More women enrolling in engineering at Purdue

More women are signing up to study engineering at Purdue University.

Purdue's College of Engineering has reported a nearly 31 percent increase in enrollment of first-year women for the 2011-2012 school year compared with last year.

Women in Engineering Program director Beth Holloway says the 460 first-year women in engineering is the highest number ever at Purdue. That compares with 352 a year ago.

Purdue says women account for more than a quarter of the first-year engineering class, compared with 20 percent last year.

Holloway says faculty, staff and students have made a point of talking up the benefits of the field to high school students in recent years. Also boosting numbers have been programs that teach children as young as kindergartners about engineering.