Engineering at Illinois has a variety of initiatives which strive to build a connection between the students and their new home from their first days on campus. These programs endeavor to build both social and academic engagement which provides the students with the skills they will need to be successful during their time on campus. In doing so, student retention during the freshman and sophomore years is greatly enhanced.
Corporate participation in College retention programs offers students the opportunity to understand how curriculum in the classroom applies to the real world and to understand more about future engineering career opportunities that await them.
Freshman Fest
Freshman Fest welcomes the incoming engineering freshman class to the College with food, activities, and fun during the first week of classes. Opportunities for activities outside of the classroom are presented by student groups at booths throughout the event. This event creates a foundation to build a supportive environment for our students.
Women in Engineering
Women in Engineering (WIE) offers a mentoring class for women engineering students. Students are paired with an engineering upperclassman and a faculty member. Seminar speakers from corporations and academia make presentations to the class on professional and leadership skills. Corporate mentors provide electronic mentoring to the participants. The course provides women with professional and leadership skills and offers an opportunity for networking among undergraduate students, graduate students, and women faculty members. It was found that program participants were three times more likely to remain in the College of Engineering than women who did not participate.
Student Assisted Guidance in Engineering
Student Assisted Guidance in Engineering (SAGE) is designed to support first-year students who enter the College of Engineering with slightly lower admission scores than the majority of the first-year engineering class. Under-served populations (minorities, females, first-generation students, and students from inner cities and rural areas) are targeted. The class focuses on academic success strategies, engineering disciplines, and careers, and helps connect these students to the engineering community at Illinois by building on their knowledge of the resources offered in the College of Engineering. At the conclusion of the Spring 2008 semester, 70% of the students who participated in SAGE will continue their enrollment in Fall 2008 in the College of Engineering, which is a higher retentation rate compared to students with the same entry level scores who did not participate.
