related to their
experience in SHPE. While some found additional communities of support over time, their first
and most supportive institutional family and source of social capital was their membership in
SHPE. Elena explained, “I think the network that SHPE creates is really big. You meet someone
else that was also in SHPE, and you have an instant connection, and you know that they know
that they had a similar experience going into college like you did.” Imelda described membership
in SHPE as
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A safe place for me to grow and improve upon myself, not just for myself but also for the
benefit of the entire chapter. These people care for each other, not just about what we do,
what we get in exams and what internships we’re after, but as people. We care for each
other.”
Julietta described SHPE as a surrogate family where the community she found offered
her insight and support that her family back home could not:
I think SHPE has been just a really good support system because, as a Hispanic student or
as a woman in STEM, it feels like a lot of other people who come from different
backgrounds. They have a bit of a leg up just in this environment, just in going to college
just because their parents have been to college. It always amazes me when someone’s
like, “My dad’s an engineer.” So, I think SHPE has kind of been in the supplement to that
where it’s like, I don’t have people in my family who have college experiences that I can
talk to about, but there are upperclassmen that I can talk to, and they can share their
experiences with me, or I don’t have to parent that I can talk to about being an engineer
and what their job is like, but I have all these other people who I can ask about how their
experiences have been.
Many participants discussed the challenges of being first-generation college students and
the complicated dynamic this created with their families. Participants credited their families for
helping them get as far as they had but recognized that there was little insight they could offer
about facing the unique challenges of being a STEM undergraduate student. The space that
SHPE provided created a social network of students across all academic years that fostered peer-
to-peer support. This “safe space,” as Imelda called it, acted as their family while they were
living away from home, despite home being only a 15- or 20-minute drive away in some cases.
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Reflecting on the family that SHPE provided her, Alma shared,
I definitely feel like the friends I’ve made here are good people that I can talk to about
this. [My friends are from] families of immigrants, so [their families] don’t understand a
lot of what [we’re] doing as engineers. I feel like talking about [my experiences] with
some of my peers has definitely helped alleviate some of the overwhelming feeling of
just not being understood and not really being seen for some of the work that I’m doing.
Sometimes, they teach me some things about how to explain to your parents why it’s
important.
Although her family could not always understand what Alma was doing or why it was important
to her, Alma’s desire to continue to connect with her family and share her achievements reflects
the strong role family continued to hold in her life. Her ability to look to her SHPE family for
support in connecting with her family at home is representative of the depth of her familial
values.
Social
In addition to emotional support, participants also credited their SHPE family for
expanding their social network and building on their social capital. SHPE expanded its network
of peers, faculty, staff, alumni, and industry representatives. Yosso (2005) described social
capital as the network within one’s community that offers resources and support. This social
capital affords resources, support, and guidance to its community members, a dynamic Yosso
explained is prevalent in Latinx communities. As participants explained the academic journeys
that brought them to college, their employment of social capital was prevalent, although they did
not recognize it as social capital. Students described school counselors, STEM teachers, peers,
and other community members as integral in their preparation for college and credited them for
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support in navigating the application process. The specific role that each of these community
members held in the participants’ ability to get to college is further explored in the section on
institutional agents.
Once students arrived at college, they each described an invaluable network that helped
them navigate academic challenges, develop professionally, and connect them with internships
and jobs. Julietta described her experience with SHPE as
A strong support network with the classes because sometimes I think if I didn’t do any of
that, I’d just be out here on my own with these really hard classes. I [also] think most of
the professional development skills that I’ve learned have come from SHPE and SHPE-
organized events.
Julietta described experiences with unsympathetic professors who did not understand her
background or the isolation of being the only one in her classes that was a woman or a woman of
color. She described SHPE as a springboard for meeting other students and connecting with
study groups to succeed academically.
It would’ve been a little bit of a struggle if I was less involved in SHPE just because it
helped with my classes. I’m like, “Hey, that person’s in SHPE. We can go to study nights
and study for those tests that we have.” Starting my freshman year was super helpful just
because I had that strong support system right at the beginning of my experience.
Despite departmental resources for academic and professional support, Julietta and other
participants described SHPE as more accessible and more effective in teaching the skills
necessary for members to succeed. Similar to the academic support she received from SHPE, she
attributes her professional success to SHPE, explaining,
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I feel like there’s a really big push [here] to get a job. That’s why you’re here. There isn’t
[a lot of] teaching how to do that. There’s the career center or [tutoring] centers to help
you, but it’s not super [helpful]. That wasn’t the way I learned a lot of professional stuff.
Those were all things I learned from SHPE, from older members. It was a nice
community, very reassuring. You’re looking for a job, or you’re struggling, it’s okay. It’s
going to be okay. I was able to figure out more of what I wanted to do just by [SHPE
members] talking about what they have already done.
Through peer-to-peer programming, participants described SHPE membership as affording them
access to countless resources that supported their development as individuals, students, and
professionals. Many credit their job offers to job fairs and networking at SHPE national
conferences, their persistence in engineering to the academic support in events like SHPE Study
Nights, and their growth to engaging in leadership roles as they progressed in their academic
careers. Reflecting on personal growth from her freshman to senior year as a member of SHPE,
Elena expressed, “I found my voice through SHPE. It was important for me as a senior to make
sure that every freshman felt like they had a place.” The familial and social capital these students
employed to get to college become transferable to new environments. In the process of
identifying these sources of capital and in utilizing them, they demonstrate their navigational
capital. Their navigational capital brought them to their university, and all eventually discovered
they utilized navigational capital to persist and complete college.
Navigational
Yosso (2005) referred to navigational capital as the student’s ability to move through
institutional systems, particularly when they do not identify with dominant cultural norms.
Despite growing up in what she described as a low-income neighborhood not far from PRU,
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Alma recalled an interest in science and math at an early age. As she progressed through school,
she knew that college was the door to the career and future she wanted. While her high school
did not offer many resources for college preparation, she created her navigational roadmap. She
explained,
I knew I wanted to go to a 4-year. When I was applying to schools, I found a mentor in
one of my high school teachers. He knew that would be a good way for me to become an
engineer instead of starting at a [community college], having to transfer and just navigate
that.
Alma’s ability to recognize that the resources available at her institution did not align with her
larger academic and career goals was an important navigational skill. She sought mentors in
teachers and peers she believed would help guide her appropriately. She employed that same
navigational capital when starting at PRU and joining SHPE. She shared,
Through SHPE, I feel I found a lot about what it means to be an engineer, and it was
really amazing to see that there was a space for women within the engineering role. Not
only seeing what engineering is, but also that someone that looks like me, talks like me,
can actually do it was really motivating and inspiring.”
Isabela shared her experience navigating the high school environment and explained that
while it was difficult to take on the responsibility of learning about the college application
process without her family’s understanding, she is also proud of that effort. “It was tough,” she
explained. However,
In a weird way made me feel very capable, being able to complete that. My mom helped
me as much as she could. I was doing it fast. I was like, “Oh, it wants four of these
different types of forms,” and she would pull [it] out for me, but I would fill it out and
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then have her double-check to see if anything seemed wrong. They didn’t really
proofread my essays or anything like that. I would reach out to my high school English
teachers and really push myself for letters of recommendation, things no one was telling
me to do. I just knew I needed them for my apps.
Isabela described her ability to navigate the college application process as a young person with
great pride. Her ability to make decisions about what she wanted, explain those decisions to her
family, and find out what was required to make those goals come to fruition demonstrated her
abilities. She describes the day she was accepted to PRU with pride for her and her family: “It’s
just amazing feeling like someone wants you in a very well-established academia world. It’s
really awesome.” Isabela continued to use that navigational capital at PRU, explaining that she
joined several clubs and organizations as an undergraduate. She described SHPE as important in
“building up your resume and understanding how it looks for someone that looks like you.” She
joined in her first year and believed SHPE served her in many ways:
It’s like SHPE itself, even though it’s geared towards Hispanic people in engineering,
there’s so many identities it holds, first-generation, low socioeconomic status, women or
gender. Each identity has different things you deal with, and I feel like SHPE is just so
easy to hold onto everyone and help them with that.
