November 1, 2012
Baltimore, MD — ABET has presented the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME) (www.nacme.org) with its prestigious 2012 Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity. 2011-12 ABET President Larry A. Kaye, Ph.D., P.E., presented this honor during NACME's 38th Anniversary Awards Dinner & Celebration in New York City on October 10 and again during the 2012 ABET Annual Awards Banquet in Baltimore on October 26.
The Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity recognizes U.S.-based individuals, educational units, associations, and firms for extraordinary success in achieving diversity and inclusiveness or for facilitating diversity and inclusiveness in the technological segments of our society.
NACME's award citation stated,
"In recognition of implementing initiatives and programs to dramatically increase the number of underrepresented minority students prepared to engage and excel in engineering education; being the nation’s largest private provider of scholarships for underrepresented minority students in engineering; and collaborating with educational partners to launch a national network of urban-centered, open enrollment, high school engineering academies to provide all students with a strong science and math education to assure college readiness for engineering study."
"NACME is proud to have been selected to receive The Claire Felbinger Award for Diversity and is committed to continuing our efforts in increasing the representation of successful minority women and men in engineering education and careers," NACME President and CEO Irving Pressley McPhail, Ed.D., said.
NACME's Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Marjorie H. Everitt, was on hand at the ABET awards banquet and accepted the award on her organization's behalf.
NACME's Initiatives
Since its founding in 1974, NACME has been dedicated to systematically changing how the educational system – from elementary school through graduate school – prepares talented, underrepresented minority students to participate in the United States’ high-tech workforce. NACME provides an array of education programs and activities that collectively form a supportive infrastructure for young African-American, American Indian, and Latino men and women during every stage of their education and subsequent STEM careers.
Academies of Engineering
One of NACME's current projects involves collaborating with educational partners to launch a national network of urban-centered, open-enrollment high school programs. These Academies of Engineering provide students with a strong science and math education and assure they are ready for college-level engineering study. NACME has committed to furnishing the academies with:
- engineering awareness materials,
- teacher grants, and
- invaluable real-world engineering resources through the involvement of its board companies.
By 2013, NACME predicts there will be 110 Academies of Engineering enrolling more than 30,000 students nationwide.
Scholarships
In addition, NACME is the largest private provider of engineering scholarships for underrepresented minority students. These awards:
- enable students with an associate's degree in engineering science to enroll in four-year institutions,
- assist partner universities in funding financial aid packages for minority students enrolled in engineering programs, and
- offer substantial support to minority students who are beginning their doctoral work in engineering, natural science, and mathematics.
Since its founding, NACME has provided more than $124 million in aid to 24,000 underrepresented minority students at 160 colleges and universities.
About the Award
The Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity began as the President's Award for Diversity in 2005. It was meant both as an extension of ABET’s commitment to fostering diversity in the applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology disciplines and as recognition of the outstanding efforts being made in this realm.
Felbinger, a former Chair of American University's Masters of Public Administration program, was a Public Member of the ABET Board of Directors from 1998 to 2004. Under her leadership, the Board's Public Member Committee was a key driver for many of the diversity initiatives ABET has carried out over the part 15 years, including a formal policy statement on diversity and the reporting of diversity statistics on ABET's volunteers.
In 2008, the ABET Board of Directors approved the renaming of the award in Felbinger's honor.
See a list of past Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity recipients.
About ABET
ABET, the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology, is a federation of 31 professional and technical societies representing these fields. Among the most respected accreditation organizations in the U.S., ABET has provided leadership and quality assurance in higher education for more than 75 years.
ABET currently accredits over 3,200 programs at more than 670 colleges and universities worldwide. More than 2,000 dedicated volunteers participate annually in ABET activities. ABET also provides leadership internationally through workshops, memoranda of understanding, and mutual recognition agreements, such as the Washington Accord. ABET is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.