College of Engineering earns national award for minority-retention programs

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and ExxonMobil recently honored The Ohio State University’s College of Engineering with the 2013 Impact Award for efforts in retaining underrepresented minority students in engineering programs.

Ohio State, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan were each awarded $10,000 from ExxonMobil and NSBE during an event held at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., on April 17. Calvin A. Young, NSBE’s national chair, and Kenny Warren, vice president of engineering, ExxonMobil, presented the awards.

At The Ohio State University, PREFACE, the Pre-Freshman and Cooperative Education program, offers a successful summer-enrichment and engineering-exposure experience designed to help entering freshmen transition smoothly from high school to the College of Engineering.

“NSBE salutes these outstanding academic institutions for their success in keeping Black, Latino and other underrepresented minority students in engineering,” Dr. Carl Mack, executive director of NSBE, said. “There is an urgent need for more skilled workers in science, technology, engineering and math fields. The United States cannot afford to continue losing two-thirds of these students to other majors, as it is doing now. These universities are among the few that not only understand the urgency of solving the retention problem in engineering, but are also creative and determined in coming up with solutions.”

“Our approach is three-prong,” said Minnie McGee, assistant dean of the College of Engineering’s Minority Engineering Program.

“The after-school STEM Clubs allow us to identify and develop talent from an early age. Our summer bridge program, PREFACE, helps participants make the transition from high school to college and get off to a great start. And college-level retention efforts include collaborations with our minority engineering student organizations.

“The results would suggest we are on the right track.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. population is 16.3 percent Latino and 12.6 percent African American, but the two groups only represent 6.2 and 5 percent respectively of the engineering workforce.

ExxonMobil and the NSBE established the Impact Award in 2011 to honor and recognize collegiate efforts to attract and retain minority students in engineering disciplines. Each program is recognized for its ability to be easily replicated at other universities nationwide through NSBE.

The Impact Award recipients were selected for their demonstrated, results-based progress in retaining underrepresented minority students in engineering-related programs.