When new freshmen and transfer students arrive at the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX, they come from all over the state. Their economic and cultural backgrounds may differ, but they were all outstanding high school students with an interest in engineering.
Many took advantage of the university's High School Outreach Program (HOP). HOP is a large recruiting effort designed to attract diverse students who might not otherwise consider the school or a career in engineering.
Made up largely of faculty and student volunteers, the HOP team represents all facets of Texas A&M's Look College. It's on a mission to increase awareness about engineering and what Texas A&M can offer students with diverse backgrounds. Part of that push involves reaching out to targeted schools, both high schools and community colleges, that are populated primarily by minorities.
Through HOP, Texas A&M students and faculty go on the road to cities and small towns across the state to visit schools that have a high minority enrollment. The school hosts chat nights during which students and parents can ask questions about the program.
High schools contact Texas A&M when they would like to have someone from the university come to speak to a class about career opportunities in engineering. Look College program coordinator Marilyn Green points out, "In high school, they teach about science and mathematics, but less about the field of engineering."
Staying within the law
HOP is in keeping with the Texas state law that closed the door on affirmative action enrollment almost a decade ago. The anti-affirmative action ruling was the result of a 1996 lawsuit against Texas Law School that was filed by four white students, including Cheryl Hopwood, for whom the decision was named.
After the Hopwood ruling, there was a sharp decline in minority enrollment in the state's public colleges and universities. In place of affirmative action enrollment policies, the state now guarantees entrance to public state colleges to the top 10 percent of Texan high schoolers. This 10 percent rule was enacted by the state legislature in 1997 in an attempt to boost minority enrollment without the use of affirmative action.
Before Hopwood, African Americans represented 4.1 percent of the freshman class at Texas A&M and Hispanics made up 14.5 percent. That decreased to 2.7 percent and 12.6 percent in 1997. In 2002, five years after the 10 percent plan became official, the numbers rose to 3.4 percent and 14.3 percent, with more total African Americans and Hispanics than before affirmative action was banned.
Texas A&M's engineering college is trying to use the spirit of the 10 percent rule to attract more diversity. "We target schools, not students," explains Green. By focusing on schools with high-minority populations, the university can be more successful at maintaining diversity and even possibly increasing it.
Richard Prophet courts candidates through VIP
Another Texas A&M program is Very Important Prospects (VIP), which sends buses to high schools around the state to pick up and bring back students who have an interest in the university. Many of these students are from lower economic brackets and will be first-generation college students.
Richard Prophet is one of the students who greet the busloads of high schoolers, explain the school to them and answer their questions. Prophet says many of them come filled with questions. Others don't know where to begin. The vast majority, he says, are serious students focused on their college careers and on engineering.
Prophet, a fifth-year engineering student, hands out his e-mail address to students and becomes a mentor to many of them. Students ask what they need to do to prepare while in high school, what math courses they should be taking, what the differences are among the many engineering disciplines, and how hard it would be to change a major. They also ask about campus life.
"Some students are worried," Prophet says. "A lot are first-generation college students and they know nothing about university life. Fortunately, when they ask me questions, I can often answer from personal experience and relate to them directly."
VIP volunteers tell prospective students what they should expect their first year. At Texas A&M, that includes the cluster program, which groups all engineering students in courses such as calculus, physics and engineering. "It's a good way for students to form relationships," Prophet says. Volunteers also offer advice on rooming and sharing textbooks with other engineering students.
Prophet, who is an active member and former president of the school's NSBE chapter, says many students have told him that they might not have attended Texas A&M if they had not been given that informative tour in advance.
Ivan Gonzalez shares his struggle
Computer engineering senior Ivan Gonzalez has been a VIP volunteer since January 2004. Gonzalez remembers all too well what his first year at college was like. In the overwhelming environment of a large university, "I struggled," he recalls. Then he joined SHPE. "I realized there are a ton of Hispanic engineers," he says. "That was very encouraging."
He uses that experience to encourage other new students, many Hispanic, nearly all minorities. "A lot of students are worried about coming to a big school," he says.
When they come with their parents they often have little to say, he notes, but when they're alone with Gonzalez they start asking, "'Is engineering really hard?' They're worried they won't be able to succeed," he says.
Gonzalez encourages anxious students to find support groups and assures them that engineering is, in fact, hard, but can be managed with focus and ambition. Like Prophet, he gives many students his e-mail or phone number and stays in touch with them as they consider their options.
Gonzalez also participates in recruiting at the Houston Hispanic Forum's Career and Education Day, where he meets with prospective students at a Texas A&M booth.
He enjoys the volunteer work, but has greater reasons to offer his time for diversity recruiting. "I know there are people who feel the way I felt when I started, and providing a personal perspective helps," he says. He adds that there are personal benefits too. "It's like career development," he says, helping to hone his interpersonal and communication skills.
Recently, when 1,400 new freshmen descended on Look College in September, Gonzalez says many came up to him and said, "Hey, I remember you," and let him know his assistance was what brought them to the college.
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