College Among Top 25 Hidden STEM Gems
St. Mary’s College of Maryland has received a unique honor, and The Patuxent Partnership is helping to publicize it in its newsletter. The college, located in Historic St. Mary’s City, has been listed among the Top 25 Hidden Gems for Women in STEM by CollegeRaptor.com, an online tool that offers side-by-side comparisons of colleges.
Women are under-represented in the STEM — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — fields. According to CollegeRaptor.com, “STEM fields are the fastest growing career market out there, yet only 6.7 percent of college-going women graduate with a STEM degree – compared to 17 percent of men.”
To be included on the list of Top 25 Hidden Gems, a college must: receive fewer than 5,000 applications a year or less than 40th percentile of the applications received by all schools in a given state; have fewer than 7,000 students enrolled as undergraduates; and at least 30 percent of degrees awarded by the college must be STEM degrees. The highest percentage of degree recipients who are women is also a determining factor.
SMCM Professor of Educational Studies Angela Johnson recently had a paper published in the journal The Physics Teacher, presented by the American Association of Physics Teachers. A portion of her paper presented the findings of a study describing actions taken by faculty in a physics department in which women of color thrive. While it was not mentioned in the article, the St. Mary’s College physics department is the one that is thriving. The published paper focuses on the positive approaches to improving extra burdens faced by women of color.
About The Patuxent Partnership
TPP fosters collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and expertise across a diverse network that includes government, industry, and academia. TPP also supports STEM education and workforce development within the local community including hosting programs of interest to NAVAIR, NAWCAD, and the broader DoD community.
To learn more about The Patuxent Partnerships and its programs, visit its Leader member page.
