CAMPUS/AREA
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, September 14, 1993
3
Engineering students earn top wages after graduation
Engineering fair informs students of opportunities
By Kathleen Stolle Kansan staff writer
When Mike Hess finished a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, he could have slipped into a cool $29,000 job. But it was not enough.
"I kind of felt like I wanted a little more," said Hess, a Lawrence graduate student.
More knowledge, that is. This December, Hess will receive a master's degree and venture out into the professional world.
But today he - with an expected 800 other KU students - is checking out the job market at the engineering and computer science career fair. The fair, sponsored by the School of Engineering career service center, is from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Lawrence Holiday Inn Holdome.
About 50 employers, including Exxon Corporation, McDonnell Douglas and Southwestern Bell, and a few graduate programs will be represented. Students majoring in math, physics, geology and chemistry are also invited.
With his advanced degree, Hess can expect offers around $33,000. Salary is still not a top concern, he said.
Based on Julie Cunningham's research, Hess is not alone. Cunningham, director of the School of Engineering's career service center, examined KU engineering students' priorities when accepting job offers.
"I found by far they did not always take the highest salary offer," she said.
Instead a company's status or geographic location, or the specific position or chance for advancement, were often higher priorities, Cunningham said.
Their indifference is ironic, considering that engineering students fare better financially than most other majors. According to statistics from the College Placement Council, on the average, engineering undergraduates received higher offers than their architecture, business, education, journalism or nursing counterparts. Of about 70 majors cited by the council, chemical engineering students were offered the second-highest salary, at $39,747. Pharmacy students topped the list with $42,796.
"Even though the number of job opportunities has dropped off, the salaries have stayed strong," Cunningham said.
She said students were finding jobs with mid-sized companies and consulting firms. In the past, large manufacturers dominated the recruiting scene, she said.
"A very large oil company would hire 800 to 1,000 engineering students a year, she said. "Now they're hiring maybe 10 engineers."
van off of NCR, an AT&T computer company, said its two Wichita locations would hire about 10 college graduates this year, down from previous years.
"All businesses now are trying to operate more efficiently, do more with less," she said.
Voth, like most representatives at the fair, will be networking, rather than actually offering jobs. She said the company would probably do its hiring in the spring.
Carl Locke, dean of the School of Engineering, said enrollment in the school peaked in the early 80s when
Average salaries
Engineering graduates receive on the average higher entry-level salaries than other majors.
Bachelor's degree candidates Average salary offers (July 1993)
Engineering $33,855
Nursing $31,876
Accounting $27,775
Business Admin. $24,465
Architectural Design $23,668
Performing Arts $20,667
Elementary Education $20,112
Journalism $19,893
Engineering degree salaries
Chemical $39,747
Mechanical $34,535
Electrical $34,228
Computer $33,743
Aerospace $31,641
Civil $29,234
Source: College Placement Council KANSAN
engineers were in high demand.The school had about 2,200 undergraduate and 400 graduate students.
About 1,300 undergraduates and 600 graduates are enrolled this semester, he said.
"There's always been a tie with employment opportunity and enrollment "locke said.
Hess said he realized that opportunities and competition would be fewer for master's engineering students.
"I know I'm not just going to wave my hand and say, 'Here I am.'" he said, cocking his head and flagging his hand overhead. "But I'm not really worried about getting a job."
Hispanics at home in HALO
Kansan staff writer
By Carlos Telada
"I was lacking my culture," she said. "I couldn't find anyone of my ethnic background."
Suzanne Racine, Arlington Heights,
III. senior, said finding fellow Hispanics in a state with a Hispanic population of 3.8 percent could be difficult
But Racine said she found the Hispanic community of the University of Kansas when she joined the Hispanic-American Leadership Organization in the spring of 1990. Racine, who was president of the group in 1992, said it gave Hispanics an important sense of community.
"When they come up here, they don't have their culture," she said.
The group supplies a sense of family
Eladio Valdez, Kansas City, Kan., senior, had HALO had pushed for Hispanic concerns since its founding in 1986. But he also said the group's main purpose was to hold KU's Hispanic community together.
"It's a student group. HALO has always kept that support aspect. I don't think it's changed at all in that respect."
that is important in Latin American culture that Valdez said he felt it when he joined the group in the fall of 1886.
"It was a nice feeling," Valdez said. "They wanted to extend the homeaway-from-home feeling."
Valdez told the group began after its predecessor, Movimiento Estandil Chicaco at Dazlan, disbanded in 1984. MECA had been an activist group that was founded in the late 1960s to work for the rights of Mexican Americans.
But individual members of the group kept in touch socially, Valdez said. They formed HALO in the spring of 1986 to give Hispanic students a reason to meet.
Since then, 14 other HALO groups have formed in Midwest colleges and universities.
Valdez sad the racial emphasis had changed between the two groups.
MECA's membership mostly consisted of Chicanos, or Mexican Americans. But Valdez had HALO encouraged Hispanics from Central America, South America, and the Caribbean to join as well.
"There was a major shift from the Chicanos," he said. "The main emphasis is now on the Indian part of our heritage."
The group also works with Hispanic high school students. They travel to Garden City or Kansas City area high schools to perform skits about the benefits of college life. Valdez said the trips were necessary get more Hispanic students into college.
Valdez said non-Hispanics also played a role in the group. It has had both white and African-American officers in the past.
"HALO has been a way for me to help with my personal development, and that will help me with my other endeavors," he said.
Octavio Hinojosa, Hutchinson senior and president of HALO, said the group had affected him.
"We're able to tell them, 'this is what you need to do for the next few steps,'"
Doug Hesse/KANSAN
Raindrops keep fallin' on my Keds
buckets used to catch water leaking from the roof of Robinson are scattered around the basketball courts on which Jim Kunce, Overland Park senior, is playing. The roof was leaking yesterday because of the rains. Three of the four courts had buckets or rags and mops to soak up the water.
KU student injured in fight in parking lot
CAMPUS BRIEFS
One KU student was injured in a fight in a fraternity house parking lot early Sunday morning, Lawrence police reported.
The police officers found 40 to 50 people fighting in the parking lot of the Pi Kappa Alpha house about 2 a.m. Sunday, Sgt. Mark Warren said. When the fight was broken up, Matthew Meives, St. Charles, M.o., sophomore, was lying on the ground and appeared to be unconscious according to the report.
Meives was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital and treated for cuts and bruises to his face. He was then released.
One member of the Pi Kappa Alpha house told police the inci
dent started when he saw a crowd of people jumping on a truck that belonged to one of his fraternity brothers. When he confronted the people, he was told "When you break one of our windows, we'll break something of yours," according to the police report. Warren said that the comment may have referred to a window that was broken at the Phi Kappa Theta house Wednesday.
The report said the fight escalated after more members of the Pi Kappa Alpha house came out of the house. Meives was injured when he was hit and fell to the ground, then kicked several times.
The pickup truck and a 1991 Corvette were damaged during the fight. Damage to the truck was estimated at $750. Damage to the Corvette was not reported.
A related fight broke out about 3:30 a.m. at the pHi Kappa Theta house. No injuries sustained in the second fight required medical attention. One person was taken into custody from that fight but was released when he had an asthma attack, according to the report.
Japan Week planned
Japanese culture and history will be the focus of Japan Week activities this week at KU.
The week includes activities sponsored by International Studies, the Center for East Asian Studies, and the Society for East Asian Studies.
The activities, including speeches, a concert and a film, are designed to increase awareness of the Japanese way of life.
For more information, call the office of International Studies, 864-4141.
Briefs compiled from Kansan staff reports
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