Isabela recognized that although she identified with more than one marginalized identity, SHPE
supported her in navigating challenges regardless of which identity she was being challenged by.
She explained the networking and development she gained from SHPE and how that brought her
to the Ph.D. program in which she is now enrolled.
Not all participants joined SHPE in their first year. Luisa discussed her difficult first year
at PRU, where she struggled with time management, developing meaningful friendships, and
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connecting with her major. She described moments of wanting to quit school and move on from
engineering. After negotiating with herself to stay one more year, she found SHPE through a
friend and described a transformative experience:
I think that’s when a lot of things changed for me personally, just because people were
willing to put others before them in that community. In SHPE, everybody was very
flexible and able to work with others.
Luisa described how her parents’ divorce impacted her during high school. The shift it created in
their ability to focus and support her in the application process left a gap that she filled by
herself. She did the majority of the college research and application process on her own and
reflected on that after having a challenging first year. In college, she applied the navigational
skills she developed in high school. She believes her ability to pivot her involvements and the
community she was investing in changed her college experience and ultimately enabled her to
persist and graduate. After joining the SHPE community in her sophomore year, she shared,
[I felt like] now I can survive school, and I can get past this point. And then, it's focusing
more on what I could do for myself afterwards. So, I feel like that really helped. And,
then, it also gave me the opportunity to help others and give back. And, to me, that's
always been a big thing to help me process my thoughts: to help other people solve their
problems and then apply what I just told them to me.
Luisa’s navigational capital helped her recognize that she was not maneuvering her collegiate
experience the way she should have been to reach her goals. This capital guided her to find
resources and a community better aligned with her interests. In that space, she continued to gain
and provide support to her peers as they navigated toward their own goals.
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Similar to Luisa’s story, all participants shared how members of SHPE helped them
navigate toward their goals. When they were more stable in their junior or senior years, they
offered that same support to first- and second-year members. Leadership and mentorship are
integral parts of the cycle of navigational capital in which SHPE members engage: obtaining and
passing down skills, information, resources, and knowledge.
Resistance
The knowledge and skills students gain from navigating inherently biased or exclusionary
institutional systems create resistance capital (Yosso, 2005) that serves their ability to persist
through challenges and barriers. In challenging inequities, students engage in resistant behavior
that results in skills and knowledge that become a source of capital for future challenges. In the
case of these participants, each recognized inequities in public education and spoke about a
desire to overcome the barriers between them and their academic goals. For participants whose
parents were professionals and had previously navigated these challenges, their resistance capital
was inherited. They spoke about the effort their parents made for the good of their family and
their desire to uphold and continue that legacy.
Dolores shared the sacrifices her parents made in their journey to become college-
educated and pursue professional careers: “I always know that I would go [to college right after
high school]. Having my parents that had gone was a definitely a factor.” She explained that her
parents helped her in the application process, reviewed her college essays, and even connected
her with additional preparatory programs outside of her high school. She spoke about her early
exposure to college and engineering by way of her father’s career and shared, “I do truly believe
it makes so much of a difference to see it early and be exposed to anything early is an
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opportunity.” Dolores took the resistance capital passed down to her by her family to her next
community in SHPE. She went on to say,
That’s why we shifted all of our programs [in SHPE] to do kids in middle school and
younger because once you’re a senior in high school and you just find out about it, it can
feel like it’s too late, but yeah. But it made a big difference for me, but it’s one thing to
see my dad. And it was a totally other thing for me to see other people who were just a
couple years older than me doing it, and I could actually understand what the school was
like or what going to school of engineering was like. So, bringing that to SHPE was
really important.
Dolores’s experience provided insight into how resistance capital can be passed down
generationally. She gained the skills and knowledge of her parent’s experience through resistant
behavior, applied it to her pursuits, and when in a position of leadership and influence, passed it
down to her peers and expanded the community.
Imelda’s story as a first-generation college student reflects a different journey than
Dolores's but still demonstrates the resistance capital prevalent in the Latinx community. Her
parents immigrated to the United States when she was a young child in search of more
opportunities for Imelda and her siblings. Her parents recognized the inequities between
countries and knew that even with careers in Mexico, their children would have more
opportunities in the United States. Imelda shared,
Education has always been super important for [my mom]. She studied dentistry in
Mexico. Unfortunately, she just hasn’t been able to continue her career in this country, so
she became a stay-at-home mom here, but she really always understood the value of
education. [My mom] was like, “No. We moved. If I gave up my career to raise you guys
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here, you guys are going to college.” So, no matter what, through any struggle that my
family ever went through or no matter what, she was always very encouraging of us to
get good grades. That was always in my mind from the very beginning.
The resistance capital Imelda’s mother passed down to her was like passing a torch. Her mother
challenged the inequities of their life’s circumstances for more opportunities, and Imelda
challenged the inequities she saw in the public education system she was a part of and challenged
them in the same way. As early as middle school, Imelda recalls making decisions about her
education that pivoted on their ability to improve her chances to do well in high school and get to
college. She described joining science and math clubs, learning multiple languages, and applying
to academic competitions. She described,
First of all, affording college was a concern, and I knew that basically at the very
beginning of high school. I was very focused on getting to college and very focused on
the ways to get there earlier than my peers were concerned with it. For me, everything
was blank. I didn’t know. So, I started figuring things out for myself early.
Imelda described a moment she vividly recalls of Googling scholarships and coming across an
article that described a student with a similar background as her becoming valedictorian and
receiving a full scholarship to an Ivy League school. That story of resistance capital inspired
Imelda. She saw herself in the story of the woman who also immigrated from Mexico as a child,
learned a new language while adjusting to a new culture, and achieved her academic goals. She
pursued similar steps, researched college preparatory programs, networked with her high school
faculty, and was accepted to every college to which she applied. Her ultimate decision to attend
PRU was a result of the community and connection she experienced during a campus visit. She
was afforded the opportunity to stay overnight for a campus preview, connected with other
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Latinx engineering students, met SHPE members early, and decided that PRU was the right fit
for her.
At the end of her senior year, Imelda reflected on her time at PRU, her involvement in
SHPE, and what she would say to incoming students or those beginning their college experience.
She expressed,
[We] come to STEM as a minority, but we have the same potential as any other student
on campus. For me, I was like, “I need to figure this out on my own, and not just for
myself, but also for my parents because they have to know this as well since they’re
going to be walking through this process for me.” We just have to remember that doesn’t
mean we’re less capable.
Imelda explained that her work as a senior is to help connect new students to resources to help
them succeed and remove the stigma that some of those resources are there as remedial. She
believed strongly in the resistance capital she gained from her and her parents’ life experiences
and hoped that in her time at PRU, she could pass some of that to the next generation of Latinx
engineering students.
Language
Linguistic capital is described by Yosso (2005) as the intellectual and social skills
developed from communication in more than one language. Speaking in more than one language
as a form of capital reflects the skills necessary for communicating, expressing and listening in
different styles as it pertains to cultural and linguistic nuances. For this case study, language was
not a salient feature of the participants’ experience, yet several interviewees did discuss it as a
part of their experience in SHPE. Students who identified as bilingual found comfort in having
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other members of SHPE with whom they could converse in both languages. However, they
typically favored English as it became their primary language once they started school.
Some monolingual participants described growing up hiding their inability to speak
Spanish well but were relieved to find that this was not a factor or experience in building good
relationships in SHPE. Participants of mixed Latinx heritage spoke about not speaking Spanish at
all, but other second languages, and sometimes feeling like imposters in the Latinx community
before arriving at PRU. Luisa described growing up as Latina in the United States with mixed
ethnic heritage as making it difficult to always understand her place, but that changed at PRU
when she joined SHPE, where many of the members also came from mixed-ethnic heritage.
