Engineers supporting engineers: Santiago and Hulcher receive Thriving Engineers Program award

Fundamentals of Engineering Director and Teaching Professor Lizzie Santiago and Teaching Assistant Professor Carter Hulcher are this year's Thriving Engineers program award recipients. (WVU Illustration)

Fundamentals of Engineering Director and Teaching Professor Lizzie Santiago and Teaching Assistant Professor Carter Hulcher have both been recognized as this year’s Thriving Engineers program award recipients.  

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

The Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources Thriving Engineers program, provides opportunities to support student engagement and community integration, and faculty and staff development strategies and programming aimed at connecting the Statler College students, faculty, staff and alumni across multiple units of the college or with the West Virginia University community and beyond.

“Supporting engineering students in all their experiences, from mentoring to team building and networking, is crucial for fostering long-term academic success and retention in the Statler College which is now at a record high of 97.3%,” stated Cerasela Dinu, associate dean of student, faculty and staff engagement.

Awardees plan to develop student engagement activities, and a peer support program aimed at increasing student integration by building a strong, supportive community of peers and enhancing an atmosphere of belonging within Statler College.

Santiago and Hulcher will receive $2,000 support to create and deliver student engagement activities each semester in Fundamentals of Engineering program which will incorporate team-building elements, encourage networking and the exchange of information and ideas among participants.

“This program is a great opportunity to support students’ integration through flexibly designed engagement programming initiatives,” Dinu said. “This new grant is added to the already existing mentoring initiative started as part of the Thriving Program by teaching assistant professor Akua Oppong, now in its second year.”

A mixed-methods approach will be used to assess the impact of the student engagement activities with designed surveys gathering information on students’ experiences following their participation in the engagement events.

“The Engagement Office will continue to work with the Statler faculty to create meaningful strategies to empower all of our Mountaineers to find resources and tools to enhance their academic success and help them thrive in their engineering journey,” Dinu said.

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