Abstract

The purpose of this study was to characterize the number of male and female graduates in animal science related majors from 1962 through 2014 at The Pennsylvania State University. This study aimed to distinguish these trends from those seen in other College of Agricultural Sciences STEM majors. Animal science related majors appear to have unique historical patterns in the number of male and female graduates when compared to majors within the same college. Graduates from animal science related majors were over 50% male until 1978. During the early ‘80s, females became the majority and represented 80% of the graduates in 2014. The non-animal science related majors showed a distinctly different trend where male graduates remained the majority until 1995. Since that time, there has not been a clear gender majority. Additionally, a complete reversal of the percentages of male and female graduates was not seen within the selected national STEM majors, which confirmed that the trends within animal science related majors were unique. Future studies should investigate each STEM-related major to observe their individualized trends. Theories as to why these changes occurred within the animal science related majors should be explored, as well as the effects the changing ratios have in post-graduate admissions and job applications.