ELITE-Engineering with Liberal and Technical Education. Project status report-evaluation, seminars, and advising

Summary form only given. ELITE will enable students at the University of Arizona to plan a course of study that reflects their interests in the arts, humanities, business or social sciences, and applications of engineering methods to these disciplines. By providing a well rounded education that combines the quantitative analytical approach of engineering with the societal and cultural dimensions of the traditional liberal arts, the ELITE program will prepare graduates who have the breadth of vision to lead this nation into the twenty-first century. The project has been ongoing for approximately 15 months and we have completed the degree program approval process to make the program a reality. We concentrate on evaluation, the seminar series, and our advising tools. We report on the backgrounds abilities, and interests of the students who have enrolled in the program. We begin to answer the question as to whether or not this type of program keeps students interested in engineering. We discuss our evaluation tools for students who have exhibited interest and the results of personal interviews with the enrolled students. As part of the new program, we are offering seminars that will help provide a bridge between engineering and the liberal arts. Our plan is to make the seminars readily available through published notes, video, and also included on our web page. We discuss the requirements and design of our online advising tools