For decades, the U.S. aviation industry has been dominated by White males, particularly in the ranks of pilots, air traffic controllers and aviation management professionals. The representation of women and minorities is well below the norms of most industries. Collegiate aviation has experienced increasing enrollments of women and minorities but the retention and graduation rates remain low. The community college in this study has experienced the same disappointing results. While most aviation colleges use traditional lecture and discussion instruction, this has not proven effective for this community college with its increasingly diverse population. It was believed that the implementation of cooperative learning strategies would help these aviation students achieve improved academic performance through higher levels of student engagement. The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to measure the impact of a cooperative learning treatment on student engagement in a diverse group of community college freshman enrolled in an aviation fundamentals course. The cooperative learning treatment group was compared to a control group receiving instruction through lecture and discussion only. Student engagement was measured through the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ) for three variables: Quality of Effort, Student Perception of the College Environment, and Student Estimate of Gains. Analysis of CSEQ data found that the treatment group experienced a greater increase in student engagement ranging from 9% to 23% across all three variables. Women and minorities in the treatment group reported improved student engagement over their peers in the control group. Finally, as student diversity increases in collegiate aviation, cooperative learning should prove useful as a tool for improving student engagement.