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Authors:
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Tabassum Haque, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Jacob Marszalek, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Susan Linnemeyer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Abstract:
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Since 1998, the University of Illinois has given a course that provides mentoring relationships in a structured environment. Course instructors assign women engineering students in their second, third, or fourth years (or graduate school) to mentor those in their first. After controlling for ethnicity, program of study, academic achievement both before and after admission, total terms enrolled, and time of attendance, the retention of 202 students who had taken the course from 1999 to 2003 were compared to 202 female students who had not taken the course. Additional comparisons were made between the retention rates of mentors and their proteges. Students who had taken the course were significantly more likely to stay in engineering, and mentors were more likely than mentees.
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