The Faculty Perspective On Student Interaction with a Department Culture

Each engineering department has a distinct departmental culture based on its history, faculty makeup, and geography, among other factors. Some departments have a long history with an established culture and traditions, while newer programs need to create their culture from scratch. This is important as creating and sustaining a desirable culture can have a significant impact on recruiting, retention, and the general satisfaction of its undergraduate students. In this work, we will review the engineering literature and describe different models and activities which departments have successfully used in establishing a successful culture. This includes:

- freshman courses - professional societies - departmental traditions - professional development courses - intentional interactions between faculty and students

We note that these activities also shape students' expectations about what it means to be engineers.