SWE - Fall 2008 - (Page 58)

The ACT/SAT scores of entering students play a role in the national ranking systems of engineering schools. As a result, at the top schools, where those national rankings appear to be more important, it is unlikely that a dean would be willing to encourage recruitment of students from backgrounds like some of our students here. But at a place like NMSU, given the population of our state, it is imperative that we make our institution available to that population, even if it means we accept students who may not be 100 percent ready in math. The good news is that in just one year, we turn that around and have some excellent students. SWE: Earlier you mentioned the need to have role models for women. What are some things you have done to increase the recruitment and advancement of women in engineering at NMSU? SC: I appointed two extremely talented and capable women as department heads. The College of Engineering had never had a woman head, so this was a pretty major change. These women are highly visible. But there were challenges in their appointments. For example, both were associate professors so I wanted to make sure that the appointment to the administrative position would not negatively impact their advancement to full professor. This required me to do several things. First, I worked with the deans of all the other colleges at NMSU to change the university-level criteria associated with advancement to full professor to account for the important contributions department heads can make. Before, the criteria really had no room to account for leadership activities. But then, it was important to mentor the faculty members in how to recraft their promotion packets to fit these new criteria and then to educate the promotion and tenure committees about the new guidelines. SWE: Why was it so important to make sure they could advance to full professor? SC: Full professors are key decision-makers in the university. As my example shows, they decide on their peers’ advancement. But they are also important gatekeepers. In recent years, with programs like ADVANCE, we have learned a lot more about how department search committees need to be more proactive to seek out and recruit excellent faculty rather than simply sorting through a pile of vitae. If we use the same search methods we used 25 years ago, we are likely to have a less diverse faculty, much like 25 years ago. Some faculty members, especially senior faculty, can be very vocal in departments. So it is important, especially for department New Mexico State University New Mexico was still a territory when, in 1888, an educator from Indiana named Hiram Hadley led a group in founding Las Cruces College. The agricultural and preparatory school made its modest home in a two-room building in the small village of Las Cruces, N.M. The following year, when the New Mexico Territorial Assembly authorized the creation of an agricultural college to be located in or near Las Cruces, the school was designated a land-grant college and renamed the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. A state constitutional amendment in 1960 changed the name of the institution to New Mexico State University. In addition to its main campus in Las Cruces, NMSU has branches in Alamogordo, Carlsbad, Doña Ana County, and Grants, N.M., as well as 33 extension and 10 research centers. Forty-four percent of NMSU’s undergraduate students are Hispanic, qualifying the school as a Hispanic-serving university. To earn status as a Hispanic-serving institution, a university must have at least 25 percent Hispanic fulltime-equivalent enrollment. In addition, 6 percent of NMSU’s students are American Indian and 2 percent are African-American. In 2006, 53 percent of the university’s 27,150 students were minorities. New Mexico State University is the top contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense among Hispanic-serving universities. An active research university, NMSU is one of 52 institutions in the United States to be designated a Space Grant College, part of a network of space-related research facilities. The NMSU College of Engineering opened in 1891, offering courses in civil and mechanical engineering. The school now offers 10 engineering degree programs. The International Foundation for Telemetering designated the college as the first Telemetering Center of Excellence in the United States. This year, in its annual evaluation of American graduate school programs, U.S. News & World Report ranked the NMSU College of Engineering graduate program 69th in the country. And, the American Society for Engineering Education placed it in the top 10 colleges in America for the number of engineering degrees granted to Hispanics. According to the school’s Web site, NMSU is ranked sixth in the nation for granting engineering degrees to Native American students. The NMSU College of Engineering has several programs designed to introduce K-12 students to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, including a robotics-design competition for middle and high school students; a program to increase the enrollment and graduation rate of underrepresented ethnic minorities in STEM; and an alliance dedicated to assisting students with disabilities in overcoming the barriers they face in considering STEM careers. Some come from families that are so stressed that basic survival is challenging, let alone learning how to navigate an educational system to make sure their children are being prepared for good jobs. 58 SWE FALL 2008 DARREN PHILLIPS, NMSU COMMUNICATIONS NMSU’s Foreman Engineering Complex.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Fall 2008

SWE - Fall 2008 Heritage Club Contents Farewell Message from FY08 President Michelle Tortolani Congratulations SWE Magazine A Conversation with FY09 President Virginia Connolly, P.E. Introducing the FY09 Board of Directors View from the Executive Suite Editor's Page Public Policy Update SWE Retention Study, Part 6 Membership Information & Calendar A&B SWE Member Kristina Johnson First Woman to Receive John Fritz Medal University Labs Fuel a New Era in Energy Women Engineering Leaders in Academe 2008 Opening the Gateways to Engineering Your Collegiate Section History is Waiting to Be Discovered Honoring the Legacy of Ada Pressman, P.E. Report from WEPAN Engineering World Proposed Bylaws Amendments Point of View Correction Career Toolbox Corporate Partnership Council Book Review SWE Smiles In Memory Opportunity Index SWE Scrapbook

SWE - Fall 2008

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