The Dynamics Of Establishing And Sustaining A National Minority Engineering Programs Advisory Board

For nearly 12 years, our Minority Engineering Programs Office has sustained a national board of industry representatives who serve on our National Minority Engineering Programs Advisory Board. These representatives are from companies who actively recruit our undergraduate and graduate students to fill internships and co-operative education. They also hire our graduates as new full-time employees. Specific companies targeted for inclusion on our MEP advisory board are those who work tirelessly to diversify their company’s engineering workforce. The board members have demonstrated a willingness to maintain an on-going relationship with us by, among other things, allowing our MEP office to help facilitate company on-campus exposure and hiring, and by regularly providing financial support programs administered by our office. This paper describes our strategy for recruiting members to our National Board, frequency and rationale for twice a year board meetings, priority MEP student-centered services provided to members of our board, and challenges associated with sustaining these relationships as corporate recruiting personnel change within these companies at a fairly regular rate. An additional attribute associated with our success is having our student chapter presidents of the National Society of Black Engineers, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, maintain permanent membership on this national advisory board. A portion of the paper explains how this inclusion provides added value to industry representatives who are active board participants. This paper includes specific information on three companies who have served continuously on our board, and which have provided continuous support to our programs. Background on Our National Minority Engineering Programs Advisory Board Our Director of Minority Engineering Programs was hired in 1995 with the specific charge to increase recruiting, enrollment, graduation and overall success of under-represented minority engineering students. The director moved quickly to establish a permanent advisory board of corporate representatives who routinely recruit our engineering students, and who are demonstrating a commitment to diversity in the work place. Invitations went out to over two dozen companies, with a small fraction responding. Working with a dozen companies, the director decided to hold advisory board meetings twice annually: In the fall in conjunction with the university-wide Minority Career Fair, and in the spring in conjunction with the College of Engineering Career Fair. Rationale for these two meeting times was that the companies targeted for inclusion on the National Minority Engineering Programs Advisory Board are likely to have a recruiting presence on campus at these two career fairs, and even if the preferred company administrator could not attend, she/he could send one of the company recruiting representatives to our meeting. At the first board meeting, members in attendance confirmed the logic and frequency for our meetings. Since they have a keen interest in direct access to our minority engineering students, we agreed to add to the board student presidents of our National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) chapters. With leaders of NSBE, SHPE and AISES at these meetings, company representatives could interact directly with these organizations on accessing meeting schedules, corporate visits, other identified needs. From 1996 thorough 2002, the majority of our national MEP board consisted of companies different from its current composition. Near the end of this period, the declining economy and corporate turn resulted in an MEP board that was national in name only. Most regular attendees were from a few companies located here in North Carolina, plus student chapter presidents of NSBE, AISES and SHPE. In 2003, shortly after hiring a new assistant director of minority engineering programs, we move to reconstitute the board to a true national level, and invited companies to join who were either not on the board previously, or who were members in name only since they had not actively participated in annual meeting. Table I represents a list of companies invited to join our expanded, reconstituted National MEP board. The few companies who continued to be involved remained as well. The following national and international companies are current, active members of our National Minority Engineering Programs Advisory Board. This list represents the few companies who were members of our degraded board, plus those invited in Table I who accepted the invitation to join, or re-activate their membership. Three companies, The Southern Company, Phillip Morris, and Progress Energy, attended our spring 2007 meeting as observers to see if they wanted to become formal board members. All three decided they do, and have been invited to join. AISES, Student Chapter Boeing Corporation Cisco Systems Duke Energy Corporation DuPont Company Eastman Chemical Company EMC Corporation ExxonMobil Corporation General Electric Corporation Hewlett-Packard Company Intel Corporation International Paper Microsoft Corporation Milliken & Company Nortel Networks Northrop Grumman NSBE, Student Chapter PBSJ N=National) COMPANY NAME COMPANY SIZE COMPANY BUSINESS ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES Alcatel (I) 56,000 Telecommunications CE, CPE, CS, EE Bayer (I) 113,000 Chemical & Health Care (Pharmaceuticals) BME, CHE, MSE Cisco Systems (I) 34,000 Networking Hardware CE, CPE, CS, EE Dupont (I) 55,000 Chemical CHE, MSE Eaton Corporation (I) 56,000 Machinery and Tool Manufacturer AE, EE, IE, ME General Electric (I) 310,000+ Power Generation, Financial Services, and Medical Imaging AE, CHE, EE, ME, MSE, TE IBM (I) 329,000 Manufacturers/Sells Computers Services, Hardware, and Software EE, CPE, CS, MSE International Paper (I) 83,000 Paper, Packaging, and Forest Products IE, ME Konica Minolta (I) 34,710 Photo Imaging and Industrial Products CHE, CPE, EE, IE, ME Milliken & Company (I) 10,000+ Textile and Chemical Manufacturer TE, IE, ME, EE Nortel Networks (I) 34,150 Optical, Wireless, and Voice Technologies EE, CPE, CS NC Department of Trans. (N) 14,000+ Highway Development, Construction, and Maintenance CE PBS&J (I) 3,700+ Multidisciplinary Consulting: Engineering and Architecture CE Procter & Gamble (I) 98,000 Fabric, Home, Beauty, Baby, Family, and Health Care Products, Snacks & Beverages CHE, MSE Progress Energy (N) 11,000+ Power Generation EE, CE, CPE, ME, NE Red Hat, Inc. (I) 740 Linux Software and Open Source Technology EE, CPE, CS SAS Institute (I) 10,000 Business Software EE, CPE, CS Square D (Schneider Electric) (I) 84,866 Electrical Power Distribution, Industrial Control, Automation Products EE, CPE, CS Time Warner Cable, Inc. (N) 30,000 Fiber Optic Technology: Digital Cable and Phone, High Speed Online Service EE, CPE, CS Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (I) 5,722+ Product Safety Certification, Quality System Regulation Services EE, ME, MSE, TE While the majority of these are international companies, our proximity to the North Carolina Research Triangle Park is a tremendous plus, since these companies have a national presence in that Park. Note that there are some companies listed in Table II that are not formal members of our National MEP Board. These companies support us in this narrow activity, but are not involved in other ways that warrant formal board membership. Table II. Companies Supporting or Summer Transition Program Friday Visits 200