When I came to PRU and SHPE, and you see all these people that are super upfront about
[speaking languages other than English and Spanish]. To me, that was a very strange
dynamic because that’s just like not how I was brought up and not the area I grew up in. I
feel like I just became more, I don’t know if proud is the right word. But I was more
upfront about it versus before it was just like, if it happened to come up, it would come
up. But now, it’s like I tried to bring it up as often as I can. So, I think to me, that’s a very
big shift.
While the interviewees did not explicitly mention the dynamics of code switching, their stories
implied embracing and celebrating the heritage and feeling at home with the SHPE community.
For Luisa, the ability to celebrate and connect with her multi-ethnic heritage was largely credited
to the expanded familial and social capital of connecting with other multi-ethnic students through
SHPE.
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Institutional Agents
Institutional agents occupy roles or positions of influence or power in an organization
(Stanton-Salazar, 2011). Individuals who serve in these roles typically hold access to resources,
knowledge, and information about their organization. In disseminating that information to
another member or participant of the organization, they become institutional agents. The
resources, knowledge, and information that organizational leaders hold are considered capital
that can be passed down to ease the navigation or participation in their institution. As students
seek social or human capital to better maneuver within an institution, institutional agents are
essential in reducing the gatekeeping that creates inequities for full participation in societal
organizations (Stanton-Salazar, 2011). All participants spoke on the role of institutional agents in
their ability to successfully meet their academic goals. Often, it was institutional agents that
identified the students. In the findings for this case study, institutional agents came in the form of
teachers, college counselors, and college preparatory programs or their staff.
Julietta explained that her high school partnered with a college readiness program she
joined because her friends told her it would help her get to college. In her ninth-grade year, they
prompted her to start thinking about what she wanted to do in college. She explained, “I had
known for a while that I definitely like STEM a lot more than English or history and things like
that. Okay, I like STEM. What do people who like math do?” Through her participation in her
high school college readiness program, she connected with teachers and staff who helped
identify her aptitude for math and directed her toward engineering. Their encouragement started
her on researching the field,
What I gathered in my research on the internet about engineering was that it was very
problem-solving focused. I had a very general idea of what it would be, just like people
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using math and physics to problem solve and build things. That’s the most I understood,
and I thought that’s something I can see myself doing.
Like most participants, Julietta applied to PRU without ever having met another engineer or
feeling confident she knew what engineering was as a professional career. She came to it through
guidance from institutional agents like the teachers and staff in her college readiness program.
Similarly, Peppa found a college readiness program that eventually found her a full
scholarship to any university to which she was admitted. “It was really this needle in the
haystack program that I found out about through literally a letter in the mail,” she explained.
Peppa started showing a strong aptitude for science and math in middle school and became
involved in STEM-focused programs. She said,
It was very clear that math and science were things that I was good at. So, I was really
grateful in that I was able to participate in other communities and resources that exposed
me to stuff like that [through my college readiness program]. I think that I was set up a
lot better than a lot of other people who come from the same background as me, who
didn’t have that exposure to the hard science and the hard math in high school.
All participants credited high school institutional agents for getting them into PRU. They
recognized that their role in supporting their goals and offering guidance, support, and resources
opened the door to college access. During their time at PRU, their peers in SHPE leadership roles
took on the role of institutional agents. They connected them to other institutional agents in
expanding their social network, building on their social capital, and connecting with staff,
faculty, and alumni who would grant them access to their knowledge and resources in support of
their success. As these students progressed from first-year students to seniors, they became
institutional agents for incoming students, a cycle system of support that lifts as they climb.
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Peer Mentorship
As students discussed and explored the institutional agents that supported them in their
undergraduate experiences, they referenced peers, faculty, staff, and other institutional or
organizational individuals who assisted them in their goals. The role of peers as institutional
agents was recurring as students talked about the mentorship that student SHPE leaders and
upper-division members of the organization offered. Cyclically, they discussed their desire to
offer mentorship to incoming students to hand down the knowledge, insight, and capital they
gained. This engagement of peer-to-peer mentorship is the mechanism by which Latinx members
of SHPE built on and added to the capital of their peers to support them in persistence, degree
attainment, and post-baccalaureate goals. In describing the mentor-mentee relationship between
SHPE leaders and new members, Elena described,
It was my [SHPE] mentor that introduced me to building science. Then she introduced
me to more SHPE people who told me about meetings and stuff. Since I connected with
them there, I was like, ‘Well, okay. I feel more comfortable attending a meeting because I
know these people, and I know they’ll be there.
She also shared, “I think what stood out to me a lot was SHPE just academically and personally.
I gained a lot of mentorship through SHPE, a lot of friendships, and then a lot of homework
help.” In her early experiences with SHPE, Elena described the way informal mentorship
relationships formed between upper-division students and herself and the many ways they
supported her. They also worked to connect her to others and expand her social network. As she
progressed through college, she eventually took on leadership roles because of her positive
experiences with older students. She became more interested in holding leadership positions and
said,
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I really admired the leaders in SHPE that were there my freshman year. I remember I
looked up to [them] so much. It was definitely thanks to the leaders that were there my
freshman year because they were still people that I admire to this day.
Many participants echoed similar sentiments. They recognized that the mentorship they gained
from older SHPE members, typically those holding leadership roles, afforded them many
opportunities, contributed to and maintained the organization’s values, and made it possible for
them to persist. Alma, who never held a formal leadership role in the organization, still attributed
her time in SHPE as integral in developing her leadership skills. She shared,
I definitely learned a lot about how to become a leader and how to grow as a person in
that sense. Specifically, I feel I haven’t been in any major roles in SHPE, but it’s still nice
to be able to work with people and kind of also give back to our community in that sense
and part of the outreach committee with other members. So, yeah, definitely being able to
grow as a leader, put on these amazing events and then seeing the impact that we’re able
to give on next generation. It’s really inspiring, I would say.
Although she did not engage in formal leadership roles, Alma still engaged in the organization’s
activities and, by = doing so, advanced their mission and values of community outreach. In that
way, she acted as a mentor to those she was supporting. She shared that she had a job offer, and
an SHPE alumna and personal mentor of hers helped her with her salary negotiations, accepting
at more than the original offer. She attributes these outcomes to the ability to lean into the mentor
relationships and network she derived from SHPE.
The mentor-mentee dynamic, as described by participants, is cyclical and ongoing. Many
participants shared staying in touch with older students, although they are now all alumnae, and
utilizing their mentor relationship for insight, feedback, and guidance as they navigated their
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post-baccalaureate life. Many described staying in touch with current mentees and the
importance of giving back, handing down, and lifting up, an important cycle in how capital is
used to support students’ persistence and success.
Research Question 1: Document Review
In addition to interviews, I conducted document analysis to triangulate the data. The
documents reviewed were the SHPE-PRU chapter website, the organization’s constitution, and a
fundraising package for major donors. When reviewing the documents, I strove to provide
background and context for the experiences the interviewees described and to provide
supplemental information for the role and operation of SHPE-PRU.
Five themes emerged in the document review that revealed how SHPE supports
members’ goal attainment. These themes align with Yosso’s (2005) CCW model and the social
capital framework. They are aspirational, familial, social, navigational, and resistant. These
themes were evident in the documents reviewed, demonstrating the organization’s overall
commitment to supporting the development of its members and the community around them.
While the documents did not speak to the organization’s effectiveness in achieving this,
supplemented with the interviews, SHPE’s function as a source of support in students’ goal
attainment was well demonstrated.
