CET - ABET Self-Study - Indiana State University

Chapter 2
Students
In this section, we will describe the policies and procedures instituted by the department
and program as required by Criterion 1 to evaluate, advise, and monitor students in a
manner consistent with program objectives and student outcomes.
2.1 Undergraduate Student Body
The ECET Department has been offering undergraduate degrees since 1978. Though having
experienced several cycles of re-organization, the faculty have always championed the
core value of excellence in producing high quality graduates.
There are 60 students in the CET program by the end of Spring 2012 semester, with
ethnic minorities constituting about one-third of the student population. The program has
graduated 22 students since Spring 2009. Our students comprise primarily of residents of
Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. Other states and several foreign countries are also represented.
Most of the students (57 out of 60) are full time traditional students (18 to 23).
Enrollment in the computer engineering technology program (previously computer
hardware technology) has steadily increased from 30+ students to the current level. We
hope to continue to grow the program, and are working towards this goal through strong
recruiting/advertisement effort, and improving retention/graduation rate. The historical
statistics are shown in Table 2.1.
The ECET Department is strongly committed to improving student diversity. As mentioned
in the Abstract section, the STARS (Figure J.1) grant was awarded by NSF to help
CET program recruit academically talented but financially disadvantaged freshmen and
transfer students over a four-year span. So far African Americans and females constitute
about one half in the first two cohorts of scholarship recipients. The department is actively
involved in an annual recruiting event that welcomes female high school students. Several
ECET labs are the main tour destinations and faculty members use the opportunity to
showcase the facility and program strengths. The department is also a major sponsor for
the Female in Technology forum focusing on interaction and career opportunity for female
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