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Motivated by ongoing gender disparities in engineering, the authors qualitatively examine how collegiate STEM student organizations serve as affirming spaces for women’s engineering identity development, countering their exclusionary classroom environments. Drawing from interviews and written data with 24 undergraduate women, findings demonstrate how student organizations promote engineering identity through women recognizing themselves as engineers, viewing peers as possibility models, and being recognized by others as engineers. We conclude with practical implications for fostering inclusive engineering environments.

This study examines campus graffiti within a designated space at a large, public university over a 30-day period. Using photographic data, we used content analysis to track graffiti themes and duration, finding artifacts ranging from prosocial to hostile to abstract. While topics such as race, gender, and politics comprised a small proportion of artifacts, we expect that these graffiti are most impactful to either promoting or inhibiting a safe and inclusive campus environment.

ABSTRACTBackground and ContextWomen are severely underrepresented in computer science (CS). Understanding varied entry points into CS may promote women’s participation in the field.ObjectiveThis study identifies experiences that influenced women’s matriculation into CS majors, and pathways into CS based on participants’ enrollment in bachelor of arts (BA) or bachelor of science (BS) degree programs.MethodSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 women completing CS bachelor’s degrees at a public institution in the U.S.FindingsFindings show different entry points into CS based on whether women matriculated into the site institution’s College of Engineering (pursued a BS degree) or College of Arts and Sciences (BA degree). For most, introductory CS courses were critical to choosing a CS major. BS students entered college with existing STEM interests and received early exposure to CS via curricular requirements. BA students entered CS courses and majors comparatively later, often based on social encouragement.ImplicationsDegree program structures and curricula influence students’ exposure to CS and their major choices. Since most BA participants did not consider a CS major until their second year, flexible curricula can provide critical access for students with limited computing experience.