WiE convenes meeting of practitioners to discuss strategies for student success
Purdue’s Women in Engineering (WiE) Program recently hosted representatives from programs around the country to share best practices around K-12 outreach and undergraduate student success.
Held May 22-24, the event drew 17 attendees from nine institutions. The impetus behind the meeting was the desire of several schools, including Purdue, to better connect with other practitioners.
“I personally have been missing in-person collegial collaboration. Some very meaningful and impactful ideas are allowed to flourish when a group of colleagues are afforded the ability to spend two days together discussing and sharing strategies for student success,” said WiE Associate Director Suzanne Zurn-Birkhimer, who organized the gathering. “In other words, why reinvent the wheel? We have colleagues doing great things with regard to student success at other institutions, so we can all use the take-aways to develop effective programs for our own student bodies.”
As the first WiE program in the country with more than 50 years of experience, it made sense for Purdue to take the lead in establishing and hosting this first roundtable. Discussions focused around two important topics: K-12 outreach and undergraduate student success.
Brianne Wrede, Purdue’s WiE assistant director, facilitated the discussion for strong K-12 outreach programs that promote access and opportunities for all pre-college students to explore engineering. Outreach, a key aspect of many WiE programs, encourages K-12 students to consider engineering as a career. Once students arrive on campus, WiE programs provide a wide array of opportunities — from mentoring to alumni meet-and-greets to tutoring — for them to build their engineering community and find success.
Two of the attendees at the meeting have been in their positions for less than a year, and each of them reached out to Purdue in early 2023 to “pick our brains, so to speak, on different aspects of our programming,” Zurn-Birkhimer said.
“It is very rewarding to be able to provide advice and help facilitate connections for those who are new in their roles,” Zurn-Birkhimer said. “After all, we are all working toward the same goal of student retention and success.”
The meeting provided an opportunity for those who work individually or on small teams to feel supported and be reassured that there is a nationwide network of professionals available to help.
“I am grateful that so many of my colleagues were able to attend and that I was able to strengthen old relationships and build new connections. Us seasoned practitioners can help out our colleagues who are new to the space, and that is especially gratifying,” Zurn-Birkhimer said.
A Purdue alumna, Zurn-Birkhimer received her master’s and PhD from the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. She is a recipient of both the departmental Outstanding Alumni Award and the College of Science Distinguished Alumni Award. Employed at Purdue since 2004, she first joined WiE in 2007 and assumed her current role in 2017.
As a result of the inaugural meeting, WiE practitioners will meet virtually every month to continue to share ideas, research and strategies for student success. Going forward, the in-person meeting will convene annually with a rotation of host institutions.