A.W.E. (assessing women in engineering) - designing tools for success using collaboration

Women in engineering programs around the United States are a crucial part of our country\´s response to the need for more women in engineering professions (Mannix, 2001). For Women in Engineering (WIE) programs to be maximally effective, they must have access to validated assessment instruments for measuring the effectiveness of their recruitment and retention activities for women in engineering studies. This paper describes the "Assessing Women in Engineering" project which is using a unique collaboration between a WlE director and an assessment specialist (AS) to develop exportable assessment instruments and models for Women In Engineering programs nationwide, thus allowing them to assess their program\´s activities and ultimately provide data for making well-informed evaluation decisions.