Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education
Gayle Elliott earned BS and MS degrees from University of Cincinnati, and is currently associate professor in the Division of Professional Practice. She is responsible for the University's International Co-op Program (ICP), and for placing one-third (approximately 125 annually) of UC's mechanical engineering students in co-op jobs in the US. Initially part of the College of Engineering, Gayle has worked with the International Engineering Co-op Program since 1993. In 1998 she created and began working with similar programs in the Colleges of Applied Sciences, Business and the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. Under her direction the ICP has grown from ten engineers, working in Germany and Japan, to over 30 students, working annually in Germany, Japan, Mexico, and Chile. Gayle's responsibilities with the international program include:
- Teaching Orientation to International Co-op, a class to prepare students for the challenges and opportunities of living and working abroad.
- Development of international co-op learning modules.
- Individual student teaching to help guide students toward integrating classroom and co-op learning experiences with personal goals for an international co-op assignment.
- Identifying companies and developing partnerships to create co-op job opportunities with international companies in the US and abroad.
- Working with language faculty to develop specialized intensive language and culture programs that prepare students to work abroad.
- Program evaluation and assessment.
Gayle recently developed the first international exchange program for engineering students at UC. This year-long program enables students to spend one year in France, consisting of six months study and six months co-op work. Students from the partner school will come to UC for the same. Similar programs in other locations are in the planning stages.
Gayle is a member of the International Engineering Colloquium Organizing Committee, and has been invited to make presentations at conferences including the URI IEP Colloquiums, NAFSA, Ohio Cooperative Education Association [OCEA], World Association for Cooperative Education [WACE], and the Global International Internship Congress. She has participated in several NSF projects, and is co-author of publications which include: Introduction to Professional Practice Centennial Edition, McGraw Hill; "Globalizing Engineers through International Co-op", Metropolitan Universities; "Professional Development and Globalization: The International Co-op Program at the University of Cincinnati", Proceedings of the 2004 Global International Internship Congress; Strategies for International Internship Placement in Engineering and Related Technical Fields (pending), Proceedings of the 2005 Global International Internship Congress; Developing Cross-Cultural Competencies through International Co-op Programs, Proceedings of the World Association for Cooperative Education (WACE), 14th World Conference on Cooperative Education.
