Challenge: Leverage guest talks by career engineers into a series of features, simultaneously recruiting high school talent, affirming donor ROI, and providing inspiration for current female engineering majors.
Strategy: Attended each mealtime presentation at the inaugural SEAS Summer Immersion Program (SSIP), designed to attract high school students to engineering studies and careers. Identify one theme to act as an aspirational roadmap.
Impact: These features engaged families and alumni, and drove a higher application rate for the following year’s SSIP. It allowed University Advancement to humanize the engineering field, emphasizing the value of problem solving mindsets and demonstrating the value of diversity initiatives.
Glorilyn Maw: An Engineer Looks Like You
Glorilyn Maw argues that engineering and computer science are exciting specifically because of humanity’s vast variety of needs.
“You keep saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if…’ You’re like, ‘I’m thinking about that next step.’ Those are identifying problems, or things that could be better. That’s what engineers do. They’ll identify the problem, then they’ll use math and science to come up with a solution,” she said. The more unusual a person’s interests, the more creative the ‘what ifs.’ We just get inspired by problems, right?”
Kjersten Kuhta: Embrace Your Weird
Kjersten Kuta”s advisor looked at her math skills and convinced her to take calculus and physics, where she met STEM-oriented people. While the classes were challenging, the experience also helped her realize she wanted to learn more in the natural sciences.
“Take that calculus or chemistry class, that helps you figure out what you like or don’t like,” she advised the students. “I liked the hands-on things that I can visualize like pumps and motors. So that’s how I found myself. And there are opportunities for people who can do math and are creative. Be weird, embrace it,” Kuhta said.
Heather Rosentrater: Ask Questions
Questions are the best tool for learning, and Heather Rosentrater of Avista Corp. believes that the real result of a STEM degree is the ability to ask the right questions.
“You’ve shown that you know how to learn, and you usually get a broader experience in your university classes. Once you graduate, that’s when you really start learning. You start pulling from the knowledge that you have, and you know what resources are available to start answering those questions.”
Donna Kruep: Look for Mentors, Learn From Failure
Donna Kruep believes the opposite of succeeding is learning. Failing well is a skill, and it involves being open to everything that could be a solution.
“It’s what you do with it going forward that’s important,” Kruep stressed. “We really build some confidence and resilience with failure. Maybe you just need to figure out a different way to go about it. You really need to learn to believe in yourself that you can do this.”
Communication By Design 