Scholastic success in technology: minority students´ perspective

The authors have observed an apparent increase in attrition and unexpectedly low course grades among some of the African-American students enrolled in Purdue University´s School of Technology, particularly those in the engineering technology departments. To confirm this suspected trend and to strengthen the School of Technology´s affirmative action efforts, several surveys of students and faculty are planned. The authors report the results of the first survey, where students were queried with the intent of determining possible areas for improvement in retention of African-American students from the students´ perspective. Emphasis throughout the project will be on identification of factors that generally help or generally hinder minority students´ scholastic success through consideration of their academic lifestyle. Activities that could improve the atmosphere of the typical technology course or in some other way be incorporated by the average (nonminority) instructor are of particular interest