THE DYNAMICS OF ESTABLISHING AND SUSTAINING A NATIONAL MINORITY ENGINEERING PROGRAMS ADVISORY BOARD

摘要

For nearly 12 years, our Minority Engineering Programs Office has sustained a national board of industry representatives who serve on our National Minority Engineering Programs Advisory Board. These representatives are from companies who actively recruit our undergraduate and graduate students to fill internships and co-operative education. They also hire our graduates as new full-time employees. Specific companies targeted for inclusion on our MEP advisory board are those who work tirelessly to diversify their company's engineering workforce. The board members have demonstrated a willingness to maintain an on-going relationship with us by, among other things, allowing our MEP office to help facilitate company on-campus exposure and hiring, and by regularly providing financial support programs administered by our office. This paper describes our strategy for recruiting members to our National Board, frequency and rationale for twice a year board meetings, priority MEP student-centered services provided to members of our board, and challenges associated with sustaining these relationships as corporate recruiting personnel change within these companies at a fairly regular rate. An additional attribute associated with our success is having our student chapter presidents of the National Society of Black Engineers, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, maintain permanent membership on this national advisory board. A portion of the paper explains how this inclusion provides added value to industry representatives who are active board participants. This paper includes specific information on three companies who have served continuously on our board, and which have provided continuous support to our programs.