The Student Enrollment and Engagement through Connections (SEEC) is a five year project funded by the National Science Foundation’s STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP). The goal of the SEEC project is to increase the number of engineering graduates at Iowa State University by approximately 100 per year. In addition, the percentage of women and minority graduates will approach 20% and 10%, respectively. The project is a collaborative partnership between Iowa State University (ISU) and Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC). Project objectives are designed within the areas of learning communities, curriculum, advising, networking, and evaluation. Activities are planned in each of these areas using a logic model approach that identifies resources, outputs, outcomes, and impact. Disciplines Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering | Engineering Education Comments This proceeding is from Proceedings of the 2010 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. Authors Diane T. Rover, Monica J. Bruning, Steven K. Mickelson, Mack C. Shelley, Frankie Santos Laanan, Mary Darrow, Mary Elizabeth Goodwin, Jacqulyn A. Baughman, and Harry McMaken This conference proceeding is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_conf/8 AC 2010-966: SEEC: STUDENT ENROLLMENT AND ENGAGEMENT THROUGH CONNECTIONS (SEEC) Diane Rover, Iowa State University Monica Bruning, Iowa State University Steven Mickelson, Iowa State University Mack Shelley, Iowa State University Frankie Santos Laanan, Iowa State University Mary Darrow, Iowa State University Mary Goodwin, Iowa State University Jacqulyn Baughman, Iowa State University Harry McMaken, Des Moines Area Community College © American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 SEEC: Student Enrollment and Engagement through Connections (SEEC) The Student Enrollment and Engagement through Connections (SEEC) is a five year project funded by the National Science Foundation’s STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP). The goal of the SEEC project is to increase the number of engineering graduates at Iowa State University by approximately 100 per year. In addition, the percentage of women and minority graduates will approach 20% and 10%, respectively. The project is a collaborative partnership between Iowa State University (ISU) and Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC). Project objectives are designed within the areas of learning communities, curriculum, advising, networking, and evaluation. Activities are planned in each of these areas using a logic model approach that identifies resources, outputs, outcomes, and impact. The project is grounded in established and emerging practices in retention and recruitment. The key retention practice is learning communities combined with student-centered advising. The key recruitment practice is messaging, based on findings from the national study on “Changing the Conversation” [1] and social networking theory. The objectives of the project are intended to: increase the retention of students in engineering at Iowa State through learning communities and advising; increase the number of students at DMACC who are interested and prepared to enter an engineering program through learning communities, advising, and curriculum; increase the number of transfers from DMACC to ISU in engineering, and overall, to improve transfer recruitment and retention in engineering; and improve and expand the messaging, awareness, and understanding of engineering to positively influence students to choose an engineering program of study through ISU or DMACC. To summarize the SEEC Project, this paper will be divided into distinct sections in order to provide highlights from each of the objective teams. Each objective Team mirrors that of the SEEC Executive Team, and members include both DMACC and ISU stakeholders: staff, faculty, and students.