From the Dean
Welcome to the fall 2019 issue of NC State Engineering magazine. Your College continues to be one of the largest producers of engineering graduates in the United States. NC State engineers are helping to drive the economy in the Research Triangle Park, across North Carolina and around the nation, thanks to to the ability to solve problems and work collaboratively, a skill that they learned during their time on campus.
The latest American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) figures released this summer show that we continue to rank in the top 20 nationally in the number of annual bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. engineering graduates. As the fall semester begins, we are welcoming our largest first year and transfer class ever, with 1,752 new undergraduate students. We have also set a new record for new Ph.D. students, reaching 261 this fall.
More than 12 percent of the newly arrived first-year engineering students come from underrepresented groups, and the class is more than 30 percent women, both new records for the College. The 2019-20 first-year class across the University is more than 50 percent women for the first time in NC State’s history.
In this issue, you will be able to read about our efforts to not only recruit and retain more women faculty members, but also the leadership roles they have attained in our College. They are some of our most prominent teachers and researchers as well as leaders of our academic departments and nationally recognized research centers. They are also outstanding role models who are making a significant impact on the increase in female student enrollment that we have been experiencing.
As we continue to grow, it’s important that we continue to recruit a broad cross section of students that includes not only women, but more students from groups that are historically underrepresented in engineering. This continues to be a foremost priority for the College.
With this in mind, we are very proud to share with you that our College recently received national recognition by ASEE for our efforts to increase diversity in engineering education. NC State was one of 29 universities to be recognized as an “exemplar” recipient of the Bronze Award for the inaugural ASEE Diversity Recognition Program.
Recipients had to meet several stringent criteria related to our diversity efforts including infrastructure to support diverse populations, K-12 community college pipeline activity and many other initiatives. The impact of our Minority Engineering and Women in Engineering programs also played a major role in our College receiving the highest level of recognition that this ASEE program provides at this moment.
We trust that these efforts, as well as the many other initiatives shared in this issue, will offer many reasons for you to be proud as an alumni or friend of NC State’s College of Engineering. Thank you for your continuing support.
Louis A. Martin-Vega, Ph.D.
Dean
Return to contents or download the Fall/Winter 2019 NC State Engineering magazine (PDF, 2.3MB).
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