Aspirational
The organization’s constitution and website share a mission and vision statement that
reflects SHPE’s desire to be a space where Latinx and other underrepresented minority students
will be empowered to realize their full potential as it relates to their work in STEM. The vision
statement, as it is shared across all chapters, reflects a desire to create “a world where Hispanics
are highly valued and influential as the leading innovators, scientists, mathematicians, and
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engineers.” These are high-level aspirations for the Latinx STEM community and align with the
individual aspirations members bring to the organization. Collectively, they form the Latinx
community that will bring these changes and impacts to the greater society. The corporate
sponsorship packages and website highlight the organization’s events and programs designed to
support their members’ academic advancement and professional development. Through events
such as Study Nights, resume workshops, and mock interviews, SHPE demonstrates a
commitment to academically and professionally supporting students, aligning with the
participants’ long-term goals.
Familial and Social
In supporting members, the organization also recognizes the importance of a social space
that fosters a family atmosphere and expands members’ networks. Listed in the organization’s
constitution under purpose, section III states, “a sense of ‘familial’ is ingrained within our
organization and provides a unique social atmosphere for all members.” The constitution also
outlines the organization's leadership roles and includes a “director of membership,” whose
responsibilities include assisting “the VP in the execution general body meetings and social
events to increase the sense of familial.” The role of family is evident in the written
documentation but also implied in some of the areas of care and development the organization
supports.
Like a family, SHPE leaders care about students’ holistic development, with leadership
roles dedicated to student wellness. The constitution and website outline a series of wellness
events that target support and promotion of emotional, mental, and physical wellness where
group exercise, meditation, and even dietitians are made accessible to students. In the same way,
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a family would care for the health of its members, SHPE invests in students' health while they
are away from home and living on campus.
These events, as well as other professional networking and recruitment activities, support
students’ development and expand their social networks. Members connect with peers,
institutional staff, faculty, and industry professionals by engaging in their programs. Thus, SHPE
acts as an institutional agent by opening access to knowledge, resources, and human capital to
students.
Navigational
Each program helps students better understand, maneuver, and succeed in their academic
and professional environments. The SHPE Info Sessions bring industry recruiters to campus to
meet with members and provide insight into navigating job searches. During Info Sessions,
students ask hiring managers what their resumes should look like, what kind of experience they
seek, what to include in their cover letters, and how to prepare for interviews. Similarly, resume
workshops and other professional development events provide SHPE members with a
competitive edge and insight into finding and applying for jobs.
Resistance
The implication of resistance capital is evident in the type of programs the organization
describes on its website and constitution and in the programs described in its corporate
sponsorship package. These programs are designed to “level the playing field” for SHPE
members to compete in an environment where they are URMs. The SHPE-PRU chapter created a
series of programs and events designed to help students manage and overcome inequities in the
college environment and gain access to professional careers. This form of programming is also
evident in the community outreach programs in which members invest. All documents reviewed
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highlighted programs and events where SHPE-PRU works with local high school and middle
school students to introduce engineering concepts early. The documents reflect an effort to work
against inequities in the public education system, of which many SHPE members were a part, by
bringing STEM and the application of engineering to hands-on projects to under-resourced
schools. The organization enables members to lift as they climb. In addition to supporting the
progress of their current members, they lift by reaching into local schools and offering the capital
they have gained to younger community members.
Summary
This chapter outlines the findings regarding how participating in SHPE-PRU supported
participants’ ability to achieve their professional and academic goals. Using Yosso’s (2005)’s
CCW model and institutional agents’ role as outlined in Stanton-Salazar’s (2011) application of
the social capital framework, it is evident that SHPE-PRU members capitalize on the capital they
earned or inherited prior to joining PRU to navigate the college environment. In a cycle of
receiving social capital and passing it down to incoming students, SHPE members created a
communal space where students supported one another at PRU and beyond by ensuring they met
their post-graduation goals. The role of institutional agents and the capital, as described by
Yosso, all emerged as relevant themes in the participants’ education.
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CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This case study aimed to gain insight into the experiences of undergraduate Latina
engineering seniors and alumni who participated in the SHPE student organization. Through a
qualitative investigation of their experiences, I sought to draw connections in how this student
organization supported or expanded its members’ social and cultural capital, better positioning
them to achieve their post-baccalaureate professional goals.
The framework used to design the study’s questions and qualitative approach was
Yosso’s (2005) CCW theory, which offers six forms of cultural capital accessible to the Latinx
community that, although not widely capitalized on, if supported, can allow students to thrive in
opportunities for growth and achievement. The SHPE is a student organization where cultural
capital and professional/academic interest intersect. This organization is designed to support
students through their academic careers and prepare them as professionals using their ethnic
Latinx culture as the cornerstone of their community. This space is specifically designed to
utilize, grow, and expand the shared cultural capital of the Latinx community to support students
academically, personally, and professionally. Gaining insight into how the organization
accomplishes this can offer new opportunities for student affairs practitioners to create more
inclusive programs, events, and services for underrepresented STEM students across student
support service departments.
Research Question
Specifically, this study sought to answer the following research question:
● How does participation in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers by
undergraduate Latinas in engineering support their ability to achieve their post-
baccalaureate academic or career aspirations?
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Using a qualitative inductive approach, semi-structured interviews and document review helped
to determine if there was alignment between the functions of the student organization and
Yosso’s (2005) forms of CCW capital. In examining that alignment, the study sought to
determine if and how this supported students’ abilities to meet their academic and professional
goals post-graduation. For some participants, this meant continuing into graduate school and, for
others, obtaining job offers in the engineering industry.
Significance of the Study
Although there has been a greater emphasis on using a growth-mindset approach to
supporting URM students, programs and interventions are often applied from a deficit model
(Packard, 2015). Further studies and a deeper understanding of inherent social and cultural
capital in ethnic communities can offer greater insight into the nuanced ways to support URM
students in college to persist and achieve degree completion. This case study offers insight into
how the Latinx community utilizes, builds on, and passes down their inherent capital by bringing
together students using their ethnic background as a commonality and supporting them
academically and professionally.
Methodology
A qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews and document review
to answer the overarching research question. Nine women participated in the qualitative
interviews. All respondents identified as Latinx women and were either alumni or seniors on
track to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering. All participants were either in
graduate school pursuing advanced engineering degrees, working in the engineering industry, or
had job offers to work in the engineering industry after graduation. Interviews lasted an hour to
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90 minutes and were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for emerging themes aligning with the
theoretical framework. Similarly, documents were reviewed to triangulate the emerging themes.
The data analysis offered support for all forms of capital as presented in the CCW theory
and presented additional relevant themes that were significant in the participant’s abilities to
achieve their professional or academic goals upon graduation. These themes are further explored
in the summary of findings below.
Discussion of the Findings
The initial data analysis of the interviews and documentation review reinforced the
primary themes of CCW and social capital models: aspirational, familial, social, navigational,
resistant, language, and institutional agents. In addition to these primary themes, an additional
theme of peer mentorship emerged as the mechanism by which students support and build on one
another’s capital as tools for success. This additional theme offers deeper insight into the method
Latinx students utilize to support their peers in maintaining and expanding their cultural and
social capital. By engaging in leadership and mentorship roles, students act as institutional agents
for one another and build on the areas of capital as offered by Yosso (2005). As entering students
progress in college to the third and fourth years, they shift from benefiting from the leadership
and mentorship of older students to engaging in leadership and mentoring roles for incoming
students. This cycle yields a pipeline of student support, success, and achievement.
Community and Cultural Wealth Capital
Through events such as Study Nights, resume workshops, and mock interviews, SHPE
demonstrates a commitment to academically and professionally supporting students, aligning
with the participants’ long-term goals. The participants’ stories highlighted these areas as either
the capital they used to get to college or the capital they gained and built on to navigate their
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undergraduate experience. The following is a synopsis of the findings as they relate to each form
of CCW capital.
