DEI Initiatives
Our programming includes workshops, seminars, peer mentoring, inclusive curriculum advocacy, professional and personal development, community college partnerships, K-12 outreach, community building events, and support of engineering student organizations. We invite you to participate in our activities and we encourage you to join us in our continuing efforts to make our college more diverse, inclusive, and welcoming.
Engineering Connect Residential Academic Program (RAPs)
RAPs provide an opportunity for students who are entering declared in a COE major to live together and take their collegiate First-Year Seminar with students in the same living community. We have built individual RAPs to be communities that are more supportive of women, students of color, and LGBTQIA+ students.
Revolutionary, Inclusive, Sustainable Engineering (RISE) Scholars Program
Participation in RISE offers students a variety of unique academic and social opportunities, including arranged meetings with faculty, current students, and alumni mentors, as well as workshops, lectures, and symposiums. As part of the RISE community, students have priority access to living in one of our Engineering Connect RAPs, as well as specialized group study and tutoring support, social events, and the opportunity to participate in a free early arrival campus program.
Dean’s Advisory Groups
Dean's Advisory Groups provide a platform for members of the college community to interact directly with Dean Sanjay Raman. Advisory group members are expected to provide thoughtful input on college climate, direction, needs, and other topics as requested. Six groups have been established: staff, undergraduate students, master’s students, PhD students, tenured faculty. untenured faculty/research faculty/post-docs.
Dean’s First Year Scholars
This program grants first year, first time students scholarships of $1k. Dean's First Year Scholars are encouraged to participate in RISE. We connect with these students throughout the year to ensure that they have the support needed to thrive in the College of Engineering. Priority selection goes to first generation, high need, and students traditionally underrepresented in engineering.
Dean’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Curriculum Challenge
This initiative is intended to encourage faculty members to incorporate themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion into their courses, so that students can develop a nuanced understanding of both the social and the technical aspects of engineering. The three themes we are currently encouraging faculty to incorporate are Racial Justice in Engineering, Inclusive Design in Engineering, and Equitable Sustainability.
K-12 outreach
Given that one goal of the DEI is to increase the enrollment, retention, and graduation among under-represented students in engineering, we place an emphasis on building the pipeline of K-12 students interested in pursuing engineering degrees.
With support of faculty, staff, and graduate students, we offer events to encourage K-12 students to consider degrees in STEM. These include Women in Engineering and Computing Career Day, Girl Scout Days, Engineering the Cell, Massenberg Summer STEM Institute, and Summer ENGineering Institute (SENGI). The DEI also cultivates strong relationships with three nearby high needs districts—Springfield, Holyoke, and Greenfield—as well as with the Amherst Regional Public Schools. This includes partnerships with the Holyoke Boys & Girls Club, Springfield Boys & Girls Club, Girls Inc. of the Valley, Amherst Regional Middle School, Easthampton Middle School, Makers at Amherst Media, and the Mass 4H Youth Development Program.
Transfer student support
Each year, 70 to 100 students transfer into the College of Engineering. On average, half of these students have earned their associate’s degree at a community college and are continuing on at UMass to earn a B.S. in engineering in one of our seven majors. The majority of our community college transfer students come from Greenfield Community College, Holyoke Community College, and Springfield Technical Community College. Among other programming, the DEI hosts meet and greet opportunities for transfer students to meet faculty, staff, and students in a welcoming, informal setting. For the last three years the Massachusetts Department of Education has supported a summer bridge program for students transferring in to take their junior year writing course at UMass for free. This is paired with a professional development series to help connect transfer students to people and resources at UMass before the fall semester. The college also offers a one credit seminar course for transfer students to further support their success.
Student organizations
The Assistant Dean for Diversity serves as the faculty advisor for the six student diversity organizations within the College of Engineering—the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), “Out” in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM), the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE), and the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME)—in addition to Engineers without Borders (EWB) and Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honors society.
The CEI Hub serves as the meeting space for these student organizations, and the DEI further facilitates their success by providing financial and logistical support to students seeking to travel to their organization’s regional and national conferences. The Assistant Dean for Diversity also provides oversight for the Joint Student Engineering Society (JSES) council, which consists of the leadership of approximately 30 student engineering organizations.
Professional development
DEI professional development programming is closely coordinated with our core engineering student groups (SWE, NSBE, SHPE, oSTEM, SAME, SASE) to support the growth of our students. While specific activities vary from year to year, they generally includes travel support for students to attend regional and national conferences, as well as networking and mentorship opportunities through sponsored events that bring alumni and industry partners to campus.
Climate and Support
We offer workshops on mental health, stress management, and resiliency, as well as a for-credit seminar on Mindfulness and Wellness in Engineering (ENGIN 391W). As a campus, UMass Amherst is committed to student health and well-being. We are a Jed Foundation (JED) campus and have signed the Okanagan Charter: An International Charter for Health Promoting Universities and Colleges. JED works to ensure that schools have extensive systems in place to prioritize student mental health, and the Okanagan Charter calls on campuses to embed health into all aspects of campus culture, integrating physical, mental, spiritual, and social well-being.