(153a) The Dean’s Team in the College of Engineering at the University of Akron: Supporting Engineering Recruiting and Outreach

The Dean’s Team (DT) at the College of Engineering, The University of Akron (UA), was established in 2013 to support the college’s mission in recruiting and community outreach; the program was inspired by a similarly named program at the College of Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The DT is comprised of about 25 or so mostly undergraduate students within the College of Engineering and distributed across the eight programs offered within the college. The DT helps the college with recruiting and marketing in several ways. First, the DT represents each program at UA structured visit days. For the Department of Chemical, Biomolecular and Corrosion Engineering, the DT members share their experiential learning experiences and job functions as a co-op student during departmental presentations. Prospective students and parents appreciate their first-hand stories and their views of engineering studies and engineering careers. Secondly, the DT hosts individual visits in-person and virtually. This one-on-one interaction helps prospective students become familiar with the details of student life and program requirements. The DT also reach out to the students and families after visits through notecards or emails. Some of the DT members also offer hands-on workshops to high school students, along with panel discussion about college life and engineering design projects. The critical factors to the success of the DT program include identifying the best students for the team and appointing someone to train and manage the team. For 2019 Fall recruiting, with the support of the DT, the yield rate at the College of Engineering is about 11% higher than the university’s average. Not only did the DT help with recruiting, but also eased students’ transition from high school to college.

In this presentation, we will provide a history of the Dean’s Team, the costs (both personnel and financial) of running a program, the impacts of the program and how the Dean’s Team members are chosen and utilized in the college, and specifically within the Department of Chemical, Biomolecular and Corrosion Engineering at the University of Akron.