Gateway Engineering Education Coalition
 Minorities Engineering Program Proposals (12/13/96) We welome your feedback. Email webmaster with your comments. Email comments. |
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Gateway Engineering Education Coalition
Minorities Engineering Program Proposals (12/13/96) We welome your feedback. Email webmaster with your comments. Email comments. |
Description of ProgramThe Educational Learning Assistants (ELAs) Pilot Project will enable the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) to create a peer advising/mentoring program to help sophomores to increase their academic performance and thus their retention, at the most critical stage of their college career. ELAs will provide structured group study sessions in the residence halls for residence students and in the University Learning Center for commuters, and serve as liaisons to the EOP office. New and enhanced partnerships will enable EOP/ELAs to better maximize the use of available university resources. Such endeavors will help EOP sophomores build their academic comprehension, academic self-confidence and academic competency, all of which are critical to increased academic performance, thereby leading to academic retention.Goals of the ProgramTo assist the 97 EOP sophomores to become more integrated into the university at large, and to encourage their effective utilization of available academic and academic support services in order to ensure a higher retention rate. To measure success, the retention rate will be raised from 69% to 79% the average for the past five years. |
Institution:Columbia University, School of Engineering & Applied Science
Name of Project: Gateway Directory
Contact Persons: Pamela Moed, Gateway Coordinator
Address: Columbia University
510 Mudd
New York, NY 10027
E-Mail: pjm52@columbia.edu
Telephone: (212)845-6717
Description of Program
Role models and mentoring form an important support network for minority students. Alumni can play a powerful role in retaining these students. Columbia University will develop a Minority Alumni Directory for graduates of all the Coalition institutions and create a centralize Web page. Gateway students will have the opportunity to interact with alumni within and across our ten schools. Once the database has been developed, the potential for collaborative efforts and alumni programs such as mentoring, campus programming, role modeling, and general academic and career advice can have an extraordinary effect on the Gateway mission.Goals of the Program
Through this project, we can expect to see among other things: a stronger sense of community and collaboration throughout the Coalition among students and alumni; extensive networking between schools; increased alumni support for institutions financially and socially; improved retention; a more nurturing learning environment; more mentoring; engineering graduates better prepared to work in a professional environment; and improved personal and academic performance among students.
The Getting Plugged in (GPI) Improving Faculty/Student Interaction
Institution: Teachers College, Columbia University
Name of Project: Getting Plugged In Seminar
Contact Persons: Je Nell Padilla, Project Coordinator
Case Willoughby, Graduate Assistant
Address: Teachers College, Columbia University
510A Thompson Hall
525 West 120 St.
New York, NY 10027
E-Mail: jp186@columbia.edu
Telephone: (212)678-3986
Fax: (212)678-4048
Description of Program
The Getting Plugged In Seminar is designed to facilitate quality faculty/student relationships and to introduce students to the practice of building networks. Students learn the importance of network building and they will learn how to identify and pursue pre-professional engineering opportunities. The Seminar includes a full day of exercises which teach students how to initiate interaction with their professors and increase their awareness of research opportunities.Goals of the Program
1) For participants to understand the importance of faculty/student interaction early in their academic careers.
2) For participants to learn the basics of approaching and developing relationships with professors and their profession.
3) For students to learn the importance of creating their own networks within the institution and their profession.
4) For students to begin creating their own academic/professional networks immediately.
5) For students to identify and access potential undergraduate research opportunities.
