Diversity Team Award Winner Announced

The Engineering Career Awareness Program team has been selected as the 2011-12 winner of the University of Arkansas’ Diversity Team Award. Team members include Thomas Carter III, Carol Gattis, Bryan Hill, Camilla Medders, Eric Specking and Emily Williams.

The objective of the Engineering Career Awareness Program is to increase the number of underrepresented students, such as African American, Hispanic and female students, who are capable but financially challenged, to obtain engineering degrees and enter engineering graduate studies or the engineering workforce. To reach these students, the ECAP team begins with community-focused outreach to students and their families to make them aware of the professional and personal opportunities available through an engineering education. Students who are accepted into ECAP are fully supported financially. Through a combination of university scholarships, grants and ECAP funds, these students are provided with a full ride to ensure that financial needs do not get in the way of their education. Since its establishment, ECAP has had a phenomenal success rate. Of the 2011 graduates, 100 percent went on either to engineering graduate programs or employment in the field of engineering.

The nomination for the ECAP team stood out as an outstanding model for diversity recruitment, college access and academic retention for students who are underrepresented on campus and in engineering fields. The documented success of the program and ECAP’s investment of time, people, and resources in the development of a program so entirely focused on diversity and student access is an invaluable example to the campus community.  

The Diversity Awards Program is coordinated annually by the Employee Development Program to reward and recognize individuals and teams exhibiting outstanding commitment to diversity. Nominations and an independent judging committee are used to determine the winners. More information about the program can be found online: http://hr.uark.edu/380.aspx.