Student Recruiting: A Report on Successful Techniques at Other Universities

Introduction There has been much discussion regarding the recruiting and retention of engineering students. The 2004 ABET annual meeting looked at the changing demographics that engineering schools face. Historically the white male has dominated our profession. Our national demographics are shifting with Caucasian population falling as a percentage of the total. Minority population percentages are growing. With this change ABET is encouraging schools to emphasize diversity. [1] Multiple sessions at the ASEE Annual Conference, this sectional conference and the Christian Engineering Educators Conference have focused on this subject. The latest data on undergraduate engineering graduates show that the number of engineering graduates has increased each of the past four years, but in 2002-2003 the freshmen enrollment failed to increase for the first time in three years.[2]