Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Engineering ranked eighth in the nation, and first among California State University campuses, at attracting Hispanic postgraduate students and helping them succeed academically.

The Hispanic Business magazine poll is the publication’s latest look at the state of diversity on colleges campuses.

“The faculty and staff in the College of Engineering work diligently to prepare a highly skilled and diverse workforce, and we are proud to consistently award more engineering degrees to Hispanics than any other college in California,” Dean Mahyar Amouzegar said. “The ranking by Hispanic Business Magazine affirms our efforts in our graduate programs to grow opportunities for student research and hands-on engineering experiences.”

The magazine ranked universities on four criteria: Hispanic student enrollment, Hispanic faculty members, degrees conferred to Hispanics, and progressive programs aimed at boosting the enrollment of Hispanic students, according to a news release.

Cal Poly ranked third among the top 10 universities in the percentage of Hispanic faculty at the college at 7.4 percent.

“This year the college hired six new engineering faculty, and next year will hire seven more in five departments,” Amouzegar said.

He added that he is “committed to further building a talented and diverse faculty that can help our students develop skills necessary to succeed in engineering and make contributions to the society at large.”

Paola Chavira, who earned both her master’s degree in engineering management and her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Cal Poly Pomona, credits a community college counselor for recommending the university.

“He said it had an excellent reputation for engineering and was a Hispanic Serving Institution, which would give me many opportunities – and he was right,” Chavira said. “The campus was awesome, the hands-on experience really inspired me, and the professors and counseling were great.”

Among the programs the university offers is MEP, which stands for Maximizing Engineering Potential.  Chavira learned of the program early on and it had a major affect on her academic success.

The program’s purpose is to increase the number and diversity of students who graduate in the technical disciplines, including those from historically underrepresented groups.  MEP is grounded in learning communities, mentorship, connections with industry, and the cultivation of high expectations.

“We developed leadership skills and received excellent career guidance,” Chavira said. “We also had the opportunity to meet one on one with industry reps, which put us ahead of everyone else when it came to job openings.”

Chavira said her graduate school experience, as she expected, focused on intense study, often in a very individualized way.

“The professors were very good at reaching out,” Chavira said, reflecting on her master’s project, which involved procedures for developing a construction schedule. “My education at Cal Poly Pomona was even more than I thought it would be.”

--Cal Poly Pomona