“We have a long way to go in terms of inclusivity of women in our engineering departments across the country,” says Christina Haden, professor of practice in the department of mechanical engineering and mechanics.
According to data from the American Society for Engineering Education, just 21.9 percent of engineering bachelor's degrees were awarded to women in 2018. Lehigh is doing better than that national average, says Haden. “We have about one in three students who are women when you average across all the departments. We’re doing really well, but we can do better.”
Haden has drawn on her own experience as an engineering undergraduate to create a program that strives to do just that. In 2015, she helped create Lehigh Women Engineers, a three-day experience that is part of Lehigh's preLUsion program, and designed for self-identifying women. This episode features the faculty, staff, and student voices of this unique and important program that works to break stereotypes, expose imposter syndrome, forge friendships, and make all women feel welcome, represented, and seen as engineers.