Aspirational
Aspirational capital for Latinx students to pursue STEM degrees is expressed as the
“student’s hopes for a STEM future despite facing structural educational inequities” (Rincón &
Rodriguez, 2021, p. 153). The participants derived aspirational capital related to going to college
from their families, local communities, and peers. However, the aspirational capital of seeing
themselves as STEM-capable individuals that can achieve STEM careers is often derived from
their college peers (Ovink & Veazey, 2011; Rincón & Rodriguez, 2021; Yosso, 2005). This case
study’s findings affirm this assertion as students explored how membership in SHPE allowed
them to see themselves as having the capacity and capability to persist in engineering, even if it
was not something that was expected of them or that they were exposed to previously. In
reflecting on her college and SHPE experience, Isabela shared,
It was just awesome to see people in my major at SHPE because BME [biomedical
engineering], as a major, I think, there’s only a handful of Hispanic people in the major
itself. Not a ton of representation … not very ethnically diverse. So, [SHPE] felt very
geared towards me. And, then, being alongside people that I look like and that I knew
personally … it was just easier. I think a big challenge is imposter syndrome, especially
when you’re aiming for things higher. Because for me, college itself was not expected or
… yeah, it wasn’t expected for me. But I did it anyways, and now I’m going to grad
school. And that’s not at all expected.
All participants described forms of aspirational capital as what drove them to apply to college.
Only a few described previous experiences with engineering as a career and field of study. For
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most participants, the support of their peers in SHPE allowed them to maintain their aspirational
capital and expand on it from becoming a college student in general to being an engineering
student, specifically.
Speaking about how membership in SHPE allowed her to persist, Daisy recalled
I feel like the first 2 years, it really was a good resource for academic support when
you’re taking out those foundational courses. … Then, once I got into my third or fourth
year, where it starts getting a lot more siloed into what your majors are, and I was one of
five environmental engineering majors in my class, and none of them were [Hispanic]. I
think most of all the support really was in community support and this idea of we’re all in
the struggle together. There’s no good way to explain it, but you don’t even know that
you need that [support] until you’re in the struggle. I feel like that really was a foundation
of what tied a lot of SHPE people, not only to the organization but really to each other
and to each other’s journey and to each other’s success. Then, I think, furthermore,
definitely professional development and this idea of just, okay, what do you need to do in
order to come out of this and have a job.
Daisy directly credited her time in SHPE with her ability to continue and persevere through
difficult and rigorous coursework. She also credited SHPE with her ability to navigate the job-
search process while simultaneously completing her degree and obtaining a job offer in an
engineering-related position. While Daisy’s local community and peers built on her aspirational
capital to get to college, the SHPE community expanded her aspirational capital to allow her the
self-efficacy of being STEM-capable.
Familial and Social
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Being family-centered as a value is a strong form of capital in the Latinx community
(Cantú, 2012; Rincón et al., 2020; Yosso, 2005). Participants discussed the role of family in two
dynamics: their nuclear family and their SHPE family. All participants shared that the decision to
attend college was familial, even when their family did not align with the ultimate university
decisions they were making, all families supported their daughters in pursuing higher education.
Students described strong bonds with members of their families and the emotional support they
offered in making important decisions about their future. Once they arrived at their new college
environment, these family-oriented students found family and community in one another through
SHPE. Reflecting on her SHPE and college experience, Dolores shared
[SHPE] is what kept me, like, made me feel at home [on campus]. When they say it’s a
family, and it truly … was instantly for me. It was where I met a lot of upperclassmen for
the first time and where I met a bunch of people that I have just connected with so
strongly. SHPE felt just like instant family to me.
Although they did not overlap much during membership, Mirabel described SHPE as “my family
away from home, even though I was only 20 minutes away from home. I made some of my best
friends there.” That familial space became a home-away-from-home for students that were not
close enough to see their nuclear families regularly, and it was the home where they found
solidarity when their families could not understand what they were feeling and experiencing. As
Dolores shared, this is an important factor in their ability to persist.
Similarly, social capital refers to the variety of networks to which a student has access,
including family, community, institutional, and organizational resources (Guzmán et al., 2021).
Other studies utilizing CCW as a framework describe social capital as a prosocial behavior
nurtured in the family setting and then applied in other social contexts (Guzmán et al., 2021). As
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described by the participants, the transferable use of family demonstrates their ability to utilize,
implement, and build upon these forms of capital.
Navigational and Resistant Capital
In the application of CCW, studies have demonstrated that forms of capital do not exist in
isolation, are often connected, and can occur simultaneously (Guzmán et al., 2021; Yosso, 2005).
The narratives shared by the participants demonstrated that navigational and resistant capital are
very much connected and interrelated. Navigational capital is expressed by students’ ability to
utilize their skills and resources to maneuver through institutions and organizations (Yosso,
2005). Resistant capital refers to the “knowledge and skills fostered through oppositional
behavior that challenges inequality” (Yosso, 2005, p. 8). As students worked towards their goals,
they demonstrated resistant capital of persevering in systems they knew were filled with
inequities and navigated these systems by capitalizing on their resources and networks.
Many of the participants identified as first-generation college students. Isabela recalled
preparing for the college application process and shared,
People in my high school hard like, “Oh, yeah, my parents are grilling me on these essays
for college.” I was like, “Oh, what are you talking about? My parents don’t even know
what colleges I’m applying to.” So, it was tough. But, in a weird way, made me feel very
capable, being able to complete that.
Isabela’s ability to navigate the college application process was empowering for her. She
recognized that some of her peers were better equipped and prepared for that process and had
resources at home that she did not. By leaning on school resources, peers, and mentors outside of
her home, her sense of capability was increased as she built on her navigational and resistant
capital.
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Linguistic
The intellectual and social skills that students develop by coming from multilingual
homes and environments are considered linguistic capital (Yosso, 2005). In this case study,
language did not emerge as a strong form of capital. However, there are implications where I
believe further research would highlight the practice of code-switching as an expression of
linguistic capital. I believe interviews on how students prepare one another to speak to faculty,
job recruiters, and their peers in assigned study groups would offer a more in-depth
understanding of linguistic capital and demonstrate the skill of code-switching.
One notable reason I do not believe language emerged as a primary theme is that
participants reported a diverse chapter where many members identified as multi-ethnic, with
mixed Latinx heritage. In speaking about growing up mono-lingual and with mixed ethnic
heritage, Dolores explained,
[In our chapter,] we have people from all over. Actually, at the national level, when at
conferences, especially with the leadership position I ended up being in, a lot of times
people will initially address me in Spanish … and I feel bad having to be like, “Oh, can
we speak in English?” But especially within our own chapter, nobody’s’ made me feel
bad about it. It’s not been a big deal.
This dynamic might be experienced differently at other institutions and other chapters with
differing chapter demographics.
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Social Capital: Institutional Agents
In addition to the six forms of capital that Yosso (2005) describes in CCW, the role of
institutional agents emerged as a recurring theme in all participant narratives. Institutional agents
serve as individuals with access to key resources that can directly influence access to
opportunities within an organization or institution (Stanton-Salazar, 1997). As affirmed by
existing literature (Bensimon et al., 2019; Bourdieu, 1986; Dowd et al., 2013; Stanton-Salazar,
1997, 2011), Institutional agents hold a critical role in a student’s ability to obtain capital, persist
to degree completion, and contribute greatly to a positive student experience. Each participant
shared stories about staff, faculty, or mentors that supported them in their academic journey.
These institutional agents offered students access to college-readiness programs, supported them
in the college application process, and connected them to high school and college resources.
They were utilizing their navigational, resistant, and social capital, participants connected
with key institutional agents to support them in achieving their goals. Once in the college
environment, SHPE served as a conduit for connecting students to institutional agents and
widened their network of support. Julietta shared the challenges she had connecting with her
faculty for some of her more difficult classes. She described feeling lost in larger classes and not
knowing or understanding how to ask for help, but older members in SHPE guided her to utilize
office hours and coached her on how to use them efficiently. She shared,
[I learned] it’s more helpful to try to connect more with a professor, go to their office
hours to ask questions, not just look through the notes…Office hours is a time to build
personal connections with the processor, one-on-one time with them.
The knowledge and tools to navigate the college environment are passed down through
membership, where SHPE leaders serve as relationship builders for new students and existing
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institutional agents. In many ways, by engaging in that leadership, upper-division students act as
institutional agents.
