MARGINALIZATION IN ENGINEERING PROGRAMS THROUGH THE PERSPECTIVES OF MINORITIZED STUDENTSâ ENCOUNTERS WITH EXPECTATIONS AND PROFESSIONAL SHAME

Prior studies have examined how cultural expectations communicate success and belonging in engineering programs. Efforts to address issues of marginalization in engineering have identified minoritized students' professional identity formation as a key leverage point. In this study, we investigated how marginalized facets of students' identities affect how they navigate encounters with expectations in engineering, contrasting minoritized (i.e., women and students of color) student experiences with culturally dominant (i.e., White male) student responses to the same expectations. We conducted 10 focus groups with 41 participants, using professional shame as a framework to focus the data analysis on differences in how minoritized and culturally dominant students perceive, internalize, and respond to expectations in their programs. The following four themes characterize those differences: (i) Alone Amidst the Attention, (ii) Perceived Shortcomings Are Inexcusable, (iii) Comparisons Are High Stakes, and (iv) Results Determine Professional Self-Worth. Our findings show how a student's minoritized status amplifies the effects of perceived expectations in a manner that limits their options for mitigating impacts. We characterize Proving Ground and First Task mindsets to explain key differences between minoritized and culturally dominant students. Culturally dominant students encounter expectations as a task along their paths of becoming engineers, while minoritized students can experience expectations in ways that constantly challenge their professional identities. We offer three avenues for change to enable all students to more equitably meet socially constructed expectations.