Creating a Campus Climate That Supports Academic Excellence.

This paper discusses the campus climate as a critical element in the academic development of college students, with emphasis on minority and women students pursuing engineering and other technical degrees. Reforming the campus climate to make it more receptive to minority and women students requires: (1) a clear mandate from top administrators to build a supportive and enabling campus environment; (2) an understanding of the present conditions of the campus climate; and (3) more active involvement by engineering and science faculty in the academic life of minority students. Faculty may become more actively involved with students through mentoring, involving students in research, reducing the marginality of minority students, and representing the concerns and needs of minority students to campus-wide committees and groups. (Contains 9 references.) (MDM)