The programming committee for the 78th Annual SAM International Business Conference is pleased to announce the acceptance of the presentation Advancing Higher Education Initiatives to Better Guide Students with Autism into Entrepreneurship Programs in STEM by James Lawler from Pace University.
Presentation Abstract: Higher education institutions are constrained frequently in guiding disadvantaged students to career opportunities. Administrators in higher education institutions do not have enough information or influence, or finances or personnel, to effectively help entrepreneurial students with disabilities. Notably, exceptional undergraduates with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) can be better helped to enter best-of-class industry programs in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM), as they can excel in STEM, but are not infrequently denied opportunities – 80% are underemployed or unemployed in the fields. In this paper the author is beginning to evaluate for his college industry initiatives in STEM for entrepreneurial undergraduates with ASD.
The benefits of the paper are anticipated to be fruitful for not only for his institution but other higher education institutions in helping students with ASD to enter professions in STEM. The conceptual design of the paper is in incremental phases of study by the author. In stage 1, at his institution, the author will be interviewing administrators, and he will be interviewing students with ASD desiring to join industry programs in STEM as to their aspirations, current projects and skills. In stage 2, the author will be interviewing other administrators as to current special education programs for students with ASD; and in stage 3, the author will be interviewing managers, and critically employees with ASD, from larger Apple, Dell, Google, Microsoft and SAP organizations perceived as “autism friendly” in the literature, as to their neurodiversity hiring and promoting programs in STEM for those with ASD. In stage 4, the author will be integrating the features of the latter neurodiversity programs into a best-of-class entrepreneurship industry model that can correlate to a better best-in-career-class higher education model in stages 1 and 2.
In stage 5, the author will finalize the model, so that his institution, and likely other higher
education institutions, can better position students with ASD for better industry programs, in an efficient and effective strategy. The focus of the study can be contributory for both institutions and students.
The paper can be beneficial to higher education institutions and students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and extendable to students with other disabilities. Higher education institutions do not have enough post-pandemic resources to investigate external industrial partnership programs for students with ASD. The findings of the paper will be especially helpful to entrepreneurial higher-functioning STEM students with ASD interested in joining programs in STEM once they have the prerequisite skills. At his college, the author will be engaging interested STEM students with ASD moreover in the investigatory processes of the study. In short, this paper will be an approach for higher education institutions in re-imagining initiatives in helping disadvantaged students with disabilities from “falling off the cliff” when they graduate from their universities.
Join us online or in person at SAMIBC 2023 and see this great presentation and many more March 13 – March 18, 2023. For registration information visit www.samnational.org/conference.