Peer Mentorship
Peer mentorship is an effective tool for persistence in STEM academic programs, as is
well established in current literature (Atkins et al., 2020; Packard & Fortenberry, 2015). All
participants described the mentor relationships they engaged in with current SHPE members and
the integral support these mentors offered in navigating their new environment. Mirabel
described joining the organization and starting off as “timid and shy.” By engaging with current
members and participating in the organization’s activities, over time, “I found out that I was
good at leading some stuff.” She described what she gained from her membership personally
with the guidance of her mentors,
I started being more okay with asking questions. In SHPE, I wasn’t tiptoeing around, and
I was bringing ideas to the table, and I was putting plans together. … Then, I was able to
get an internship, and I think there’s just a confidence that comes with your first
internship. … Then, I ran for a leadership position.
The support Mirabel gained from the relationships she developed through SHPE supported the
growth of her self-confidence and self-efficacy, which led her to find her voice within the
organization and eventually in other spaces during her academic career. In time, she took on
leadership roles in the organization to offer that support to younger members. Reflecting on her
favorite SHPE experiences, Pepa shared,
I definitely think just being able to be a role model and mentor for younger students,
especially younger women. I think it was something that was definitely rewarding for me.
By the time I got to my senior year, I was chapter president, and I was doing all these
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other things. I was having all these tumultuous experiences, but I found that it really
helped a lot of younger girls who are just starting out and belong like, “Oh, I want to be
able to do the things you’ve done, and you’ve been able to do them, so I feel like I can do
that.” There’s nothing more rewarding than that, just being able to know that you’ve been
able to provide that sort of exposure to somebody, and now they can do it. That’s
definitely what’s the best part.
The meaningful engagement in peer mentorship relationships is reciprocated between mentor
and mentee. As participants described the insights and support they gained from meaningful
mentor relationships with their peers, they also described the rewarding and growth-oriented
experiences from serving as mentors. The opportunity for students to engage in mentor and
mentee dynamics provided them space to develop skills and insights that they used and
implemented in their life after graduation.
Relationship Between Key Themes
In reviewing the individual narratives and experiences of each participant, it became
evident that often their experiences sustained more than one form of capital, with several of the
six forms of capital (Yosso, 2005) overlapping. This finding is implied and upheld in other work
where CCW has been applied to student experiences within the BIPOC community (James-
Gallaway, 2022). James-Gallaway (2022) similarly found that Yosso’s (2005) forms of capital
often overlap for students and what sustains one form of capital for a particular individual may
be different for another. In this way, I believe the forms of capital work as a system, influenced
by the individual lived experience and lens of each student. The narratives of each student and
their journeys in persistence also suggest that these forms of capital do not function in isolation,
but work in unison in a system to support students as they strive toward their academic and
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professional goals. The role of institutional agents and peer mentorship as the instrument
sustaining a system of cultural capital can be further explored in future research.
Implications for Practice
The evidence offered in the narratives of each participant affirms the positive impacts of
student participation in co-curricular organizations, such as SHPE. While it is widely accepted
that a student’s ability to become involved in campus life positively influences their growth,
development, persistence, and overall experience (Astin, 1984; Cooper et al., 1994; Pascarella &
Terenzini, 2005; Tinto, 1987), this case study suggests that not all involvement is created
equally. The uniqueness of a student organization such as SHPE is that it creates a community
where academic alignment, engineering in this case, and ethnic culture, Latinx culture in the case
of SHPE, intersect intentionally. This provides students a safe space to bring their full, authentic
selves while pursuing their academic and professional goals. This aligns with the existing
literature that suggests that for URM, unique spaces that specifically address the needs and
experiences of their ethnic background are necessary for their ability to find a sense of belonging
and engage with their campus community (Banda, 2012; Jones et al., 2002; Ortiz, 2004; Outcalt
& Skewes-Cox, 2002; Packard & Fortenberry, 2015).
As college and university leaders seek to support URM STEM students’ mindfulness and
intentionality, they must consider how cultural norms, needs, and experiences are allowed to be
expressed. The community and support students experience in SHPE highlight the important role
a sense of belonging has in their persistence. Spaces where culture and academia meet allow
students to build on the social and cultural capital necessary to move through college into a
professional community. However, SHPE is entirely student-run and places the burden of student
retention, persistence, and success on other students. To support more diverse students, academic
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schools within colleges and universities should consider how they explicitly create spaces for
ethnic minorities to connect with one another, staff, and faculty and strive to expand students’
social and cultural capital. Recommendations for incorporating these practices are described in
this chapter as well as an exploration of how institutional leaders can approach these issues of
diversity, equity, and inclusion as they impact their colleges and universities.
Implication for Institutional Leadership
As practitioners and institutional leaders consider possible solutions to better support
students that have been historically marginalized, improve their student experience, and create
systemic change in colleges and universities, Bolman and Deal (2021) offer a Four-Frame model
that allows for multiple perspectives to be considered in the assessment and problem-solving
process. I have applied this framework to further examine how challenges to equity, inclusion,
and support of diverse student populations in the college environment require a multi-
dimensional approach.
The Four Frames Model offers four perspectives that organization issues or challenges
can be analyzed to increase the effectiveness and impact of solutions and interventions. The
frames offered are Structural, Human Resource, Symbolic, and Political (Bolman & Deal, 2021).
In an environment as multidimensional as a college or university with multiple interests, various
communities, and complex organizational structure, the Four Frames offer an opportunity to
consider impacts and changes of multiple solutions, that in concert, could affect systemic change.
The Structural lens begins with an organization's existing structure or operational practice
(Bolman & Deal, 2021). This frame offers an operational perspective of how an organization or
institution is designed to structurally meet its goals, mission, and purpose. The Human Resource
frame focuses on the individuals within an organization (Bolman & Deal, 2021). In applying this
95
framework to a university setting, it is important to consider all the individuals directly involved
within the institution: faculty, staff, and student needs. The Human Resource lens prompts
leadership to consider who is included in their community, how they are valued and whether they
are equipped with the tools, skills, and resources needed to achieve the organization’s goals,
mission, and vision in the existing structure. Considering these frames together allows
institutional leaders to ask themselves, “is the structure of our organization designed to allow our
community to succeed?” The Symbolic frame considers an organization’s goals, mission, or
other symbols and images that might reflect meaning to its internal and external community
(Bolman & Deal, 2021). This is particularly important to consider for communities of ethnic
minorities. Many of the key areas of persistence, including community and belonging (Packard,
2016), are developed from Symbolic functions. Mission statements, dedicated spaces for
underrepresented students, and other visual statements demonstrating a university’s commitment
to diversity, equity, and inclusion would be identified from a Symbolic lens. Finally, the Political
frame considers the relationships, interests, and stakeholders within an organization, their
influences and impact (Bolman & Deal, 2021).
Individually, each frame offers insight into niche areas of impact within an organization,
but together, the Four Frames offer systemic impacts that can create effectiveness across lenses.
The challenges of creating more inclusive environments for diverse populations can only be
effectively addressed when multiple Frames are employed strategically in offering solutions and
interventions to support and improve student experiences. Solutions must be offered and
considered in each frame, not in isolation. For instance, if new programs or initiatives are
recommended, employing the Human Resource frame allows leaders to consider whether there is
enough existing staff with the expertise to execute those programs or if more should be hired.
96
The Structural Frame can offer insight into why students may benefit from program interventions
and suggest that operationally, there are places within the college or university that should be
further examined. The symbolic frame considers what is the university’s position on diversity
and support of underrepresented students. In this frame, it is important to know what is stated
and what are the sentiments within the multiple communities of a university regarding diversity.
In the Political frame, stakeholders and intuitional relationships can be further examined to better
understand the ways inclusion and equity are impacted by institutional influencers. When
considering the recommendations outlined below and all recommendations for change within an
organization, the most effective implementation of these changes accounts for the impacts within
all four Frames and applies change across the multiple layers of an institution.
