Location
Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland
Event Website
https://event.ceri2020.exordo.com/
Start Date
27-8-2020 3:00 PM
End Date
27-8-2020 4:15 PM
Description
The Faculty of Engineering and Science (FES) at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) recognises the overwhelming evidence of a severe shortage in the uptake of female students of STEM courses and ultimately STEM careers. In its attempt to turn this tide, the faculty has pioneered a ‘female only’ campus week showcasing science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) to TY students. This campus week commenced with a one-day event at CIT, in 2015 supporting the launch of the ‘I Wish’ initiative at Cork City Hall. The ‘I Wish’ (Initiative for women in STEM) is a not-for-profit group founded by three visionary Cork business women in 2014. It is estimated that women make up only 25% of the STEM workforce in Ireland and thus the faculty through its CIT I Wish campus week is committed to showcasing the inspiring role models across the CIT STEM community and its many industrial partners. While identifying the urgent need to address the low number of females in STEM courses, and thus the motivation and focus of the campus week, this paper provides an overview to the design of the week incorporating interactive workshops, site visits to host industries and inspiring Q&A sessions. Each of these is designed to ultimately help the girls understand that a STEM career will facilitate them to pursue a career with ‘82% of girls wanting a career where they can help other people yet they don’t see how STEM can facilitate that’ (Buckley et al., 2017). The design of the ‘CIT I Wish’ campus week helps them to understand this and the results of the campus week showed that 89% of the students said they were more likely to consider a career in STEM, as a direct result of attending the campus week. The impact of the campus weeks on the 2020 cohort of students has been recorded and evaluated through a survey of the girls with some of the findings presented in this paper.
Recommended Citation
Moloney, Mary and Welch, Norma, "The Powerful Impact of Role Models and Workshops On The Future Direction Of Females In STEM – CIT Campus Week Model" (2020). Civil Engineering Research in Ireland 2020. 4.
https://sword.cit.ie/ceri/2020/15/4
Included in
Civil Engineering Commons, Construction Engineering and Management Commons, Environmental Engineering Commons, Geotechnical Engineering Commons, Hydraulic Engineering Commons, Structural Engineering Commons, Transportation Engineering Commons
The Powerful Impact of Role Models and Workshops On The Future Direction Of Females In STEM – CIT Campus Week Model
Cork Institute of Technology, Cork, Ireland
The Faculty of Engineering and Science (FES) at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) recognises the overwhelming evidence of a severe shortage in the uptake of female students of STEM courses and ultimately STEM careers. In its attempt to turn this tide, the faculty has pioneered a ‘female only’ campus week showcasing science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) to TY students. This campus week commenced with a one-day event at CIT, in 2015 supporting the launch of the ‘I Wish’ initiative at Cork City Hall. The ‘I Wish’ (Initiative for women in STEM) is a not-for-profit group founded by three visionary Cork business women in 2014. It is estimated that women make up only 25% of the STEM workforce in Ireland and thus the faculty through its CIT I Wish campus week is committed to showcasing the inspiring role models across the CIT STEM community and its many industrial partners. While identifying the urgent need to address the low number of females in STEM courses, and thus the motivation and focus of the campus week, this paper provides an overview to the design of the week incorporating interactive workshops, site visits to host industries and inspiring Q&A sessions. Each of these is designed to ultimately help the girls understand that a STEM career will facilitate them to pursue a career with ‘82% of girls wanting a career where they can help other people yet they don’t see how STEM can facilitate that’ (Buckley et al., 2017). The design of the ‘CIT I Wish’ campus week helps them to understand this and the results of the campus week showed that 89% of the students said they were more likely to consider a career in STEM, as a direct result of attending the campus week. The impact of the campus weeks on the 2020 cohort of students has been recorded and evaluated through a survey of the girls with some of the findings presented in this paper.
https://sword.cit.ie/ceri/2020/15/4
