Villanova Outreach Program Increases Percentage of Women in Engineering Programs

In 2003, 19 percent of the engineering graduates at Villanova University in suburban Philadelphia were women. This approximates the national percentage of women earning bachelor’s degrees in engineering.

In 2006 the university started an outreach program for girls in high school who excelled in mathematics and science in an effort to interest them in pursuing degrees in engineering. The program has been a tremendous success. This spring 31.4 percent of the engineering graduates at Villanova are women. This is highest percentage in university history.