An Exploration in Theory of the Storied Experiences of Women Earning Engineering Bachelor's Degrees at a Southern, Research, Predominately White Institutio

This dissertation study explores the experiences of 11 undergraduate women in a variety of engineering majors graduating from a Southern, research, predominately White institution and the use of theory to understand those experiences. While narrative inquiry is used throughout, this dissertation study is organized into three separate papers. The first paper acknowledges feminist standpoint theory's influence in considering the experiences of women in engineering as unique and inferior to that of men, but it is not designed by theory. From the interviews from this first study, the women's narratives demonstrated sexism, selfdoubt and feeling like an imposter, enacting a growth mindset, and using engineering to do good. The second paper is framed by Jaeger, Hudson, Pasque, and Ampaw's (2017) life experiences and role negotiations (LEARN) model and it illustrates that the LEARN model is a useful theoretical lens through which to consider the experiences and trajectories of undergraduate women in engineering. In this paper, the women's stories are organized around the components of the LEARN model: continuous personal determinants, the environment, past determinants, learning, present determinants, decisions, and future career outcomes. The third and final paper explores how theory is being used in recent higher education research to understand the experiences of undergraduate women in engineering. The third paper also compares the first two papers' analytical codes using constant comparative analysis to understand if using a theory throughout the design of a study affects the shared narratives of the 11 women or the researcher's analysis of them. Taken together, all three papers suggest improvements to their study designs as implications for future research. Implications for theory include suggestions for the application of the LEARN model and theory in general when considering the experiences of undergraduate women in engineering. Implications for practice identify ways in which universities, industry partners, faculty, students, and staff can improve the experiences of women in engineering.