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NEWS
| October 9, 2003
Engineering
Mentoring group aims to slow declining
retention
The co-founder says the staff
helps students and keeps them in the major.
By Tessa
Burkett
Contributor to The Shorthorn
A mentoring group for engineering students is trying to help officials
curb a declining retention rate in the Electrical Engineering Department.
Officials said the retention rate has become an issue because many
students who start as freshmen in the department drop out or change
their majors.
The mentor group, funded by a Texas Technology Workforce Development
grant, is searching for a way to encourage students to stick with
the degree. The group is sponsored by the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers and Eta Kappa Nu, the electrical and computer
engineering honors society. Half of the group’s funding comes
from the grant program.
Stephan Wright, the mentor group’s president, he and other
founders started the program last year after noticing a lack of
tutoring and mentoring in the department.
“Students from other departments had help, but there wasn’t
much there for students in this major except the TAs,” the
electrical engineering graduate student said.
Of the 35-member staff, 15 are paid, he said. The organization hopes
to get $20,000 in addition to its current $14,000 per-semester budget
to expand its operation.
Wright said the group is at full capacity and is overflowing with
students looking for help. The sessions fill up the study lounge
in addition to the designated room, he said.
But he’s worried about the money.
“We have to bang on doors every semester. We’re terrified
of losing funding,” he said. “We don’t know semester
to semester when we’re going to have funding.”
And without proof of declining retention, Wright said, there’s
no way to guarantee the organization’s worth in the future.
Electrical Engineering Chairman Raymond Schoults said retention
in any department is difficult to quantify because detailed records
are not kept.
Dr. Schoults said the organization did not start keeping retention
rate records until last fall. It could take four years or more before
he can compare the number of freshmen taking the classes to the
number who graduated in that field.
“Retention rates are somewhat tricky to do, and we don’t
have a publication in which we have them broken out by department,”
said Michael Tumeo, a research associate for the university’s
Office of Institutional Research and Planning.
The Computer Science and Electrical Engineering departments are
developing a database to gather statistical information on retention
rates. The database will help them accurately measure how many undergraduates
who declare a computer science or an electrical engineering major
actually graduate with a degree in that subject.
Schoults said there are indications the department is losing freshmen
and sophomores, but he doesn’t know how many. That is what
he is working to improve, he said.
Some numbers that are certain, though, are the number of students
that pass through the mentoring sessions. Wright said 30 students
stop by on average every day.
“They’re doing a great job with helping those students.
It will impact the retention situation,” Schoults said. “It
will encourage underclassmen to stay on and stick it out.”
Miguel Grambos, who is taking courses at the university as part
of his training for the Army Corps of Engineers, said he works full
time and appreciates the mentor program.
“When I come in, I feel like something has been accomplished.
Engineers are in the business of problem-solving, and they help
us get results. We need the moral support,” he said.
He said students who seek assistance from mentoring programs will
stay at the university in the long run, which increases retention
rates.
Electrical engineering freshman Nabeel Khan said the program has
been beneficial.
“It is so much easier to get my problems solved,” he
said. “It’s helped me a lot. It’s helped me to
stay in the program.”
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