The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 1 - 75

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Betz, & Sekaquaptewa, 2013). Women in the
STEM LLP heard more messages about the
experiences of women in STEM, were more
likely to wear apparel or carry paraphernalia
related to their major, and had more STEM
role models. Since there were no signiﬁcant
differences in their perceptions of their living
environment, the residence hall may not be the
only location where these activities can be incorporated to create a welcoming environment
for women in STEM.

Regardless of how overwhelmed
they felt, the women found a coping
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Only recently have studies appeared that
speciﬁcally examine the beneﬁts of women's
involvement in STEM LLPs. Early assessment
indicates that women in an engineering LLP
do better academically than women not living
in the LLP (Witucki et al., 2008). Women who
participated in an engineering LLP had higher
GPAs than did all students in similar majors
and higher retention rates than did all ﬁrstyear students (Pace et al., 2008).
Inkelas (2011) found several differences
when comparing the experiences of women
involved in a women-only STEM LLP to those
of residents in a coed one. Those in the women-only STEM LLPs were more likely to report
a successful social transition and conﬁdence
in their STEM courses, though those in the

coed programs were more likely to report
a successful academic transition to college.
Additionally, students in women-only STEM
LLPs were more likely to report plans to attend
graduate school in a STEM ﬁeld; however, the
likelihood decreased if the women visited the
work setting of a STEM professional as part
of their participation in the LLP (Szelényi &
Inkelas, 2011).
Though research indicates that womenonly STEM LLPs provide support in the academic setting, Szelényi, Denson, and Inkelas
(2013) found that women in coed STEM
LLPs reported greater gains on professional
outcomes and expectations than did those
in women-only STEM LLPs. Women in coeducational halls found their residence hall
environment to be more academically supportive and reported higher expectations for
professional/career success and for achieving
a balance in their personal and professional
lives. The authors theorized that because
the coed environment provides a glimpse of
the future career climate in terms of gender
without the consequence of the work environment, women are able to gain conﬁdence and
see themselves as professionally successful in
the company of men.
As yet, there is no database that can provide
an exact number of how many engineering
LLPs there are nationally (Soldner & Szelényi,
2008). Though many studies have focused on
the beneﬁts of participating in LLPs and a few
have explored the outcomes of engineering
LLPs, little research has focused on the experiences of female engineers in an engineering
LLP. The present study addresses this gap in
the literature.

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 45, No. 1

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