Encouraging the diversity of graduate students in technology

Diversity in technology programs is as confounding to technology programs as it is to any other STEM fields. Some believe that strengthening the basic skill sets of students in math [1] will raise awareness of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in the United States. While others find other issues such as debt cause a large influence in lack of persistence in STEM programs, both graduate and undergraduate.[2, 3] A review of the data available on engineering technology and other technology graduate students provides clarity to the diversity issue. While the authors found some students progress onto graduate school, nearly 60% were enrolled in the 3/2 programs. These are programs where students complete a bachelor and master degree in 5 years. Our study also showed students, primarily those that are a minority by race or gender, do not continue their education through graduate school. These findings raise some questions about these students and what steps will encourage their persistence or return to graduate study. Therefore, further examination of available data, future interviews with current students and graduates will provide a better understanding of the lack of diversification and persistence in technology graduate programs. Utilization of data gathered in the large institutional database provides a means to understand how the perception of students influences their decision to persist, continue, and complete further study. Increased understanding as it relates to students decisions to persist allows institutions to develop strategies to change student perceptions and decisions to persist. Administration will then have the information needed to support the development of programs that will encourage persistence and greater diversification of the graduate student population in technology.