Program Notes: Serving Students

Student Programs

By Kay Bell, director

Student Programs is an activity operated out of the Dean's Office, which works with members of the student government, the UCEC, and offers a variety of services for engineering students.

Among these is the Engineering Peer Advocates program, supported by a grant from the University's Advising Council on Academics. Peer Advocates function as a referral point for many kinds of academic support needs. They are juniors and seniors in the College who have been trained to answer questions and deal with concerns that effect fellow students.

The Advocates operate out of an office on the first floor of the South Tower of the Engineering Center. They offer help through such varied activities as collaborative learning workshops, including free chemistry and calculus workshops for current and potential engineering students; maintaining a practice test file; providing free private tutoring offered by upperclassmen, graduate students and faculty, paid for by the Dean's Office; study skills assistance; advice on how to apply and transfer credit for study abroad opportunities; advice on choosing a major; and advice on planning class schedules.

Other services include "Operation Assist," a probation intervention program offering special support for students on probation; and a new Wellness Program funded by the Council for Academic Programming in the Resident Halls. This latter initiative, developed in collaboration with the Wardenburg Health Center, provides information and referral services for students concerning nutrition, sleep depravation, exercise awareness, and other areas of concern.


Past UCEC President Sean Gaydos with
Student Program Director Kay Bell
Our Outreach efforts include the activities of the Engineering Ambassadors, students who host regular tours for prospective students and their parents on Friday afternoons and special tours at other times. Outreach efforts also include "Operation Confirm": current students contacting admitted students to confirm their enrollment in the College. Last spring, some 800 potential students were contacted. Our students help the Engineering Development Office host College events for alumni/ae, and many of them are becoming spokespeople for the Integrated Teaching Laboratory - the most effective advocates the ITL can have. Last February, for example, students played an important role in convincing Colorado legislators to provide state funding to this important project. Twenty-nine students visited the legislature in person to talk to members one-on-one about the importance of the ITL.

These various activities not only impact the beneficiaries in positive ways, but help the student participants learn valuable new skills. As recent alumna Vreli Lange, a former Peer Advocate and a student founder of the Engineering Ambassadors says, "I personally feel that, two months into my first job, I am using more information gained from being in organizations like the Advocates and Ambassadors than I did in my classes at school. Communication is key in the real world!!"

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