Paper Authors

Abstract

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

1164

An Education/Business Partnership: ASU’s Minority Engineering Program and the Tempe Chamber of Commerce Jennifer K. Adair, Maria A. Reyes, Dr. Mary R. Anderson-Rowland, Dr. Barry W. McNeill Arizona State University

Abstract

For the past five years, the Minority Engineering Program (MEP) in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU) has directed the MEP Summer Bridge Program (SBP) which targets entering underrepresented minority freshman students, who are considering or have declared engineering as their major. This highly successful program has an outstanding record of recruiting and retaining engineering students to the College. The primary purpose of the two-week residential scholarship program is to encourage the students to pursue engineering, computer science, or construction and to prepare them for the academic demands of these majors.

Each year the program includes a team project. During the 2000 SBP, the MEP collaborated with the Tempe Chamber of Commerce (TCC) to provide the SBP participants with real engineering experience even before they began their freshman classes. These SBP participants, in teams of four students each, designed a web-based version of the TCC newsletter “The Business Advocate.” This MEP/TCC partnership benefited both groups, surpassed all expectations, and has resulted in a model that both the MEP and TCC want to continue and to expand in future programs. The students had an increased sense of confidence going into the challenging first year of the engineering curriculum, as well as real-world project experience.

I. Introduction

Arizona State University's (ASU) Office of Minority Engineering Programs (OMEP) in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) has invested heavily in the critical recruitment, retention, and placement of minority engineering, computer science, and construction students since its beginning in 1993. Since that time, OMEP has worked diligently in recruitment efforts with K-12 groups and then in retention efforts with the students while they pursue their degrees at ASU. In 1996, the OMEP Director, the Minority Engineering Program (MEP) Coordinator, and the CEAS Associate Dean of Student Affairs concluded that K-12 recruitment programs and university retention programs needed a more complete link. The MEP Summer Bridge Program (SBP) [1] was designed to assist in the goals of recruiting, retaining, and placing minority engineering, computer science, and construction students. The SBP assists in these goals by helping students acclimate to university life, build a community of peers, and gain skills to ensure a successful freshman year.

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

Reyes, M., & Adair, J., & McNeill, B., & Anderson-Rowland, M. (2001, June), An Education/Business Partnership: Asu's Minority Engineering Program And The Tempe Chamber Of Commerce Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9157