10 STEM Success for Women Case Studies by Career Pathway

Find out how 10 community colleges dramatically improved enrollment and retention of women in STEM/CTE Courses in a year or less

Automotive Technology Pre-Apprenticeship

Information Technology & Programming

Automotive Technology

Makerspace

Cybersecurity

Manufacturing Technology

Emerging Technologies

Manufacturing (BioTech)

Information Technology & Computer Science

Welding Technology

CASE STUDY #1

Automotive Technology Pre-Apprenticeship Case Study

How CCSF’s automotive pre-apprenticeship program went from 0 to 7 women in 2.5 months

College:

City College of San Francisco, CA

Monique Forster Pascual

Director of Apprenticeship & Instructional Service Agreements, Workforce Development,  City College of San Francisco, CA

"There was a big difference in how we recruited for our 1st cohort of Pre-Apprentices—which had no women—and our 2nd cohort that had 7."

Recruitment & Retention Results (Female & URMs)

Urban

Includes Role Model Profiles

CASE STUDY #2

Automotive Technology Case Study

WomenTech Online Training

How a Rural Automotive Technology Course Increased Female AND Male Enrollment

College:

Owensboro Community & Technical College, KY

Lewis Nall

Former Coordinator & Instructor of Automotive & Diesel Program, Owensboro Community & Technical College, KY (Now Automotive Instructor, Calhoun Community College, AL)

"Before the WomenTech Educators Training, we had our own ideas about how to recruit more women, but they weren’t successful. The training helped us learn how to better recruit female students, so we were able to go from 2 to 7 female students in our introductory Automotive Technology courses."

Recruitment Results (Female & Male)

Rural

CASE STUDY #3

Cybersecurity Study

How a Cybersecurity Program Nearly Doubled the Number of Female and Male Students in Only 5 Months

College:

Fayetteville Technical Community College, NC

Carlos Bodden

Department Chair, Networking Technology, Fayetteville Technical Community College, NC

"In the WomenTech Training, Donna Milgram explained why so few females enter the IT field and what we can do to attract them and this fundamentally changed the way we both approach females when discussing career opportunities in IT and how we teach female students already enrolled. "

In this video, the Dean of Engineering and Applied Technology explains how Fayetteville Technical Community College (FTCC) developed and implemented WomenTech Recruitment Plans in 4 Career Pathways.

Recruitment Results (Female & Male)

Urban

CASE STUDY #4

Emerging Technologies Case Study

WomenTech Online Training

How a Program Chair Increased Female Enrollment by 82% with Zero Budget

College:

Athens Technical College, GA

Mark Evans

Program Chair and Instructor, Emerging Technologies, Athens Technical College, GA

"We now have more women in the program than we thought would be possible. We were able to go from only 1 female student to 15 in an Emerging Technologies course the very next semester after the training. A year later, we awarded almost half of our 43 Video Game Design & Development certificates to women. In fact, we're one of the programs that actually got off Perkins' Naughty List for not having enough women represented in the program because we were able to start meeting our goals."

Recruitment Results (Female & Male)

Serving Rural & Urban Counties

CASE STUDY #5

Information Technology Case Study

WomenTech Online Bootcamp

How a Hispanic-Serving Institution Increased Female Enrollment in IT & CS by 77 Women in 1 Year

College:

Broward College, FL

Michelle Levine

Interim District Director of Faculty Development, Broward College, FL

"In a year’s time, we had increased female enrollment in our IT & CS Department from 149 to 226 female students and male enrollment had also increased from 751 to 1009 male students. Since then, it has grown organically and blossomed into something that our college just does naturally.”

Recruitment & Retention Results (Female, Male & URMs)

Urban

Hispanic-Serving Institution

CASE STUDY #6

Information Technology & Programming Case Study

How Female Enrollment Increased by 65% and Retention of ALL Students by 45%

College:

Del Mar College, TX

Barbara DuFrain

Associate Professor, Computer Science, Engineering and Advanced Technology, Del Mar College, TX

"I wasn't retaining any women in my introductory Programming classes. They were all dropping. That was a big win for me, that I had an increase in retention of females in my introductory Programming courses."

Recruitment & Retention Results (Female, Male & URMs)

Urban

Hispanic-Serving Institution

CASE STUDY #7

Makerspace Case Study

How *New* Makerspace Course Hit 50% Female Enrollment in 7 Weeks

College:

City College of San Francisco, CA

Maura Devlin-Clancy

MakerSPHERE Coordinator, Faculty, CNIT Department - Web Development Programs, City College of San Francisco, CA

"Now we have an action plan for a short timeframe, so we can be ready for students the next semester. The WomenTech Makerspace Training enabled CCSF to achieve our grant’s goals to make our MakerSPHERE inclusive to ALL students from day one."

Recruitment & Retention Results (Female & URMs)

Urban

CASE STUDY #8

Manufacturing Technology Case Study

WomenTech Online Training

2 to 11 Women in Automotive Manufacturing and Retention of ALL Students Increased

College:

Lawson State Community College, AL

Nancy Wilson

Assistant Dean, Career Technical Education, Lawson State Community College, Bessemer, AL

"Before the WomenTech Educators Training, I felt like I was just spinning my wheels trying to get more women into our Automotive Manufacturing Technology program. After the training, Lawson State went from only 2 female students in Automotive Manufacturing Technology to 11 in just over a year."

Recruitment & Retention Results (Female, Male & URMs)

Urban

Historically Black College and University

CASE STUDY #9

Manufacturing(Bio-Tech) Case Study

WomenTech Online Training

How a Rural BioTech Manufacturing Program Grew from 1 Woman to 13 in a Year

College:

Mt. Wachusett Community College, MA

Dr. John Henshaw

Dean of Workforce Development at Mt. Wachusett Community College and Project Director for Massachusetts Advanced Manufacturing TechHire Collaborative, MA

"The WomenTech Educators Training was very eye-opening and it provided a vehicle and framework to focus our efforts. It gets you to think about what it takes to be successful. The most valuable aspect of the training was building our team!"

Recruitment & Retention Results (Female & Male)

Rural

Includes Role Model Profiles

CASE STUDY #10

Welding Case Study

WomenTech Online Bootcamp

9 Women Enrolled in Welding in Only 4 Weeks:  How MATC Finally Moved the Needle 

College:

Milwaukee Area Technical College, WI

Sue Silverstein

Welding Instructor, School of Technical & Applied Sciences, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Oak Creek, WI

"We recruited 9 new women to Welding in only 4 weeks after participating in a WomenTech Educators Training. Before the training, if we had 3 women in Welding it was like hitting a homerun."

Recruitment & Retention Results (Female)

Urban

Includes Role Model Profiles

The National Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science (IWITTS) has been helping educators nationwide close the gender gap for women and girls in technology since 1994. IWITTS provides tools, resources, and professional development for educators to help them broaden female participation in STEM and CTE programs where they are underrepresented. 

To discuss what type of professional development would be the best fit for your school, region or state please Contact Us. Visit our website at www.iwitts.org.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. 1400531. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.  

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