The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering recently launched the ECE Compass Center, which provides a comprehensive educational support system that helps ECE students increase educational competence and scholarship in their academic pursuits. The Center devotes its resources to increase the academic preparedness and ensure success for all Texas ECE students.
Dr. Yale Patt, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a strong supporter of the ECE Compass Center said, “Some students just need a little extra help setting their directions early in their college education, and the ECE Compass Center aids in providing that extra push”.
Janice V. Williams, coordinator at the ECE Compass Center has been instrumental in envisioning the plans for the Center. She has been one of the active members in the development of the Center since its conception. Williams also manages and recruits for the Move Forward Program and the Bridge Scholars Program for the Center.
Talking about the evolution of the idea of the ECE Compass Center Williams said, “We are very fortunate to have some of the brightest and most talented students in the nation excited to be ECE Longhorns. But quite frankly college is tough and sometimes very overwhelming and impossible to navigate. Having positive relationships with professors, mentors, advisors, and peers helps college students feel valued and a member of a larger community. My hope is that The ECE Compass Center serves as a clear signal that the ECE department cares about all of its students. As a community we want to help all ECE students use their personal “compasses” so that they can achieve every goal.”
“Our undergraduate advisors have been proactive for several years now in helping our students find their "compass" and the ECE Compass Center looks like one more important step in the right direction,” added Dr. Patt in encouragement of the dedicated talent that holds the ECE Compass Center together.
The Center hosts a variety of initiatives that cater to students at different stages in their engineering program at Texas ECE. It is a blend of old and new initiatives from Texas ECE to form a resourceful platform for students across class-levels.
One initiative by the ECE Compass Center is the Move Forward Program (MFP), which is primarily aimed towards the first-year students, but is open to all ECE students looking to enhance their academic performance and raise their GPA. The MFP provides individualized academic advising to students who are academically at-risk and in-reach.
The ECE Compass Center also has an intensive Tutoring Program that is open to driven students who wish to improve their academic standing.
One of the newer programs hosted by the ECE Compass Center is the Bridge Scholars Program. Functioning on the same lines as the Summer Bridge Program organized by The University of Texas at Austin, the Bridge Scholars Program is designed to prepare select students for the rigors of college-level instruction.
Among the other programs, the ECE Compass Center also makes an effort to reach out to the community and educate them about the benefits of an education in the STEM fields. Through their Outreach Program, the Center partners with schools across the state of Texas in the historically underserved and underrepresented communities to expand and strengthen the engineering education pipeline.
Overall, the Center is working hard towards ensuring successful career paths for the future generation as well as preparing the student at Texas ECE to join the workforce.
The ECE Compass Center was created with generous support from Halliburton, Phillips66, and ExxonMobil.