Success Program Gateway Multi-Media Project
Institution: Drexel University
Name of Project: SUCCESS Program
Contact Persons: Dr. Stephen Jones, Director/SUCCESS
Address: Engineering and Science Program
32nd & Chestnut Sts.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
E-Mail: jones@duvm.ocs.drexel.edu
Telephone: (215)895-2567
Description of Program
The graduate multi-media resource center will facilitate students graduate school acceptance. The center staff will: (1) help students to use technology as a resource to improve Drexel student interest in attending graduate school, (2) provide an early introduction to the benefits of graduate school, (3) current graduate students will serve as a resource for undergraduates, and (4) sharing information about successful strategies across the coalition.Goals of the Program
1. a multi-media resource center to inform and encourage undergraduates to pursue graduate degrees;
2. resource materials developed at Drexel University and shared across the coalition. Materials include workbooks, video tapes, a World Wide Web page, a book, e-mail address, a coalition electronic bulletin board, and coalition graduate admission materials. The Drexel University students will use the Macintosh computer to communicate with coalition students, administrators, and faculty;
3. graduate school preparation workshops for undergraduate students at Drexel University using the latest technology;
4. a joint graduate school coalition meeting to identify resources and strategies that will encourage students to enter coalition graduate schools. A reference manual will be developed based on the outcome of this meeting. Participants will include faculty, deans, and administrators of this effort (New objective for 1997-98);
5. a coalition student-faculty mentoring programs on the internet, which encourages students to conduct research across the coalition;
6. office resources, which includes graduate test preparation, admissions application reviews, campus tours and scholarship support;
7. an introduction to technology used to conduct graduate research;
8. a student-faculty research project expanded at on campus and off campus locations; and
9. assessment of students graduate school selection and annual comparative evaluation of the Program's success.
MiE Gateway Coalition Contacts
Institution:University of South Carolina
Name of Project: MEP Tutorial Network System (MEP-Net)
Contact Persons: Kathy Gordon
Address: Swearingen Engineering Center
Columbia, S.C.
E-Mail: gordon@engr.sc.edu
Telephone: (803) 777-2590
Description of Program
The Minority Engineering Program was established in an effort to improve the performance and retention of minority students in the College of Engineering. MEP T-Net (Tutorial Network System) will help serve this goal with the following objectives: - 24 hour accessible tutorial assistance. - hands-on participation and manipulation of data. - autonomy to strengthen student motivation and learning skills, and - to develop and support critical thinking skills. The MEP is responsible for assisting students with academic advising, guidance activities, skill development, financial aid, tutoring, and counseling. The groups targeted are first and second year students. There is a decline in student matriculation primarily during the third and fourth semester of full-time attendance. During the second year, students enroll in more classes requiring an increasing demand on their ability to focus and incorporate interdependent learning skills (critical thinking). With the availability of the MEP T-Net, students will have access to materials designed to tutor and address their needs individually and collectively.
Goals of the Program
24 hour accessible tutorial assistance
The greatest advantage of the MEP T-Net system is its availability to students. The computer is the tool of the engineer. Students are in constant need of this instrument to meet all of their classroom needs as well as laboratory needs. The engineering curriculum creates a demand on students that exceeds most undergraduate programs. It is not unusual to have students working on projects or assignments at 4 a.m. Having this system available can eliminate the need to wait for available assistance from an individual or class schedule.
Hands-on participation and manipulation of information
The software under consideration is interactive, with case-based approaches, and fundamental skill building development. It provides visual stimulation with working models and challenging models to support fundamental concepts. This type of program is more empowering for students allowing them to become "emancipated learners" (Brookefield; 1989). He describes learning as "learners becoming aware of the forces that have brought them to their current situations and taking action to change some aspects of the situation." To support this position even further, is to include in this process a cadre of trained student leaders in the role of Mentor to the network. Developing critical thinking skills is the most supportive argument for the MEP T-Net system and assigned mentors to this project will maintain the focus.
Autonomy to strengthen student motivation and learning skills
The MEP T-Net system in no way replaces the traditional tutorial study groups already established by this office and faculty. It is a welcomed enhancement of these efforts. Historically, minority students are faced with separate standards and preconceived expectations from faculty and peers. These barriers coupled with anxiety to succeed is a barrier to productive learning and participation in the curriculum.
The Gateway Coalition is an Engineering Education Coalition supported, in part, by the Education and Centers Division of the Engineering Directorate of the National Science Foundation (award number EEC-9109853).
Copyright © 1996 by the Gateway Coalition.