2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Community-engaged learning has grown rapidly in the past decades within the engineering disciplines as a promising approach to prepare students more wholistically to address wicked socio-technical problems as well as positively contribute as professionals and citizens. The largest U.S.-based program in this space is Engineers Without Borders USA (EWB-USA), with 5,600 student participants spread across 165 university/college chapters. Studies have shown positive impacts on student motivation and learning while participating these types of programs. However, previous studies have not specifically presented the views of the program’s alums. As part of a larger QUAN QUAL explanatory sequential mixed-methods study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-nine alums of EWB-USA. Alums were defined for this study as people who participated in EWB-USA as an undergraduate, completed their undergraduate degree, and have worked in professional practice after graduation. This paper focuses on the results found from inductive thematic analysis on the interview transcripts related to the changes in perspectives the alums experienced between their time as a student and that of their interview while in professional practice. The findings report a greater perception of benefits accrued by the alums, specific elements of the EWB-USA experience that they value differently now, some increased concerns related to models of international development, and a few thoughts on white saviorism. This work illustrates the importance of gathering alumni perspectives for more comprehensive educational program assessments. Such investigations can help researchers and practitioners better optimize programs to more closely meet their full potential to support students’ professional preparation.