International recruitment soars to new heights

Engineering anniversary celebrates past, present, and future

International recruitment soars to new heights Everyone's hearing about the University of Miami. Everyone in the whole world, that is. With one of the most active international recruiting campaigns in the country, the University of Miami is quickly becoming one of the most internationally diverse universities in the nation. In fact, U.S. News and World Report ranked the University among the top ten colleges and universities with the largest proportion of international students studying for bachelor's degrees. And the University is on its way to number one. Leading the latest effort was President Edward T. Foote II, who recently traveled along with others to Bogota, Colombia, and Caracas, Venezuela, for a multipurpose mission. The first was to celebrate the 30th anniversary of The William J. Harrington Training Programs for Latin America and to increase its visibility in the region. The program offers medical students and physicians from Latin America internal medicine training at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Its success is demonstrated through its graduates, well-known and prominent doctors holding influential positions all over Latin America. Other aims of the trip were to solicit feedback on the program and attract patient referrals to the International Health Center, the University's gateway facility specializing in assistance to international patients with clinical and personal needs during their medical visit. Ideas were exchanged at luncheons with local physicians, and receptions were hosted by the U.S. ambassadors in each country in honor of President Foote and guests. Overall, the trip served to increase the University's visibility, providing delegates an opportunity "to talk about the internationalization of higher education," says President Foote. Conveying the University's image as a premier research university was also key. "We met with counselors from the top bilingual schools, principals of secondary schools, and presidents of universities and research foundations in both cities," says Mark Reid, director of international admission. "President Foote addressed the entire junior and senior classes at the two anchor schools in both cities." The response has been overwhelming. "The phones have been busy since the day we went down there," says Reid. Last year, delegates from international admissions traveled to Guyana to tap into a student population generally unfamiliar with the University of Miami. "We ended up recruiting the number one student in that country," says Reid. "It has a ripple effect; word that UM is a premier institution will spread to other students, counselors, and parents." Some subjects need no introduction. "There are particular majors that anywhere we go in the world, everyone knows about," says Reid. "Medicine; marine science; business, particularly the international marketing and finance major; arts and sciences; and some specialized programs such as music engineering technology." Alumni are aiding the process by joining recruitment officials around the world. "A recent alumna living in Japan accompanied me on my recent trip to Tokyo," says Paul M. Orehovec, vice provost and dean of enrollments. "She was able to relate the University of Miami experience, especially critical with issues such as security." The University is extremely aggressive in its international recruiting strategy partly due to the significant rise in recruiting activities of other U.S. and foreign colleges and universities. Positioning is paramount. "It starts with a good, solid academic program, combined with experience in the marketplace, which UM possesses," says Orehovec. "Students come here because we're such a diverse place, and the international population enhances that dimension dramatically."

Engineering anniversary celebrates past, present, and future The College of Engineering has come a long way since it first opened its doors 50 years ago. "We've gone from pocket protectors and slide rulers to personal digital assistants and computers, but the constant in the equation remains the same," says Dean M. Lewis Temares. "Engineers, well-educated and trained engineers, move the economy and lead the corporations." What began in 1947 as a School of Engineering with four undergraduate programs and approximately 400 male students, is today a highly respected College of Engineering offering more than 30 bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs. The college has grown to include more than 950 undergraduate and graduate students­over 200 of whom are women. In addition, approximately 125 international students representing more than two dozen countries across the globe now attend the college. The College of Engineering originally grew out of the demand for technical training on the part of returning veterans of the Second World War. Engineering was one of the most popular fields of study elected by "G.I. Bill" students, who often wanted to capitalize on the various technical training they had received during their military service. In its early years, the engineering school benefited from drawing tables and other basic laboratory items that were leftover from several war training and war surplus programs. Students today have access to some of the most powerful computers on campus, 47 engineering labs, and other high-tech learning facilities such as the Edward H. Arnold Center for Confluent Media Studies. The Arnold Center allows students from engineering and other disciplines at the University to experiment with the latest in multimedia technology. The center has already been used to help create a number of award-winning student projects. "Working with computers is integral to most of our classes," says Grace Ng, a junior majoring in biomedical engineering. "Instead of sweating over drawings and making constant revisions, we use computers to change the variables in a matter of milliseconds." Ng represents another major change that has occurred at the college during the past 50 years-the growing number of women entering the field of engineering. Currently, more than 20 percent of the students enrolled in the college are female. "The field of engineering is most certainly opening up for women," says Linda Hanagan, assistant professor of architectural and civil engineering. While the growth has not been as explosive as in other professions like law and business, Hanagan says women engineers can expect a rewarding career. Selected as the college's 11th dean in 1994, Temares has since launched a number of initiatives to improve the quality of engineering education at the college and to help the transition of students into the workplace. Temares recently began a highly publicized program guaranteeing his engineering graduates the jobs they like or offering to pay for up to 18 credits of graduate school tuition at the University. In recent years, the College of Engineering has earned national recognition for several of its programs and activities. The research of veteran Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu, who is studying the use of hydrogen as a primary energy source, recently garnered the University a coveted "Center of Excellence" designation by the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrogen Program. Also, the college's Department of Biomedical Engineering has become a National Science Foundation Center for Biosurfaces. And in April, the chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers won the 1997 National Academic Technical Bowl, a competition among members of one of the largest student-managed organizations in the country. Dean Temares believes that these recent achievements are an indication of even greater successes for the College of Engineering in the next 50 years. That's why he introduced the theme "Re-Engineering for the 21st Century" when he was named to lead the college three years ago. "We are creating the 21st century," Temares says. "The work we are doing today will shape the world of tomorrow."

Veritasonline Home Page | University of Miami Home Page