Creating a Successful Model for Minority Students' Success in Engineering: The PREF Summer Bridge Program

This 7-page paper, written by Amy L. Freeman and Anita Persaud, describes the PREF Summer Bridge Program designed to increase retention and graduation rates for underrepresented minority students in engineering. The PREF program is a residential, six-week, rigorous academic summer program in which participants enroll in six-credit hours of course work that will prepare them for their first fall semester. Fourteen years of data show that participants have higher graduation rates than both comparable minority students and majority students.