HP Diversity in Engineering initiative (DivE)

In 2004, HP awarded MESA a two-year, $658,000 cash and equipment grant as part of the company´s diversity in engineering (DivE) initiative to replicate the highly successful MESA community college program (MCCP) model, where the transfer rate for minority students rose from 15% to 95% for California MESA students . The DivE effort aimed to replicate this success in states outside California. The project aligned MESA´s academic support infrastructure with HP technology to address the access and retention challenges facing low-income underrepresented students in the computer science and engineering pipeline. The HP-MESA DivE initiative made awards to six college campuses in five states, and three additional campuses offering the MESA Community College model even though they did not receive DivE support. Through the grant, participating institutions receive on-going program support, training and mentoring from MESA as well as HP´s assistance with cash and equipment to encourage innovation through faculty development and course redesign using wireless technology.