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About WEPAN
WEPAN advances engineering education and strengthens the engineering workforce by fostering environments where talent excels and innovation flourishes.
WEPAN advances engineering education and workforce development by translating research into effective practice.
Through collaboration, innovation, and data-driven insights, we strengthen pathways that prepare and sustain a highly skilled engineering workforce equipped to meet the evolving needs of society and industry. WEPAN connects people and organizations, providing evidence-based practices and professional development resources that expand participation and cultivate thriving pathways in engineering from college to executive leadership.
Mission and History
The mission of WEPAN, a nonprofit organization founded in 1990, is to expand participation and achievement in engineering by connecting people, research, and practice to drive innovation and opportunity. WEPAN aims to achieve this mission by:
Empowering people and organizations who are catalysts of change
Fostering environments where talent can excel and innovation can flourish
Sustaining a strong, collaborative network
Creating and disseminating research-based evidence
Driving the successful implementation of proven practices
Developing useful, timely resources
One of WEPAN’s strengths is its focus on establishing and sustaining partnerships and collaborations that are designed to ensure that all WEPAN activities and initiatives have a broad and enduring impact at the individual and institutional level. Since its inception, WEPAN has partnered with institutions of higher education, corporations, STEM societies, and other organizations to develop and implement research-based practices. Furthermore, WEPAN has fostered the integration of research and education activities in the development of training and curriculum on a variety of projects. A few examples of such programs and initiatives include:
- the ACE Initiative, which brought together corporate and university partners committed to building thriving career pathways to engage in evidence-based organizational change practices, retention assessments, accountability metrics, and mutually beneficial programmatic efforts.
- the ENGAGE Engineering project, which increased the capacity of engineering schools to retain undergraduate students by implementing proven, research-based strategies into engineering programs and curricula.
- TECAID, which provided validated professional development for five U.S. Mechanical Engineering (ME) department leadership teams to create and sustain cultures that benefit all participants–in classrooms and labs, in student design groups, in faculty meetings and hallway interactions, and in underlying department dynamics.
Core Values
Knowledge
Knowledge of research, statistics, pedagogy, and practice relevant to experiences in engineering and STEM is critical to inform and drive change.
Collaboration
Collaboration drawing on strengths of many is key to advancing excellence and innovation in engineering.
Innovation
Innovation in engineering can only flourish when barriers to the resources and knowledge innovators need to excel are removed, allowing all good ideas to be nurtured.
Leadership
Developing and influencing leadership is pivotal to advancing success in engineering.
