First-Year Engineering
Goal
The SoE Strategic plan orients us towards a shared vision to Improve Student Success Pathways (Goal One), specifically: Design a common, meaningful first-year experience or pre-major experience for all School of Engineering students.
Our First Year Engineering Experience (FYEE) Program aims to provide a common first year experience for all incoming first year undergraduate students across their first year within the SOE. The course sequence will emphasize (1) interdisciplinary skills for engineering design, (2) supportive skills for academic success, and (3) knowledge of the SoE major disciplines and their associated career paths.
Vision statement
The First-Year Engineering Program provides the educational foundation for all UNM School of Engineering (SOE) undergraduate students. This common curricular experience guides students to learn about themselves; the major and career pathways in engineering, computing, and construction fields; and core design, professional, and supportive study skills. With an awareness of the diversity of communities and backgrounds our students arrive from, we enable access and scaffold the transition for inclusive excellence in SOE.
Proposed structure
This 2-course sequence is required for all incoming 1st year, 1st semester School of Engineering (SoE) students.
- Fall Semester – Universal First Year Engineering Experience (currently FYEX 1110; Future ENG FYEE) Course (3 credits)
- Spring Semester – Department specific First Year (FY) course (1 credit)
If students enter the university in their Spring semester they will take the courses in reverse order. A different introductory experience course will be the first point of contact for transfer students.
Justification
The SoE majors (engineering, computer science, construction management) have low retention compared with national competitors and similar majors at UNM. Most of the student attrition occurs between their first and second years.
Many students arrive at UNM without a point of reference for what engineers (read: engineers, computer scientists, construction managers) do, how the available sub-disciplines differentiate, or what the possible career paths are. They also arrive with a wide variability in math backgrounds ranging from Foundational Math to Calculus III. Due to academic major math prerequisites, most (~#%) UNM SoE students spend their first year in large introductory STEM classes without a consistent point of contact with the SoE. When students meet challenges in these classes, they often leave SoE fields altogether regardless of ability, without ever gaining a clear picture of what it means to be an engineer.
There are proven strategies to improve the retention of first year engineering students. These include: a common introductory course, active learning pedagogy, hands on and real-world engineering design experiences, placed-based context to academic concepts, personnel and resource support for the transition and major selection, and information on career pathways.
We at UNM’s SoE have the opportunity to significantly widen access to engineering for our student population and ensure each student has the opportunity to activate their passion and achieve their aspirations of being an engineer.
