Hypatia A Residential Community For Freshman Women In Engineering

Abstract

In 2001, Virginia Tech implemented a residentially based program for women students enrolling as freshman in the College of Engineering. Hypatia, named after an ancient Egyptian philosopher, currently has 52 residents representing approximately 30% of the freshmen engineering women. These students reside on one floor of a residence hall, enroll in the Hypatia Seminar during the fall semester, and participate in programmatic activities during the spring semester. Women in Engineering programs exist in many colleges of engineering, some for 20 years or more. With women representing approximately 19% of students enrolled in undergraduate engineering programs 1 , these programs create a supportive and welcoming environment for the students fostering academic success. Virginia Tech has been providing support programs for the undergraduate women in engineering since 1996. One of the more recent activities implemented at Virginia Tech is a residentially based learning community. Hypatia allows female freshmen engineering students to form a living and learning environment that promotes academic success. This paper addresses two issues. First, to detail the characteristics (both academic and personal life experiences) that describes the typical Hypatia participant. Second, it is desired to determine the impact of the Hypatia Seminar on student perceptions and development.