Recommendations for Practice
In the review of the findings from this case study, I outlined two key recommendations
for practice. The first recommendation is for colleges to establish STEM-focused cultural
resource centers. The second is for campuses to institutionalize peer mentor programs
specifically for URM, led by URM, and assigned by academic disciplines. These
recommendations are further explored below.
Recommendation 1: Establish STEM-Focused Cultural Resource Centers Within
Academic Schools
The literature established that students are more likely to find a sense of belonging and
community in campus spaces where they can identify ethnically with other participants (Baker,
2008; Banda, 2012; Jones et al., 2002; Ortiz, 2004; Rendón et al., 2000). Additionally, URM
STEM students face unique challenges in persistence as related to their academic majors because
of the inequities in the educational pipeline (Harper, 2010; Packard & Fortenberry, 2015).
97
Establishing a cultural resource center within an academic unit demonstrates an understanding
and commitment to directly addressing the institutional inequities that often put these students at
risk of persistence.
A sense of belonging is a key factor in URM students’ persistence in engineering or other
STEM majors (Packard & Fortenberry, 2015). Students can connect with their academic and
cultural communities in academically focused cultural resource centers. This will allow students
a space of community where they can begin to expand on their social and cultural capital as it
pertains to their academic and professional endeavors.
Furthermore, establishing these spaces as university departments affords them access to
full-time campus staff, funding, and other resources to support students in a more
institutionalized process. Relying solely on student organizations assumes that a new group of
student leaders will emerge each year to carry the torch of the organization’s mission, which can
be difficult to predict because student leadership experiences yearly turnover. Instead,
established professional staff and a dedicated office to support culturally focused professional
student organizations can create a dynamic that does not put the onus of building social and
cultural capital as a means of student success on other students. Academic and cultural resource
centers can serve as a hub and resource to students and student organizations that support their
academic, personal, and professional development.
Recommendation 2: Institutional URM STEM Peer Mentor Programs
In alignment with the literature and this case study’s findings, URM students benefit
greatly from the mentorship of other URM students (Packard & Fortenberry, 2015; Rockinson-
Szapkiw et al., 2022). They also manage unique challenges to persistence in STEM degree
programs (Packard & Fortenberry, 2015). Peer mentor programs enhance these students’ ability
98
to learn from one another, support each other in mutually beneficial relationships, and gain social
and cultural capital. While students gain this informal mentor experience through student
organizations, a program facilitated by trained student affairs professionals can allow for more
rich experiences and more qualified mentors. Creating mentor training programs, having
checkpoints, and establishing desired outcomes can support college leaders’ ability to measure
the effectiveness of their programs, efforts, and goals (Packard & Fortenberry, 2015; Rockinson-
Szapkiw et al., 2022).
Further Research
This case study yielded insights into the experiences of female engineering students and
demonstrated that participating in SHPE expanded their social and cultural capital, supporting
their ability to achieve their post-baccalaureate goals. It also provided insights into areas of the
student experience that would merit further research and exploration. The dynamic of peer-to-
peer mentorship specifically for URM students should be further explored. While literature
examines the role of mentorship in STEM student persistence, who these mentors are and how
that matters could be further explored (Rockinson-Szapkiw et al., 2022). In addition to the roles
that mentorship holds for these students, two other dynamics emerged that should be considered
in future research: URM students’ STEM identity development and code-switching as a form of
linguistic capital.
All participants declared an engineering major despite not confidently understanding
what that meant or what an engineer did professionally. Over time, their peers and academic
network helped them better understand engineering as a field of study and profession, building
on their interests and capacity (Packard & Fortenberry, 2015). This process of seeing themselves
as STEM-capable is part of embracing a science identity (Nealy & Orgill, 2020) that supports
99
their persistence and ability to pursue STEM careers after graduation. “Efforts directed at
increasing students’ motivation, or their perceptions of their own intelligence should also
increase students’ science identities, their persistence in scientific endeavors, and their retention
in STEM majors” (Nealy et al., 2020, pp. 262–263). More work in science and STEM-identity
development as it pertains to URM student experience would allow colleges and universities to
develop more intentional programs, services, and interventions to support students in that
process.
The emphasis on the value of an intersecting cultural-professional community to gain
access to an industry where Latinx populations are underrepresented implies that some
assimilation to the majority culture is necessary for entry and success. In this safe space of an
ethnic cultural community, capital is handed over to prepare newcomers for entry into an
industry that has historically not included them (Chang et al., 2014). Future research should
explore the role of code-switching in navigating spaces where URM have been historically
excluded. This area of research can offer cross-disciplinary insight into student development and
university career services and better inform recruitment practices in the engineering industry.
100
Conclusion
The purpose of this case study was to understand better how participating in SHPE
supported students’ ability to pursue and achieve their postbaccalaureate professional and
academic goals. Using Yosso’s (2005) CCW model as a framework, the findings suggest that
SHPE guided and supported students through goal attainment by building on their social and
cultural capital. While the general design of the organization’s programs, events, and services
directly contributed to the building of its members’ social capital, the process of engaging in
mentorship, formally and informally, was a significant mechanism by which capital was handed
down from upper-division students to incoming students. In reflecting on her growth journey
within the student organization, Luisa shared,
I think it was also just being more confident in myself was something that I got, because
when you see, like, I remember freshman year I didn’t talk to anybody … and then,
sophomore year, it picked up a lot more. And then, by junior year, it was like nonstop.
And I think that was very much attributed to that feeling of, like, now I can do something.
And I felt like I belonged to the degree.
Luisa’s journey of personal growth as her engagement in the student organization deepened,
reflecting how membership and active engagement in SHPE supported her personal development
and allowed her to see herself as STEM-capable in an industry that has not historically
represented others like her well. Understanding the role of social and cultural capital in student
success is valuable, and student affairs practitioners can utilize this critical framework as we
strive to create more representative, supportive, and inclusive STEM communities.
101
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Tsui, L. (2007). Effective Strategies to increase diversity in STEM fields: A review of the
research literature. The Journal of Negro Education, 76(4), 555–581.
U.S. Department of Education. (2019). Degrees conferred by race/ethnicity and sex.
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=72
Vega, D. (2016). “Why not me?” College enrollment and persistence of high-achieving first-
generation Latino college students. School Psychology Forum, 10(3), 307–320.
Vest, C. M. (2011). The image problem for engineering: An overview. The Bridge Linking
Engineering and Society, 41(2), 5–11.
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Wang, X. W. & Lake, N. (2021). Why Diversity in STEM Matters. Packard Fellowships for
Science and Engineering.
Weiss, R. S. (1994). Learning from strangers: The art and method of qualitative interview
studies. The Free Press.
Wells, R. (2008a). Social and cultural capital, race and ethnicity, and college student retention.
Journal of College Student Retention, 10(2), 103–128. https://doi.org/10.2190/CS.10.2.a
Wells, R. (2008b). The effects of social and cultural capital on student persistence: Are
community colleges more meritocratic? Community College Review, 36(1), 25–46.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0091552108319604
Yeager, D., & Dweck, C. S. (2012). Mindsets that promote resilience: When students believe
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cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91. ,mvbnb
110
APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL
Thank you for agreeing to participate in my case study and agreeing to share about your
experiences as a member of SHPE. The goal of my study is to better understand what you have
gained from your participation in the organization and how it has supported you in meeting your
goals after graduation. With your consent, I will be recording our interview and taking notes
during our conversation. I do have some specific questions, but please feel free to share anything
that comes up as I go through my questions. I’ll begin by asking some general questions about
yourself, then ask questions about your college and USC experience, and follow up with specific
questions about your experience in SHPE. I’ll conclude with some general questions about your
personal journey to college. Do you have any questions before we begin?
1. To begin, can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Probes:
a. Hometown (local or out of the area?)
b. Have other members in your family attended college?
c. How would you describe your generational status?
d. Year in school or when did you graduate?
