Sloan Foundation Initiatives at Purdue University: longitudinal results [engineering education]

This paper documents longitudinal results of nine Sloan Foundation Initiatives involving 6981 people that were offered at Purdue University from 1991 through 1996 under a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Recruitment initiatives included a videotape effort and personal connection program. Retention efforts involved a peer group project, two undergraduate mentoring programs; one graduate mentoring program and a leadership program. Two additional activities were a graduate seminar series and a classroom climate workshop program. Findings from the graduate school seminar series for 1995 and 1996 showed that knowledge of program topics, on the part of students, expanded after attending sessions. Two years of results in 1995 and 1996 for the classroom climate workshop program indicated that: female engineering and science graduate teaching assistants had a more accurate awareness of gender equity issues than their male counterparts; interactive theatre was an effective medium for gender equity workshops; and treating all students fairly was an important action step that was implemented by participants and had a positive impact on their college classroom climates