University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: March 27, 2008

By ELLEN GOLDBAUM
Contributing Editor

It’s an annual rite of spring: high school seniors discussing with their parents one of the most important decisions they face—where to attend college.

Luke Scannell (top) and Jasmine Lawrence, both freshmen engineering students, say the new Dean’s Scholars Program made the decision to attend the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences an easy one.
PHOTOS: ELLEN GOLDBAUM

Luke Scannell from Schodack Landing near Albany, now a freshman in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, remembers how he decided to come to UB.

Scannell, who had participated in the Science Olympiad in high school, was sure he wanted to pursue engineering, but he wasn’t sure where.

During his visit to UB last spring, he was impressed with its environmental engineering laboratories, as well as the school’s internationally known Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory.

Then he found out that UB Engineering had something extra in mind for him: the Dean’s Scholars Program, which rewards academically talented applicants with four-year scholarships, as well as special academic and networking opportunities, as long as a student maintains a grade-point average of at least 3.0.

That, Scannell says, made his decision easy: He would attend UB.

With cost a major factor in the great majority of college decisions, the Dean’s Scholars Program, instituted in 2007, is designed to attract and retain the best and brightest applicants, says UB Engineering Dean Harvey G. Stenger Jr.

The program offers exceptional students annual scholarships ranging from $3,000 to full tuition, room, board and fees, totaling approximately $15,300 for in-state students and $21,600 for out-of-state students.

In its inaugural year, the 24 freshmen entering UB last fall as Dean’s Scholars had an average SAT score of 1433, collectively boosting the average UB engineering freshman SAT score by 20 points. They graduated at or near the top of their high school classes.

“These students are deciding between UB and schools like Cornell, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Rochester Institute of Technology,” says Stenger. “We want them to know that in addition to the scholarship, they’re going to receive personal attention once they get here. Students in this program have a close relationship with the professors and administrators in the engineering school.”

That relationship doesn’t end after orientation, Stenger notes.

All 24 freshmen in the UB Engineering Dean’s Scholars Program are Stenger’s advisees during the critical first year.

Throughout the academic year, Dean’s Scholars also are involved in various social and networking events, including dinners with the dean. Last fall, they visited the GM PowerTrain plant, took the Miss Buffalo cruise on Lake Erie and attended with their parents a tailgate party hosted by the dean at the UB-Toledo football game.

This spring, the group will take in a Buffalo Bisons baseball game, tour Northrop Grumman-Amherst Systems and visit Fisher-Price in East Aurora.

It’s all part of a school-wide attempt to attract more of the best students to UB, says Stenger.

“We are doing these things to anchor the students, to let them get comfortable and to give them the opportunity to do their very best at UB,” he says.

So far, they seem to be doing just that: By the end of their first semester, the average GPA for the 24 Dean’s Scholars students was 3.8.

Having the dean as your personal advisor doesn’t hurt, either, adds Jasmine Lawrence, a UB Engineering freshman and recipient of a Dean’s Scholarship.

“I know that if I have a problem, I can contact the dean directly,” she says.

A native of Buffalo—and proud Hutch Tech graduate—who briefly considered attending an out-of-state school, Lawrence decided to attend UB Engineering because of the scholarship and the caliber of its engineering curriculum. She also receives assistance through the Daniel Acker Scholars Program for academically talented students from traditionally underrepresented groups.

Lawrence, who juggles a full-course load at UB along with responsibility for her 7-month-old daughter, eventually wants to start her own business.

So she is considering combining her interests in engineering and business, an option she can pursue easily at UB through a 3-2 program, resulting in a bachelor’s degree in engineering and an MBA from the School of Management.

“The dean told me it would only add one more year, so that’s pretty high on my list,” she says.

In addition to the Dean’s Scholars Program, UB Engineering features freshman dormitory learning centers, volunteer community-involvement projects and other initiatives designed to ease the transition from high school to college.

The Dean’s Scholars Program at UB Engineering is funded by several sources, including contributions from alumni and from such corporations as Praxair and Northrop Grumman-Amherst Systems.

Follow the link for more information on the Dean&# 8217;s Scholars Program.