BUILDING THE ENGINEER IN ME: DESIGNING A SEMINAR FOR FIRST-YEAR FEMALE ENGINEERING STUDENTS

摘要

Designing an initiative whose goals are to recruit, retain, and support female engineering students provides many opportunities to experiment with different combinations of academic, social, and service models. We present the design process by which one component of the initiative, a seminar aimed introducing first-year female engineering students to the engineering profession, was developed in this paper. The seminar, entitled Building the Engineer in Me, is intended as a cornerstone in the initiative, and, by conscious design, contains innovative and unique features. The initiative, a project involving students, faculty, and administration of the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), will be directed by the Center for Diversity in Engineering (CDE). It is scheduled for launch in AY 2006-7.