Supporting Regional Engineering Demand by  Effective Transition of Veterans on Campus

Robert J. Rabb; Ronald W. Welch; William J. Davis; Robert J. Barsanti

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Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: Military and Veterans Division Technical Session 1
Tagged Division: Military and Veterans
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--33326
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/33326
Download Count: 335

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Paper Authors

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Robert J. Rabb P.E. The Citadel

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Robert Rabb is an associate professor and the Mechanical Engineering Program Director at The Citadel. He previously taught mechanical engineering at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the United States Military Academy and his M.S.E. and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. His research and teaching interests are in mechatronics, regenerative power, and multidisciplinary engineering.

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Ronald W. Welch The Citadel

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Ron Welch (P.E.) received his B.S. degree in Engineering Mechanics from the United States Military Academy in 1982. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1990 and 1999, respectively. He became the Dean of Engineering at The Citadel on 1 July 2011. Prior to his current position, he was the Department Head of Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Tyler from Jan 2007 to June 2011 as well as served in the Corps of Engineers for over 24 years including eleven years on the faculty at the United States Military Academy.

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William J. Davis P.E. The Citadel orcid.org/0000-0002-3812-8654

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William J. Davis is Dept. Head & D. Graham Copeland Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of Construction Engineering at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. His academic experience includes: transportation infrastructure planning and design, infrastructure resilience, traffic operations, highway safety, and geographic information systems. His research interests include: constructing spatial databases for better management of transportation infrastructure, improving transportation design, operation, safety and construction, understanding long-term effects of urban development patterns, and advancing active living within the built environment for improved public health. He teaches courses in interchange design, transportation engineering, highway design. engineering management, geographic information systems, and land surveying. He has served in numerous leadership positions in ITE, ASCE and TRB.

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Robert J. Barsanti Jr. The Citadel

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Robert Barsanti is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Citadel where he teaches and does research in the area of target tracking and signal processing. Since 2015, Dr. Barsanti has served as the William States Lee Professor and Department Head. Before joining The Citadel in 2002, he served on the faculty and as a member of the mission analysis design team at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. Dr. Barsanti is a retired United States Naval Officer. His memberships include the Eta Kappa Nu, and Tau Beta Pi honor societies.

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Abstract

Employers have long valued veteran employees for a variety of skills and qualities such as their ability to work on a team, mission oriented work ethic, and their technical expertise. Growing regional industries have looked upon [Institution] to meet some of their engineering needs through veteran graduates, but demand for engineers is increasing and outpacing the small veteran student population. Veteran enrollment in colleges and universities has increased in the past decades in part to the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. However, transitioning veterans from a military lifestyle and occupation to an academic lifestyle and occupation can be a significant challenge for some. Connecting veteran students with the support they need is crucial to their continuing success, in the classroom and beyond. Their military experience often develops great skills and persistence, making them effective and well-regarded students. Faculty and traditional students at civilian or military colleges can benefit from these qualities. Once a veteran or active duty student has made contact and then a commitment to attend, there are a number of activities and processes employed both before they arrive and during their time on campus to retain them in engineering and graduate with an engineering degree as quickly as possible. The focus of these efforts are to create a culture of open communications with potential veterans and increase engagement of these students with faculty, engineering professionals, and peers to matriculate them to the engineering profession. The overall goal was met through an effective recruiting program and ensuring the right tools were in place for retention that allowed students to be a part of a dynamic and supportive educational environment inside and outside of the classroom. While each veteran or active duty student has different needs and challenges, all still need information and resources that will help them succeed as well as connect them to the campus community, so that they feel more fully apart of the learning environment and can meet their educational goals. This paper will describe and assess the use of campus visits, community college prep courses, the campus veteran student liaison, engineering activities, scholarships, and cohort communities to recruit and retain veteran and active duty students. It also will describe programs and activities such as supplemental instruction, STEM lab, STEM events that have meaningful impact on their persistence and ultimately demonstrate the success of these programs. This paper also presents a brief overview of the diversity of veteran student experience and confidence as well as veteran success indicators.

Citation
Format

Rabb, R. J., & Welch, R. W., & Davis, W. J., & Barsanti, R. J. (2019, June), Supporting Regional Engineering Demand by Effective Transition of Veterans on Campus Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--33326

TY - CPAPER
AB -
Employers have long valued veteran employees for a variety of skills and qualities such as their ability to work on a team, mission oriented work ethic, and their technical expertise. Growing regional industries have looked upon [Institution] to meet some of their engineering needs through veteran graduates, but demand for engineers is increasing and outpacing the small veteran student population. Veteran enrollment in colleges and universities has increased in the past decades in part to the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. However, transitioning veterans from a military lifestyle and occupation to an academic lifestyle and occupation can be a significant challenge for some. Connecting veteran students with the support they need is crucial to their continuing success, in the classroom and beyond. Their military experience often develops great skills and persistence, making them effective and well-regarded students. Faculty and traditional students at civilian or military colleges can benefit from these qualities. Once a veteran or active duty student has made contact and then a commitment to attend, there are a number of activities and processes employed both before they arrive and during their time on campus to retain them in engineering and graduate with an engineering degree as quickly as possible. The focus of these efforts are to create a culture of open communications with potential veterans and increase engagement of these students with faculty, engineering professionals, and peers to matriculate them to the engineering profession. The overall goal was met through an effective recruiting program and ensuring the right tools were in place for retention that allowed students to be a part of a dynamic and supportive educational environment inside and outside of the classroom. While each veteran or active duty student has different needs and challenges, all still need information and resources that will help them succeed as well as connect them to the campus community, so that they feel more fully apart of the learning environment and can meet their educational goals. This paper will describe and assess the use of campus visits, community college prep courses, the campus veteran student liaison, engineering activities, scholarships, and cohort communities to recruit and retain veteran and active duty students. It also will describe programs and activities such as supplemental instruction, STEM lab, STEM events that have meaningful impact on their persistence and ultimately demonstrate the success of these programs. This paper also presents a brief overview of the diversity of veteran student experience and confidence as well as veteran success indicators.

AU - Robert J. Rabb P.E.
AU - Ronald W. Welch
AU - William J. Davis P.E.
AU - Robert J. Barsanti Jr.
CY - Tampa, Florida
DA - 2019/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Supporting Regional Engineering Demand by Effective Transition of Veterans on Campus
UR - https://peer.asee.org/33326
DO - 10.18260/1-2--33326
ER -