Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Session 1554

Discover Engineering Day: Collaborations in Pre-College Recruitment William C. Davis, Elsa Q. Villa, S. W. Stafford The University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract

As engineering enrollments across the United States are on the decline, the College of Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has shown a 7% increase each year for the past four years. To address this enrollment gap, retention and recruitment programs must exist symbiotically at an institution to attract students and retain them through graduation. The Discover Engineering Day program was developed and implemented in the spring of 2000 as a possible solution to recruiting potential students into engineering.

The goals of Discover Engineering Day are to create awareness among pre-college students about engineering as a challenging and rewarding career choice. A career fair environment that integrates interactive presentations was chosen over a lecture or “talking heads” format. The incorporation of display boards, videos, demonstrations, hands-on activities, and multimedia presentations helped ensure students left with an understanding of engineering. Moreover, interaction with undergraduate and graduate students, professionals/company representatives, student organizations, and professors are also incorporated into the program – leaving all the stronger an impression.

During its pilot year, Discover Engineering Day was implemented at four local high schools. The events impacted over 700 local high school students of whom 400 were juniors and seniors. Information regarding scholarships, research programs, class requirements, engineering disciplines, and admissions was made available. The program also advocated the importance of taking the appropriate math and science courses in high school.

Following the pilot year, Discover Engineering Day was concluded to be a successful program – helping to attract pre-college students into the engineering profession. In its inaugural year, the program has expanded in terms of both its content and its reach. The program now incorporates participants and information from the College of Science – so that the title was appropriately changed to Discover Science and Engineering Day.

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2001, American Society for Engineering Education

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Davis, W., & Stafford, S., & Villa, E. (2001, June), Discover Engineering Day: Collaborations In Pre College Recruitment Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9140