By Tracy Lightfoot
Editor’s note: This is a supplementary story to this week’s cover story, “Women find place in school of engineering.”
In 2003, 357 female students were enrolled in the J. B. Speed School of Engineering. For the past 30 years, Speed has maintained a steady stream of female students — very steady.
Since 1979, the number of women enrolled in Speed has remained in the 300-500 range.
Considering the general increase in the University of Louisville’s population and the ever-narrowing gender gap, the lack of an increase in female enrollment is surprising.
Brenda Hart, director of Student Services for Speed, predicts the numbers will begin rising with the inception of the Bioengineering department, which enrolled its first students this fall.
Also, Hart said, there are a number of outreach programs to recruit females in high school to Speed. The school sponsors Speed Ambassadors, which travel to local high schools to promote Speed. A large number of female-outreach programs involve the Society of Women Engineers as well.
SWE sponsors a Career Day for high school girls to promote engineering in Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville Metro parochial schools and other schools in the area.
And, in case high school wasn’t early enough to get girls thinking about their career paths, SWE starts younger. Over the years, the organization has worked with a number of Brownie troops, helping them earn badges related to engineering in some way, said Hart, who has also been SWE’s faculty advisor for 33 years. That way, Hart said, the Brownies see girls doing what are stereotypically men’s tasks early on.
Once female students have been admitted to Speed, SWE tries to make sure they actually enroll.
Last year, the group hosted its first “sleepover.” The event, SWE president Stephanie Sharp said, helped incoming freshmen learn about Speed and about campus, as well as get to know other female engineering students.
According to Hart, about 15 girls attended the sleepover, and all of them enrolled at the university this semester.
Sharp and Hart also mailed welcome letters to each new Speed female over the summer.
Once women have enrolled in Speed, Hart said, retention is still an issue. This year she has begun teaching an optional “campus culture” course so that new Speed students can learn about different support groups and organizations. She uses the opportunity to get students interested in SWE, as well as other minority groups like the Society of Black Engineers.
Hart said if students get involved in various campus organizations, they are more likely to stay in school. Outreach and retention programs for minorities, including women, remains one of her major projects.
