Multicultural Engineering Program’s mission unites alumni in nation’s capital
By Kwesi Vincent and Dameon Proctor
What do you get when you take members of Penn State’s Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP) Affiliate Program Group (APG), the African American Alumni Organization DC Chapter, the Latino Alumni Interest Group, dedicated Penn State staff, a little Peachy Paterno ice cream, and put them together in one of the Beltway’s hippest happy hour locations?
The answer is the Penn State Alumni Networking event that was held at 201 Bar on Wednesday, Nov 6. Initially created as an opportunity for Washington, D.C., area Penn State College of Engineering graduates to connect and/or reconnect with one another, the event grew to become an evening of fellowship amongst Penn State alumni from all backgrounds that was used to raised funds and awareness for Penn State’s MEP Endowment.
The MEP has a long and storied history of helping support Penn State engineering students with their academic, social, professional and even financial needs. The endowment helps provide the MEP with the monetary resources to continue providing these services to more and more Penn State students.
The MEP APG is the official alumni organization for the MEP whose mission is to support the MEP’s efforts to increase the involvement and retention of under-represented groups in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields by leveraging the collective knowledge, experiences, and resources of Penn State alumni in order to provide programmatic and fundraising support for the MEP’s initiatives.
The Nov. 6 get-together is the first of what will eventually become an annual event in each of the major metro areas across the country.
“We had a lot of fun tonight while helping to raise money for a program that does so many important things for students. The entire evening was a huge success and the very definition of a win-win event. I am definitely looking forward to doing something similar in the New York City area,” commented Dameon Proctor (’01 EE), a Northrop Grumman engineering manager and event co-organizer.
Assistant Dean of Engineering Diversity Amy Freeman, who oversees the MEP, also expressed her appreciation for the event, “It’s so wonderful that our alumni still feel so impassioned by the work our office does that they continue to give of their time and effort to support us and the current students in this way. I’m just incredibly grateful for them putting this event together.”
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