The Resources to Insure Successful Engineers (RISE) Program recently celebrated 25 years of successful activity in the College of Engineering.
The program originated as the Minority Engineering Program at the University of Delaware in 1973 to enhance the overall success of African American, Hispanic American, and Native American students. The program, the name of which was changed to RISE in 1985, has evolved into a nationally recognized model.
RISE students currently comprise about 13 percent of the engineering student body, with overall retention comparable to that of all engineering students. RISE students benefit from a broad spectrum of support services, including personal development workshops, academic monitoring, tutoring, and counseling. The RISE Summer Academy orients incoming RISE students to the academic and personal expectations of college life. Other support includes programs for "math insurance," individual mentoring, and undergraduate research. Cooperative programs have also been established with campus-wide student support services.
The RISE Program receives University funding, primarily in the form of scholarships, in addition to financial support from industry, government, and private foundations. This outside support provides stability for the program and offers tangible evidence of commitment to the success of RISE students. In 1996, assistant dean and director of the program Michael L. Vaughan also assumed responsibility for the Office of Engineering Student Affairs, a change that has had a broadening effect on the College. "RISE is still our most focused effort," Vaughan says, "but we’re ultimately concerned with supporting all students and faculty in ways that promote success. For 25 years, RISE has served as a wonderful educational experiment involving a subset of our students—what we’ve found is that what’s good for RISE students is good for students in general. We’re finding new ways to support students as active learners, enabling them to reach their full potential."