The Student Enrollment and Engagement through Connections (SEEC) project is a collaboration between Iowa State University and Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC). Begun in 2007, the project's goal was to increase the number of engineering graduates at Iowa State by 100 per year during the project and to approximately 900 graduates annually by 2012. The goal also included an increase in the number of pre-engineering students at DMACC. The number of engineering graduates for 2012-13 was 1013. This exceeds the goal and represents a 28% increase from the start of the project. We expect graduation gains to be maintained due to continuing increases in undergraduate enrollments in engineering: from 4608 in fall 2007, to 7272 in fall 2013, a 58% increase.

The number of new transfer students in engineering from Iowa community colleges has steadily risen to over 150, up from about 100 at the start of the project. Engineering has also seen a notable improvement in first-year retention of DMACC and other Iowa community college students. Enrollment in DMACC's introductory engineering course totaled 105 students for 2012-13, seeing increases every year of the project.

Six project objectives, spanning the areas of learning communities, curriculum, advising, networking, and evaluation, guided the project since its inception. Highlights include the creation of a transfer-friendly environment, a community of practice through partnerships, greater awareness about engineering and engineering careers, student-faculty interaction related to the engineer of 2020, and new datasets for research and evaluation. Transfer students are supported prior to entering Iowa State through the Engineering Admissions Partnership Program (E-APP), created in 2008 as a SEEC project initiative. A special initiative with DMACC created an engineering orientation course, EGR 100, now offered regularly at several DMACC campuses. SEEC Data Briefs and other publications present findings from the development and evaluation of an engineering transfer student success model. Project activities and outcomes that are expected to be sustained include: DMACC's EGR 100, DMACC's pre-engineering program, E-APP, transfer learning communities at Iowa State, targeted advising messaging with community college students and other stakeholders, NAE Changing the Conversation-based resources, engineering career awareness through ISU Extension, Engineer of 2020 curricular innovations, and new data management and reporting.

SEEC Award Abstract - July 16, 2007

SEEC in the News

September 16, 2009
Engineering enrollment exceeds 5,000

June 19, 2009
Successful first year for ISU admissions partnerships with Iowa's 15 community colleges

August 21, 2007
Iowa State and DMACC work together to increase engineering graduates