FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, a student-directed organization, has won the university’s Outstanding Professional RSO award for three years in a row. No one remembers the last time, if ever, a Registered Student Organization achieved this.

“This is quite impressive and not the normal course for RSO awards,” said Leslee Mayer, RSO program coordinator in the Office of Student Involvement & Leadership.

The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers promotes the development of Hispanic students and professionals in engineering, science and other technical professions to achieve educational excellence, economic opportunity and social equity. But the society includes many non-Hispanic members and embraces broad diversity as part of its mission, said Thomas Carter III, assistant dean for student affairs in the College of Engineering and adviser to the student chapter.

“The award is based on the activities and contributions made toward the college and UA community in general,” Carter said. “For this student group to be named the top RSO three years running speaks volumes about what the organization is doing.”

This past year the society made significant contributions toward providing opportunities for students to learn about jobs and internship opportunities for engineers. Through a variety of fund-raisers it was able to send students to several national conferences where the students were able to make connections networking with companies that do not regularly recruit from the UA campus. It then offered graduate school workshops in an effort to make students aware of those new network connections.

One of the society’s greatest achievements this year was the establishment of the SHPE Junior Chapter at Springdale High School. One of the organization’s main goals is to encourage minority students to pursue higher education, especially in the fields of science and engineering. Members made monthly visits to Springdale High School and hosted UA campus tours for high school students.

The Outstanding Professional RSO award is given annually to the student organization that demonstrates outstanding achievement in seven categories, including maintaining a high level of membership recruitment and retention, offering excellent and diverse programs to its members and to the general public, providing strong communication among its members, and making collaborative partnerships with other organizations.

Its membership diversity is an important strength of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, said Thet Soe, a senior chemical engineering student who is the current chapter president.

“The corporate community is very diverse these days, so we want our organization to be a reflection of that,” said Soe, originally from Myanmar (formerly Burma). “When one of our graduates goes to work for a company, it will extend our reach into the industry and benefit all of the students here. So we really try to represent all students.”