The evolution of a Coalition: ECSEL's programs for Years 6-10

Since its inception in October 1990, the ECSEL Coalition has structured its activities around twin, interrelated goals: the dramatic transformation of the undergraduate curriculum and increasing the diversity of engineering graduates. From the start, the strategy for achieving both of these goals has been the imaginative integration of design activities throughout the educational pathways of our students. Programmatic activities of ECSEL in its first five years included the creation and institutionalization of 1st year design activities, transformation of engineering "core" courses, extensive K-12 outreach activity, student leadership programs, and efforts towards career development of faculty from underrepresented groups. The article illustrates how the lessons learned in ECSEL's first five years informed the structure of our efforts in the renewal period of Years 6-10. We remain committed to the central strategy of the integration of design, as our experience has shown that thoughtfully constructed design activities can be a powerful driver for the transformation of the culture of engineering education and that these new teaching/learning environments do indeed permit a flourishing of diversity. For Years 6-10, ECSEL has broadened its vision, however to incorporate a better integration of curricular and diversity aspects in all of our endeavors. We offer an overview of the programs underway for Years 6-10, in each case outlining how the structure of our activities builds on our previous experience as a coalition.