‘SD RAE ARNT ATE RET, ET A NEE BIN DS TRUST EER MRR SAYIN EES ML I EU te SL RI NS LS AEDS CPLR IO SL) LS RIDA and mailing fliers were not successful, so | began looking for a new way of bringing the course to the attention of the women students (who are more than 50 percent of all students). | was aware of our own Women In Literature class and our Women’s Health class, so I initiated a Women Studies Program that included our course. Now students register for our Women In Engineering Seminar class in the Women Studies Program. One day when | was discussing recruiting and retaining women engineering students with a local high school vice principal, | learned that her daughter was studying engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This young woman had reported to her mother that even the rooms at MIT reeked of masculinity. [ decided to make a tour of our classrooms. | found our engineering rooms undecorated, relatively jovless and stark, in contrast to the considerably more interesting rooms that women teachers call their own. By putting up calendars and posters and strategically placing a tew plants, the rooms look more colorful, cheerful, and diverse. In the spring of 1993, I acted on an idea that had been simmering for some time. | formed an Advisory Com- mittee for Women in Engineering: nine engineers, a mathematician, our public relations head, and a high school counselor, a!l women, and myself. They are anxious to help provide more women an opportunity in engineering. Each of our women engineering students has had a telephone call from one of these women engineers who are available to students to answer questions and provide general support. The co-advisor of the club organized a reception for our new female engineering students so they could meet the women on the committee and other women engi- neering students in the college. At this reception, our seminar teacher awarded an Engineering Scholarship and a Women’s Engineering Scholarship, $250 awards which she personally funded. One committee member is exploring the possibility of generating additional scholarship money from her company. A math teacher at the college has donated $500 to the Ohlone Women Engineers Scholarship Fund. Since | have become more involved with retaining and recruiting female students, | have increased my criteria for textbook review. I look to see how many women are in the illustrations and what they are doing. | check the text to see how or if the question of why there are so few women in engineering is addressed. Addi- tionally, when I lecture, | make sure I use both genders of pronouns and that problems are written using both genders. Iam careful to know the names of my women students, and I call on them in class. When I see articles about successful women engineers, such as Sheila Widnall, the Secretary of the Air Force, | post them on bulletin boards or circulate them. I joined SWE and WEPAN, Women In Engineering Program Advocates Network, so that I would not miss any new ideas. To facilitate networking, I started a Who’s Who In Engi- neering, class photos, and a student phone list. I believe the student population of women engineers has leveled out at about 15 percent because we are not recruiting the women who would rank in the second, third, and fourth quartile of engineers. The women students near the top of their class in science and math are being counseled to go into engineering, but those who rank lower are more likely to be channeled toward nursing or teaching. The community college provides a natural route for these lower-ranked students to go into engineering. At Ohlone we have several math courses below calculus and an assessment test to place students for success. We have a math lab that is open all day and at night, started on a volunteer basis several years ago by the OWE co-advisor, but now staffed by one teacher and an assistant. A female math teacher conducts testing and math anxiety classes. Where do we go from here? We have begun a program in which every female engineering student has the opportunity to have a practicing female engineer for a mentor in the discipline of her choice. We plan to have a brochure to explain to those young and not-so-young women, who are potential engineers, that Ohlone has the welcome mat out for them. We have developed a good model for retention and hope that by enabling our women students to succeed, others will be convinced that they too can become engineers. Community college is the right place for some of them to start. James L. Eagan, Professor, Engineering For further information, contact the author at Ohlone College, 43600 Mission Boulevard, P. O. Box 3909, Fremont, CA 94539. Suanne D. Roueche, Editor October 7 1994, Vol. XVI, No. 22 © The University of Texas at Austin, 1994 Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel. INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD), Department of Educational Administration, College of Education, EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, (512) 471-7545. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly when classes are in session during fall and spring terms. ISSN 0199-106X.