About IDEA – IDEA

About Us

OUR MISSION

The mission of the Atlanta University Center Consortium is to promote collaboration and involvement among our campuses, residents and other stakeholders in enhancing the quality of life within the neighboring community.

The Consortium seeks to leverage the resources of the community and of member institutions to maximize opportunities for citizens to live, learn, work and play.

The mission of IDEA is to increase the number of dual degree engineering program graduates in the AUC and nationally prepared for engineering careers, resilient with high engineering identity, and impactful on society and their community.

Engineering identity is the ability to view oneself as an engineer and has been linked to academic and professional persistence of Black students. The institute will assess outcomes to ensure best practices and continual improvement.

As the first institute devoted to dual degree engineering education, IDEA will be a leading voice for this type of engineering education in the nation.

The AUC’s role in the history of dual degree engineering education was created to give access to engineering for Black students. This history provides an opportunity for the AUC DDEP program to focus on developing a brand of dual degree engineering useful for Black students choosing to to attend an HBCU.

Nationally, there are over 250 schools implementing an engineering based dual degree program. IDEA seeks to develop best practices that can be used by schools on the liberal arts side of the dual degree experience to better prepare graduates from this program.

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IDEA has four outcomes evaluated at the conclusion of each academic year. The first five years of the institute’s existence will focus on achieving these outcomes by improving dual degree engineering education in the AUC. The four outcomes are:

DDEP graduates and affiliated faculty will develop skills through IDEA leading to an increase of:

Innovation: The ability to generate new ideas useful in solving engineering problems and the advancement of engineering education theory and best practices.

FACES of Engineering is the primary initiative focused on the innovation outcome that will be active during the launch of IDEA. This initiative will engage faculty and administration in developing student-centered engineering education initiatives.

Diversity: The engineering identity development that leads to representation, empowerment, and success leveraging the skills of the HBCU-based liberal arts education.

The AUCC will host Rites of Passage Ceremony for all students transitioning to engineering school and graduating from the program. This is the primary initiative focused on the diversity outcome that will be active during the launch of IDEA.

Engagement: The capacity to build relationships, share experiences, and contribute to a community that invests in interpersonal and intrapersonal growth through engineering.

Engineering is ME (Mentoring and Engagement) is the primary initiative focused on the engagement outcome that will be active during the launch of IDEA. This initiative will allow AUC students to connect with alumni and industry professionals for mentorship and to engage in community service opportunities.

Achievement: The high impact practices that promote career readiness in engineering such as professional development, research, job placement, and other industry-based opportunities.

The AUCC will integrate the Career Readiness and Badging Program so students can earn badges highlighting the assets they possess valuable to the engineering profession. This initiative will be primarily focused on the achievement outcome. The badges will assist students in getting placements with industry and academic partners.

IDEA uses the campus experience management platform Campus Groups to coordinate all activities and efforts.

OUR VISION

The Atlanta University Center Consortium, Inc. has facilitated pathways to engineering for its member institutions through its Dual Degree Engineering Program (DDEP) since 1969.

In 1969, the historically Black colleges forming the AUC entered an agreement with Georgia Institute of Technology Dual Degree in Engineering. At the start of the partnership with GA Tech, Blacks represented less than 1 percent of engineers in the American workforce. This unique partnership was formed to build academic centers of excellence for Black students to increase the number of minorities in science and technology.

In the same year, the AUC DDEP received its first major grant of $265,000 from the Olin Mathieson Charitable Trust. These funds initiated the Georgia Institute of Technology/AUCC partnership for developing Black engineers, the first collaboration with a Predominantly White Institution with a Historically Black College/University. Dr. John Hope, credited as the visionary for the AUCC upon its creation in 1929, provided the inspiration for the program’s inception and success.

As a naturally collaborative discipline, engineering is a useful canvas for this type of collaboration. Historically, the DDEP program was a radical disruption to engineering education as a true embodiment of Dr. Hope’s vision for the collective and collaborative power of Black people. As the first Black president of Morehouse College and first president of Atlanta University, Dr. Hope in an address to students stated that,

“We have sat on the river bank and caught catfish with pin hooks. The time has come to harpoon a whale.” – Dr. John Hope.

since

AUCC created

DDEP graduates and affiliated faculty will develop skills through IDEA leading to an increase of:

Innovation

80%

Diversity

90%

Engagement

95%

Achievement

99%

Adding Value To The AUC & Dual Degree Engineering Efforts

To add value to the AUC and dual degree engineering efforts, the AUCC has made the following initiatives.

In 2018

The AUCC began strengthening industry relationships and the promotion of internship and scholarship opportunities which led to over a million dollars in scholarships awarded to students last year.

In 2018

In 2019

The AUCC created a summer bridge program that is inter-institutional. This program has served over 50 students and plans to begin with its third cohort in the summer of 2023.

In 2019

In 2021

The AUCC expanded its engineering partnerships and developed plans for new BS/MS pathways in collaboration with Georgia Tech and Michigan.

In 2021

In 2022

The Consortium hired a new assistant director with engineering education expertise and announced the Institute for Dual Degree Engineering Advancement (IDEA) to focus both on operations and advancement of dual degree engineering best practices.

In 2022