Carlisle Named Southern Company Minority Engineering Program Coordinator At UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ­ Miranda Carlisle has been named Southern Company Minority Engineering Program Coordinator by The University of Alabama College of Engineering.

Carlisle, who recently started her new position, brings to the program an extensive background in human resources and admissions. A graduate of UA with a bachelor’s degree in English, she has served as coordinator for the Head Start Division of Community Service Programs of West Alabama, and as an admissions counselor for UA and co-coordinator of the Capstone Summer Honors Program at the University.

A five-year commitment from the Southern Company, the nation’s largest producer of electricity, has helped with the expansion and enrichment of the College’s Minority Engineering Program by establishing the Southern Company Minority Engineering Program Coordinator position within the College.

“The Southern Company has made a major commitment to our College to help us advance our diversity program” said Dr. Timothy J. Greene, dean of the UA College of Engineering. “We sincerely appreciate their commitment to the University.”

“Miranda will help recruit minority students and help them achieve their degrees through focused programs, allowing us to be a national leader in the graduation of excellent minority students,” Greene said.

As the Southern Company Minority Engineering Program Coordinator, Carlisle will help expand junior high and high school programs designed to prepare and attract qualified minorities into the engineering and computer science professions. She will also work to maximize the retention and graduation rates of minority students currently enrolled within the College through mentoring, networking and tutoring programs, and will provide cultural and career guidance.

“Southern Company is committed to diversity and that is why we think this program is so important,” said George Hairston, president and CEO of Southern Nuclear Operating Co., a Southern Company subsidiary based in Birmingham. “Our employees should reflect the customers we serve. Our partnership with The University of Alabama will help prepare minority students for careers in engineering.”

Currently, 18 percent of the UA College of Engineering’s undergraduate population are minorities (African American, Hispanic and Native American). The University is ranked 12th nationally in the percentage of undergraduate engineering degrees awarded to African Americans, according to the 1998 Engineering Workforce Commission report.

A founding member of the Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering since 1976, and a member of the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering Science, UA’s College of Engineering has demonstrated a long-term commitment to improving educational opportunities for minorities in the engineering profession.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering has about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty. It has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.

Contact

Janice Fink, UA Engineering Writer, 205/348-6444

Source

Kevin Whitaker, associate dean for academic programs, College of Engineering. 205/348-7366Miranda Carlisle, MEP coordinator, 205/348-4267