2024 Collaborative Network for Engineering & Computing Diversity (CoNECD)

The inaugural cohort of engineering students arrived at Wake Forest University (WFU) in August 2017, just six weeks after the founding chair and faculty arrived on site. No website, no vision, no curriculum, no equipment, no operating budget existed when the founding team arrived. A newly renovated building, what was an old tobacco warehouse, was the new home for WFU Engineering. A liberal arts research university, WFU has a strong academic reputation and students are expected to explore the academic landscape before declaring a major in the sophomore year (spring semester typically). According to admissions, the number of students that were expected to enroll in the first engineering class (fall 2017) was about 20 (15% of whom would be women). On the first day of class, Intro to Engineering Thinking and Practice, 55 students had enrolled (more than double of what was expected). Within three years, Wake Forest Engineering had nearly 200 students, of whom 40% were women and 25% were students that brought racial and ethnic diversity. There were 43 inaugural WFU Engineering graduates in May 2021 and the new department was already that 4th largest and the most diverse among the 30 departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. This paper will share the story, from the perspective of the founding chair, of building Wake Forest Engineering and the strategies that led to (a) an inclusive and diverse student and faculty body, (b) a flexible and innovative curriculum, (c) pedagogies that empowered students, (d) partnerships that enabled transformation, (e) a vision to redefine the culture of engineering education and the department. The strategies used reflected tradition and innovation, evidence-based and exploration, agility and compliance, student-centeredness and external perspectives. In midst of start-up mode and the Covid pandemic, the grueling work of accreditation was also high stakes. WFU Engineering is now ABET accredited and has achieved unprecedented outcomes. The successes and challenges are presented in this paper. Transformative change is possible in engineering education and in engineering departments. Intentionality and evidence-based strategies are a must.