Providing Opportunities for Women in Energy Related (POWER) Careers

The over-arching mission of Providing Opportunities for Women in Energy Related (POWER) Careers is to help women achieve equity in STEM-related technical career fields. POWER Careers will increase enrollment and completion of women in STEM two-year degree programs that lead to energy industry careers. This pilot project is designed to evoke transformational change in the way that women are recruited to and retained in energy systems programs. Education and industry have not been successful in obtaining equitable participation of females in historically male-dominated technical fields. POWER Careers addresses the need to increase female participation, with a focus on non-traditional college-aged women (ages 25+) who need or want to begin a new career. Entry level energy technician jobs offer attractive salaries, excellent benefits, and career paths with promise and opportunity. POWER Careers will implement focused strategies aimed at increasing the successful participation of women in high quality, proven Associate of Applied Science (AAS) programs within the Energy Systems Technology and Education Center (ESTEC) at Idaho State University (ISU) College of Technology. These strategies will retain women students through graduation and placement in professional positions. The project is important because it can help participants make dramatic moves into higher paying STEM-related careers. It will employ a system of supports and activities that form a continuum across the student experience. For ESTEC, the best and most powerful voices to recruit students are those of successful female students and graduates. POWER Careers will serve as a pilot project to help identify and address the challenges of recruiting age-diverse women in a rural area, in part by working closely with program graduates who will be role models and mentors, and with community-based agencies that are in contact with potential adult students. The project will also engage industry in efforts to build a more diverse workforce and create workplace environments that are welcoming to female technicians. Efforts to recruit women will include those from underrepresented populations - Latinas, Native Americans, and military veterans. 

The specific goals of POWER Careers are to: (1) recruit and enroll 45 women age 25 years and older into ESTEC AAS programs; (2) retain students to graduation with a supportive student learning community; (3) place graduates in professional jobs in the energy industry; (4) strengthen ESTEC partnerships with energy employers to further careers for women; and (5) promote a culture of mentorship to encourage women who pursue STEM technical careers. Attainment of project goals will be evaluated using direct measures such as enrollment, retention, graduation and job placement data, and by conducting surveys to assess affective outcomes related to the culture and climate, as well as program effectiveness. The investigators will address two specific research questions related to the project's goals: (1) How do improvements to educational strategies enhance student learning and performance for non-traditional college-aged women in rural areas within the energy field? (2) How do innovative and targeted recruiting and retention strategies increase the effectiveness of energy technician education programs in retaining, graduating, and placing non-traditional college-aged women in STEM-related and energy-specific careers? The investigators will develop a combination of strategies that will likely serve as a model for other institutions interested in improving STEM technician education and career opportunities for women.This pathway model demonstrates a new way of offering training as well as a new way of teaching. Being offered at a 2-year open-door institution, this model provides new training opportunities for traditionally under-served community members. The college has a strong focus on serving nontraditional students and is working to increase the number of women entering advanced technology training. This degree offers new opportunities to obtain meaningful and applicable education and secure employment in a growing and well-paid career field.