Work in progress — Assessing and evaluating mentorship programs affecting students retention at the University of Maryland Baltimore County in mechanical engineering

Two well-known mentoring/scholar programs at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, demonstrate themselves to be observably effective in retaining STEM students. These programs include the Center of Women and Information Technology and the Meyerhoff Scholars program. Recent data from the Office of Institutional Research and Advancement at the University comparing males and females in the department of mechanical engineering showed females are retained at higher rates than males. A short term qualitative and quantitative analysis is being used in this study to assess and evaluate the underlying facets that motivate women and men to continue in mechanical engineering. Utilizing researched driven existing evaluative tools, a well-defined themed survey will be created to assess each of these programs in their mentoring ability based on the mentees of the program. The goal is to administer the survey to undergraduate men and women (freshman - senior) mechanical engineers, affiliated and non-affiliated with the programs. Interviews are currently being conducted giving profound understanding to identify the facets that make these mentorship programs successful or ascertain the external influences. Each of these programs has, to include mentoring in the department, small significant variations in mentorship.