UNM’S ENGINEERING STUDENT PROGRAMS OFFICE RECEIVES NATIONAL

November 3, 2003

UNM’S ENGINEERING STUDENT PROGRAMS OFFICE RECEIVES NATIONAL
RECOGNITION FOR OUTSTANDING INSTITUTIONAL ADVISEMENT PROGRAM

The National Academic Advisement Association (NACADA) has recognized the University of New Mexico’s Engineering Student Programs Office (ESPO) in the School of Engineering (SOE) as one of the nation’s outstanding institutional advising programs.

ESPO’s certificate of merit was awarded at NACADA’s national conference in Dallas, Texas recently. ESPO Director Elaine Borrelli accepted the award on behalf of UNM, the School of Engineering and the Engineering Student Programs Office.

ESPO was recognized for instituting “a variety of events and techniques to increase student retention and success in progress toward Engineering and Computer Science degree programs,” said Charles B. Fleddermann, the SOE’s associate dean, who nominated ESPO for the award. He cited data that demonstrates ESPO students have “a 15 percent higher retention rate than that of the overall University student body.”

ESPO has been in operation since 1996 and is designed to prepare Engineering and Computer Science majors for admission to a degree-granting Department in the SOE.

Additionally, ESPO staff members were also active in leadership activities at the national level. Borrelli, who completed her term on the NACADA Board of Directors, accepted a nomination to serve as NACADA’s Vice President. Mark Suazo, ESPO’s associate director, accepted a position on the national steering committee for NACADA’s Technology in Advisement Commission and Senior Academic Advisor Elizabeth Isbell Tapley (and current President of the New Mexico Association of Academic advisors) accepted a nomination to serve as the Chairperson for NACADA’s Rocky Mountain Region – which encompasses New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

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