The engage program: results from renovating the first year experience at the University of Tennessee

An innovative new freshman engineering initiative called engage has been fully implemented at the University of Tennessee. This is a comprehensive approach to meeting the educational and developmental needs of our freshmen. Extensive data on student performance was collected during the two-year phase in of this new program. Results presented include retention rates (engineering college and university), progression through the program, performance on common final exams and performance in sophomore courses. Comparisons are also made between the engage program and nationally administered surveys, i.e. Pittsburgh survey on engineering student attitudes. In all these areas students in the new program did as well or better than those in the traditional curriculum.