A model for development of employer engagement at a small campus

Retention of engineering students is a key issue in engineering education, particularly with respect to motives of training a diverse engineering workforce. In addition to other academic and individual factors, student feelings of community and career awareness are contributors to engineering students' persistence toward degree completion. As part of developing retention efforts for a new engineering Bachelor of Science degree program at Penn State Hazleton, we have created a recurring program of employer engagement to center students' focus on the role their education plays in their overall career development and to begin to integrate students within the regional engineering community. The various industry engagement activities offered target all levels of student progress, and focus on several areas of career skills and networking within the larger engineering field. This paper will describe our program of employer engagement activities as a model, and will propose further research avenues toward assessment of program expected outcomes.