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NEWS RELEASE
Phone: 386-226-6198 Embry-Riddle’s Efforts to Diversify Engineering Honored with National Award
The ABET award, given to recognize extraordinary success in achieving or facilitating diversity and inclusiveness in the technological sector of society, was conferred Oct. 29 at the 2008 ABET Commission Summit in Louisville, Ky. Embry-Riddle was honored for its initiatives to attract and retain a cross section of students, especially females, to its degree programs in engineering, a field that is still predominately male, both at the university and nationwide. “This national honor reflects positively on our university,” said John P. Johnson, president of Embry-Riddle. “I am very proud of our Office of Diversity Initiatives and College of Engineering for their successful efforts to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities in the college.” The Embry-Riddle initiatives have been remarkably successful in attracting and retaining female students to the engineering profession. Embry-Riddle enrolls and graduates more female aerospace engineering students than Georgia Tech and Texas A&M, the nation’s second and third largest programs combined. The diversity emphasis is also paying dividends in mechanical and civil engineering, where female enrollments and graduation rates are near 20 percent. The initiatives are: K-12 Outreach • Girls Exploring Math & Science Summer Camp – Offered for the past two years in the local community to girls 8-13 years old. Peer counselors are from the College of Engineering. • Aerospace Program at Campbell Middle School (Daytona Beach) – Involves more than 300 sixth-grade students, of whom 70 percent are African-American and 72 percent are low income, and more than 100 volunteers from Embry-Riddle’s Society of Black Engineers, Women’s Mini-Baja program, and aerospace engineering program. • Aerospace After-School Club at Cypress Creek Elementary School (Port Orange) – Involves 48 elementary school students, of whom 30 are girls, and student volunteers from Embry-Riddle’s College of Engineering. College Transition Support • Mentoring Programs – Include a new-student dinner and mentoring program that pairs female engineering students with volunteer faculty members and a team treasure hunt that takes new students to key places on campus and to faculty in their offices. Focused Curriculum Enhancement • Female Initiative: Reaching Success Together (FIRST) – A Boeing-sponsored program that includes field trips to Kennedy Space Center, seminars on career topics, mentoring, and tutoring. • Women’s Mini Baja SAE Team – The program assembles a team of female student engineers to design, build, and test an off-road Mini Baja vehicle in one academic year and then compete nationally against other university teams. Support of Professional Opportunities and Career Enhancement for Females • Sponsoring Female Faculty Members in Support of Ph.D. Studies -- The College of Engineering is sponsoring a female faculty member’s work toward a Ph.D. in engineering education through a forgivable loan, release time, and tuition support. Similar opportunities are available to other female faculty members. • Highlighting Successful Female Students and Alumni – Successful female students and alumni share their experiences and return to campus as speakers. The Leader, Embry-Riddle’s magazine for prospective students, highlights the ambitions and achievements of females, including Space Shuttle astronauts Susan Kilrain and Nicole Stott. Key people who are responsible for Embry-Riddle’s engineering diversity initiatives are: Joanne Detore-Nakamura, associate professor of humanities and social studies and director of the Office of Diversity Initiatives; Heidi Steinhauer, assistant professor of engineering; Lisa Davids, assistant professor of engineering and director of freshman engineering; Christopher Grant, associate dean of the College of Engineering; and Darris White, associate professor of mechanical engineering. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs, with accreditation pending for Embry-Riddle’s first doctoral programs, in Aviation and in Engineering Physics. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu. |
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