The challenge:

Social relationships between students and faculty are difficult to cultivate because of the extreme time pressures felt across the department.

The Outcome:

Create a structure that makes it easy for faculty and students to organize an informal lunch, with perhaps 5-10 students per faculty member.

Faculty can arrange lunch discussions on their own, but an easy-to-use sign-up structure (like a website?) plus reasonable reimbursement could make this program both popular and valuable to ME.

The Preliminary Success Metric:

ME faculty have lunch with 300+ UG students annually.

The Pathfinder Project:  Design a pilot around a topic area of interest to students. Examples of topics:

  • Tips on finding a summer job
  • Why you should consider a research experience
  • Strengthening your presentation skills
  • Improving your communication skills
  • Getting ready for a job fair

Proposed pilot: Getting a summer job. Two faculty members agree to prepare a coaching session to be held in the faculty conference room. Limit 20 students.  Subtopics could include:

  • Preparing materials: resume, cover letters
  • How to look for information
  • Preparing slides for a job talk
  • Participating in a phone interview
  • Having lunch or dinner with a company representative

This team includes: