ALVA: A Successful Program for Increasing the Number ofMinority Undergraduates who Earn Engineering Degrees

摘要

A highly successful minority outreach and support program for incoming collegefreshmen in engineering is described. The University of Washington has been running ALVA(Alliances for Learning and Vision for underrepresented Americans) for 11 years andcontinuously tracks its participants. Partners in ALVA come from the government, education,and industry. This program targets talented underrepresented minority students and addressesfour major hurdles that face minority students in engineering: lack of vision of themselves as anengineer, finances, community, and academic preparation. We will present ALVA as a modelthat can be duplicated at other colleges and universities.