2. How would you describe your race and/or ethnicity?
3. What language (or languages) did you speak growing up?
4. What role, if any, does this language have in your educational journey?
5. What were your motivating factors in deciding to go to college?
Probes:
a. Did you attend college right after high school?
111
b. Enroll directly to USC or a transfer student?
6. Tell me about your decision to come to this university?
Probes:
a. How did your family factor into your decision-making process?
b. What were some systems of support that helped you get into college?
7. What made you pursue engineering?
Probes:
a. Decision about specific discipline
b. Did you know any engineers growing up
c. What was your understanding of engineering prior to entering college?
d. How did it change?
8. What are your family’s thoughts about your selection of major?
9. What has your experience in the program been in Viterbi been like thus far?
10. I know you’re a member of SHPE, are you involved in any other student organizations?
11. How long have you been a SHPE member?
Probe:
a. What prompted you to join when you did?
b. Looking back, would you have joined at a different time in your engineering
school experience?
12. Can you tell me about your experience in SHPE?
Probe:
a. How has your involvement with SHPE changed over time?
b. What have been some of your most memorable SHPE moments?
112
13. Could you identify a few “takeaways” or skills you’ve gained from your participation
in SHPE?
a. How did you gain these?
b. Has SHPE helped change your understanding of engineering from when you first
enrolled?
14. What role has SHPE played in your journey as an engineering student?
For seniors
15. What will you be doing after graduation?
Probe:
a. How did SHPE support you in that process?
b. How does your family feel about your post-graduation decision?
For Alumni
16. What is your current role?
Probe:
a. When in your senior year did you know about your post-graduation plans?
b. How did SHPE support you in that process?
c. How did your family feel about your post-graduation decision?
17. How would you describe the organization to a new student, and would you
recommend they join?
Probe:
a. Why or why not?
18. Would you share with me the types of support systems you have utilized to navigate
college?
113
Probes:
a. Has your family ever served in that role, either now or in high school?
b. Has that changed over time? How so?
19. How have the interactions you have had with your systems of support helped you
continue in your engineering program?
20. If you could change anything about your engineering experience, what would it be
and why?
21. Are there any barriers or challenges you’ve had to work through to get to this point in
your educational career?
Probes:
a. How have you overcome them?
b. How did you know you overcame them?
c. What did you learn from that process?
22. Are there specific people or relationships that you have benefited from in your
educational journey?
a. How have they helped?
23. Is there anything I haven’t had an opportunity to ask for that you would like to add
about your experiences?
Thank you for your time. This concludes our interview.
114
APPENDIX B: RESEARCH MATRIX
Chapter 2
Literature Review
Introduction
Background: Latinos/as in
Higher Education & STEM
National Center for
Educational Statistics,
2013; National Academy of
Sciences, 2011; Gandara,
2015; Solórzano et al.,
2005; Crips et al, 2009S
Social Capital and Cultural
Capital
Bourdieu, 1986;
Bourdieu & Passeron,
1977; Strayhorn, 2010;
Wells, 2008
Characteristics of URMs
Aspirational
Araujo, 2012; Gandara,
1995; Ovink & Veazey,
2010
Family & Community-
Oriented
Banda & Flowers,
2017; Cantú, 2012
Navigational
Camacho & Lord,
2011; Pascarella et al., 2004
Resistant
Freire, 2009; Revelo &
Baber, 2018; Solórzano &
Delgado Bernal, 2001
Co-Curricular Involvement
Astin, 1984, 1993;
Pascarella & Terenzini,
2005; Rendón, 1994;
Rendón et al., 2000;
Terenzini & Pascarella,
1997; Tinto, 1987
INTERVIEW PROTOCOL
Aspirational
1.
5.
6.
15./16.
Linguistic
3.
4.
Familial
8.
Social
10.
11.
12.
13.
17.
22.
Navigational
9.
18.
19.
Resistant
14.
20.
21.
Research Question One:
How does participation in the
Society of Hispanic Professional
Engineers by undergraduate
Latinas in engineering support
their ability to achieve their post-
baccalaureate academic or career
aspirations?
Community Cultural Wealth:
Yosso, 2005
Perez, 2017
Perez et al., 2018
Aragon, 2018
Revelo & Baber, 2018
115
APPENDIX C: DOCUMENT REVIEW PROTOCOL
● What is the history of the document?
● How did it come into my hands?
● What guarantee is there that this is what it says it is?
● Is the document complete, as originally constructed?
● Has it be tampered with or edited?
● If the document is genuine, under what circumstances and for what purposes was it
produced?
● Who was/is the author?
● What was he trying to accomplish? For whom was the document intended?
● What were the maker’s sources of information? Does the document represent an
eyewitness account, a secondhand account, a reconstruction of an event long prior to the
writing, an interpretation?
● What was or is the maker’s bias?
● To what extent was the writer likely to want to tell the truth?
● Do other documents exist that might shed additional light on the same story, event,
project, program, context? If so, are they available, accessible? Who holds them?
116
APPENDIX D: STUDY INFORMATION SHEET
University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles CA 90089
STUDY TITLE:
FROM CLASSROOMS TO CAREERS: AN EXPLORATION OF HOW UNDERGRADUATE LATINA
ENGINEERING STUDENTS ACHIEVE THEIR POST-BACCALAUREATE GOALS
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Christina Mireles Martin
FACULTY ADVISOR: Patricia Tobey, Ph D.
You are invited to participate in a research study. Your participation is voluntary. This
document explains information about this study. You should ask questions about
anything that is unclear to you.
PURPOSE
The purpose of this study is to explore how participation in the Society of Hispanic
Professional Engineers (SHPE) supports Latina undergraduate engineering students’
ability to achieve their professional or academic goals once they graduate. We hope to
learn the ways students are able to achieve their professional or academic goals after
graduation in the form of pursing graduate school or obtaining professional engineering
roles and how SHPE supported that process. You are invited as a possible participant
because you have self-identified as a Latina member of SHPE that has completed an
engineering undergraduate degree.
PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
Participants will be interviewed via Zoom for 45-60 minutes and asked about their
experiences as engineering undergraduate students and SHPE members. The Zoom
meeting will be recorded in order to transcribe the conversation. All interviews will be
deleted after the study is complete and anonymous pseudonyms will be used in the
study.
If you decide to take part, you will be asked to schedule an hour time block with the PI
at your convenience and answer questions regarding your undergraduate engineering
experiences as a SHPE member.
COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will receive $10 Amazon gift card for your time. You do not have to answer all of
the questions in order to receive the card. The card will be emailed to you at the
conclusion of our interview.
CONFIDENTIALITY
117
The members of the research team and the University of Southern California
Institutional Review Board (IRB) may access the data. The IRB reviews and monitors
research studies to protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.
When the results of the research are published or discussed in conferences, no
identifiable information will be used.
Once recordings are transcribed, recordings will be deleted and only the audio files and
transcriptions will be maintained until the study is completed. Anonymous pseudonyms
will be used in place of names.
Participation in this study is voluntary, should participants be interested in reviewing
their interview transcription, they will be given an opportunity to do so.
INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this study, please contact
Principal Investigator Christina Mireles Martin, mirelesc@usc.edu
Faculty Advisor Patricia Tobey, tobey@usc.edu
IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about your rights as a research participant, please contact the
University of Southern California Institutional Review Board at (323) 442-0114 or email
irb@usc.edu.
Abstract (if available)
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Martin, Christina Mireles
(author)
Core Title
From classrooms to careers: an exploration of how undergraduate Latina engineering students achieve their post-baccalaureate
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Education (Leadership)
Degree Conferral Date
2023-05
Publication Date
04/17/2023
Defense Date
03/10/2023
Publisher
University of Southern California
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Tag
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Language
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committee chair
), Enciso, Martha (
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), Maddox, Anthony (
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)
Creator Email
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Tags
community and cultural wealth
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persistence
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