3. FESP – Freshman Engineering Success Program: ENGR100

First-year orientation courses can have a positive impact on student success. Research shows significant positive outcomes for those who enroll in a first-year orientation course, including retention, graduation rates, GPA, college satisfaction, interaction with faculty, and participation in extracurricular activities, compared to those who did not. UIC’s College f Engineering has long offered an engineering orientation course, ENGR 100: Engineering Success Seminar, and in Fall 2021, made several structural enhancements to better serve its students. These modifications included decreasing class size from a large, lecture-type course to a small-class format with 25-30 students, using undergraduate TAs to deliver course material and serve as mentors, and aligning course content to emphasize developing an engineering identity.

Each new cohort of S-STEM freshmen and transfer students will be placed in their own section of ENGR 100. This zero-credit course, a required course for new students in all engineering majors, is overseen by a faculty member and primarily led by undergraduate TAs. Content includes discussions related to engineering identity and information regarding university support units, student organizations, and tutoring services. Students in ENGR 100 also complete a team-based engineering mini-project. In addition, the course aims to build relationships: between new students, between the College of Engineering and new students, and between new students and undergraduate mentors/TAs. By placing S-STEM scholars in dedicated cohorts, program faculty and TAs will meet weekly with them, introduce course content, and provide tailored support in real time as necessary.