KIUEL Update

by Louise Yates
Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs

The building blocks for the Klein Institute for Undergraduate Engineering Life (KIUEL) rest on a solid foundation of building community and in cludes leadership, service learning and cross-disciplinary programs. During the Fall ‘06 Semester KIUEL activities in all of these areas, beginning with the launch of the Leadership Development Series.

At the top of the semester, at the KIUEL Weekend 4 Leaders, 35 students who are already leaders gathered to develop their leadership skills. Around campfires and through experiences such as the board-breaking exercise, they learned how to motivate others…and how to motivate themselves.

The main goal of the remainder of the leadership series was to get students to consider taking on key leadership roles within the school. But it also provided them with opportunities to learn more about themselves as potential leaders.

Workshops included Leadership and Your Career and Learning About Your Leadership Style through participating in the Myers-Briggs Indicator inventory. The series culminated with a presentation, Leadership Team Building and Business Strategy, by Alexis Livanos of Northrop Grumman who is a member of the Viterbi School’s Board of Councilors.

KIUEL also invited the Viterbi School’s student competition teams to participate in a project management workshop. Students in the teams have sometimes expressed frustration that they don’t know how to do project management. The workshop was designed specifically for organizing student projects and the timelines associated with them to assist student teams in proactively scheduling their work to be more successful in their respective competitions.

After starting out with faculty oversight and help, Viterbi students have now completely taken over a service learning Technology Application Program project to create a computer lab for a local elementary school. In addition to the lab, they are developing training modules for the elementary school’s faculty and for parents.

Cross-disciplinary activities during the fall semester include the Viterbi Tailgate organized by the Viterbi School’s External Relations Department. Undergraduate students have been invited and they have an opportunity to meet and mingle with alumni.

Viterbi students have also started the Viterbi Book Club, which will entail faculty-led discussions of selected books. This semester they are talking about one of the dean’s favorites, The World Is Flat, by Thomas Friedman.

Finally, they are participating extensively in the USC Provost’s arts and humanities initiative, Visions & Voices.

There is a “big buzz” about KIUEL on the Viterbi School campus. I’ll have more to report in the next magazine, including the Viterbi Talent Show, the Viterbi Ball and the upcoming trip to Honduras by our chapter of Engineers Without Borders.