The creation and inauguration of engineering leadership: UTEP and Olin College innovation project

Abstract

The Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Olin College) and The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) are partnering in a project to create a new engineering program that educates career-ready engineering innovators while simultaneously increasing recruitment and retention among historically underrepresented students. Through the Olin-UTEP Partnership for Change: Adoption and Adaptation of Innovative Practices for 21st Century Engineering project, supported by the Department of Education and the Argosy Foundation, UTEP is pioneering a novel undergraduate engineering leadership program (E-Lead), focused on innovation, collaboration, communication, and human-centered engineering embedded in rigorous technical education. The program is being modeled on the curriculum and pedagogy of Olin College, a private, highly selective engineering college respected and nationally recognized for its premier innovative engineering education. The adaptation to UTEP is of national interest, since UTEP is a public, urban institution with a 21st-century demographic [1] and successful transformation of Olin approaches to UTEP can demonstrate scalable impact broadly pertinent to many other commuter campuses and public institutions. By conveying these approaches to UTEP, a minority institution serving a largely Hispanic population in the region of Texas with the lowest median income [2], we aim to demonstrably adapt and scale successful innovation-supportive pedagogies to meet important national needs for a diverse and empowered 21st century engineering sciences workforce.