Creating and sustaining a departmental culture: Ideas for undergraduate programs

Each engineering department has a unique departmental culture based on its history, faculty makeup, geography, and a myriad of other factors. While some departments have a long history with a well-established culture and traditions, other departments that have been recently formed are faced with the challenge of creating a culture from scratch. The success of a department in creating and sustaining a desirable culture can have a significant impact on recruiting, retention, and general satisfaction of its undergraduate students. This paper reviews the engineering literature and describes different models and activities which departments have successfully used in this area, including freshman courses, professional societies, departmental traditions, professional development courses, and intentional interactions between faculty and students. These types of activities also serve to shape students' expectations about what it means to enter the engineering profession and help new student identify themselves as engineers.