The Magazine of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu July 2017 - 33

CHAPTER UPDATES

HKN Beta Tau Chapter Northwestern University
Freshmen Mentoring Program
By Prof. Allen Taflove, Beta Tau Faculty Adviser
Beginning with the 2010-11 academic year, the Beta
Tau Chapter of HKN at Northwestern University has
annually conducted a Freshmen Mentoring Program as
its primary service activity. The goal of this program is for
Beta Tau members to provide freshmen
at Northwestern's McCormick School
of Engineering with one-on-one
mentoring.
Experience has shown that many
freshmen are unsure as to their
choice of engineering courses and
professors, or even more broadly
(and critically), their choice of an
engineering major!
Electrical and computer engineering
(ECE) is quite often thought of as
requiring a more difficult academic
path than other majors, causing ECE
enrollments to stagnate while more
popular majors receive more attention
(i.e., more resources) from the school. Mentorship by
Beta Tau members shows McCormick freshmen that
it's not only possible, but in fact extremely desirable to
major in ECE.
Each freshman joining the Mentorship Program is paired
with an HKN member who serves as his/her mentor.

THE BRIDGE // Issue 2 2017

During winter and spring quarters, each mentor/mentee
pair meets and enjoys a couple of off-campus lunches
or dinners per month (at the expense of the EECS
Department) to talk about courses,
professors, majors, careers, and life in
general. It's sort of like a big brother/
big sister thing!
The kickoff event for the Mentorship
Program is held annually, one week
before Thanksgiving break (see
attached 2016 flyer). After an upscale
catered buffet dinner funded by the
EECS Department, mentor-mentee
pairing is conducted and the year's
program is launched.
During the 2016-17 academic year,
19 Beta Tau members mentored
25 freshmen. More freshmen
had applied, but with the entire
membership of Beta Tau already
involved, we simply ran out of mentors!
P.S. The visibility and perceived merit of the Mentoring
Program is such that there has been a significant
increase in the yield of acceptances by our HKN invitees
to join our Chapter. This is definitely a side benefit of the
Mentorship Program!

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http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/brid/113-3
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/brid/113-2
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/brid/113-1
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/brid/112-3
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/brid/112-2
http://www.brightcopy.net/allen/brid/112-1
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