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ENGINEERING STUDENTS BEGINS MENTORING
PROGRAM TO HELP RETAIN FRESHMEN
KINGSVILLE (Oct. 14, 1998) -- In an effort to increase retention of freshmen engineering students at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, the Engineering Student Council has formed a mentoring group they are calling the Big Brother and Big Sister Project.
President Marc Cisneros, who has joined faculty and staff in a campus-wide mentoring program called Helping Our Students To Succeed (HOSTS), said the engineering college's program goes hand-in-hand with Texas A&M-Kingsville's theme of standing out for caring about its students.
"The engineering college's program does precisely what we are trying to do with HOSTS -- to get involvement within our university family to help each other," Cisneros said.
The Engineering Student Council is a group of representatives from all the student groups affiliated with the College of Engineering.
"Engineering is a tough program and we lose a lot of freshmen," said Prasant Chhotu of Alice, president of the Engineering Student Council. "Not only do we hope this mentoring project will help retain our freshmen, but we also hope to increase membership in our student organizations, providing a peer association for all engineering students."
Chhotu is vice president of the Institute of Industrial Engineering.
Mentor students must have at least 60 semester credit hours under their belts before
working with a freshman. They will be provided a brief training and must meet with their students
at least once a month.
Chhotu said the College of Engineering has 157 freshmen. He hopes to have enough mentors so that they don't have to work with more than three freshmen each."
"Many times it is difficult to talk to a professor, especially about a problem that is not related to the classroom," he said. "It is easier to talk to your peers about such things. As fellow engineering students we can say 'Hey I've been there. I know what you are going through' because we have been there, just a couple years ago."
The mentors have an office available for them to meet with their freshmen in Eckhardt Hall where the College of Engineering also maintains a tutoring center from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
"I am excited about this program," said Dr. Phil Compton, dean of the College of Engineering. "This can be one of the main keys to survival in engineering. The Big Brother and Big Sister Project is part of the Freshmen Success Program that not only involves our engineering societies, but also our faculty and industry representatives."
Compton said the goals of the freshmen faculty advisor portion of the success program is to advise students in developing survival strategies in freshman level courses, develop group interaction with engineering societies with the students to promote peer mentoring and develop contact with industry representatives to allow students more interaction with the field of engineering.
Faculty freshmen advisors must meet with the students on a one-to-one basis or in a group at least once a month to monitor the students' progress, encourage students to join a professional society, evaluate mid-term and final grades for intervention if needed, establish the
initial contact between the industry representative and the engineering student either through e-mail or telephone and arrange for industrial site visit.
"All of these programs put together will increase our engineering students' chances of remaining in the program," Compton said. "It allows the students to work with their peers, receive advising from their faculty members and learn about the industry they are studying, from someone who works in the field."
Engineering organizations include American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Institute of Industrial Engineering, National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Computer Simulation, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, Tau Beta Pi, National Association of Environmental Professionals.
-TAMUK-