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CUE 2004

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Multicultural Engineering Program/Women in Engineering Program: MEP and WIEP Collaborate on Student Leadership Conference

Lockheed Martin sponsored a two-day leadership conference for MEP and WIEP students at its Dear Creek facility in southwest Denver.

As academic programs with similar objectives to support underrepresented students in the college, the Women in Engineering Program (WIEP) and Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP) are finding significant opportunities for collaboration resulting in enhanced services and benefits to all students.

The growing partnership is helping to increase diversity in the college, further promote student retention and professional development, and expand the college's recruitment and outreach activities.

With sponsorship from the Lockheed Martin Corp., the WIEP and MEP conducted a two-day regional leadership conference in April 2003 that demonstrated the value and synergy gained by working together. A total of 60 women and multicultural engineering students participated from CU-Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, and Colorado State University.

Conference attendees received training in the Lockheed Martin "STARS Institute" (Student Tools and Resource Skills), consisting of innovative professional skills modules such as "Who's in Charge Here? Leadership in Everyday Life," "Project Teams: How to Lead so that Others Will Follow," and "Blow Your Own Horn: Things You Won"t Learn in School About Succeeding in Your Career." The conference was held at Lockheed Martin's beautiful Deer Creek facility in the southwest Denver metropolitan area.

"Networking with professionals from Lockheed Martin helped me to polish my interpersonal business and leadership skills," says Christy Corner, a junior majoring in electrical engineering at CU-Boulder.

Participants were carefully selected so that the improved leadership skills would benefit the activities of engineering student societies such as the Society of Women Engineers, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, the National Society of Black Engineers, and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

Students and facilitator at Lockheed Martin two-day leadership conference.

Students also interacted with mid- and senior-level engineering managers from Lockheed Martin, who served on panels discussing the challenges industry faces in providing strong ethical and technical leadership. Twenty industry professionals, including alumni from SWE, AISES, NSBE, and SHPE, participated as mentors for student participants and presented real-life examples in each of the modules.

"Getting to know students from the other campuses was great," says Ian Her Many Horses, a sophomore in computer science at CU-Boulder. "As a result of this conference, the CU-Boulder Native American students will help the Colorado School of Mines AISES students to organize their upcoming powwow."

WIEP and MEP are combining efforts on several additional fronts as well, including offering joint company information nights and special speakers during the school year. Through further collaboration with the Integrated Teaching and Learning (ITL) Program initiatives, efforts are under way to expand the CU Success Institute, a one-week, on-campus engineering experience promoting engineering awareness to high school women and multicultural students from the Denver/Boulder region.

The joint activity between WIEP and MEP will likely continue to increase in the coming year, as both programs prepare to move this summer into a new common resource center in the civil engineering wing located on the first floor of the Engineering Center. The new center will provide both programs greater visibility due to its central location, as well as easy access to the ITL Laboratory and the Dean's Administrative Offices.

While acknowledging the importance of maintaining distinct program identities, WIEP Director Beverly Louie and MEP Director David Aragon are confident that the opportunities to build upon their current collaborations will lead to greater synergy and enhanced services for students in both programs.

www.colorado.edu/engineering/MEP/

www.colorado.edu/engineering/WIEP/