Rajala receives WEPAN Educator’s Award
May 3, 2010
The Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) Educator Award honors an engineering educator for exceptional achievement in increasing the participation and retention of women in engineering. The award was presented Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at the NAMEPA/WEPAN National Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
For thirty years, Dr. Sarah A. Rajala has served as a faculty member and administrator in colleges of engineering at land-grant universities, including: North Carolina State University, Purdue University, and Mississippi State University. She is currently Dean of Engineering and holds the Earnest W. & Mary Ann Deavenport, Jr. Chair at Mississippi State University.
During her tenure as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at North Carolina State University, Dr. Rajala established the Women in Engineering and K-12 Outreach Programs (serving nearly 5000 students and teachers per year) and expanded the scope and impact of the Office of Minority Programs within the College of Engineering. The success of these programs was recognized in 2000 with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. In 2003, she co-founded the Women in Science and Engineering Village, a living and learning community that brings nearly 300 first and second-year female students and upper-class mentors together with the goal of enhancing their academic success and life skills.
At Mississippi State University, she encouraged the creation of a living and learning community for engineering students at Mississippi State University and she created a Diversity Advisory Board to support the College in its efforts to broaden participation in engineering. In her two years as Dean, she has secured more than $2 million in new funding to support the K-12 outreach and diversity programs.
Throughout her career, Dr. Rajala has served as a mentor and role model for students and faculty. As the only female student in her undergraduate class in electrical engineering at Michigan Tech, first female faculty member in electrical engineering at NC State, first female faculty to have a baby in engineering at NC State, first female associate dean at NC State and dean at Mississippi State, she knows how important role models and mentors are to achieving one’s full potential.
Founded in 1990, WEPAN helps meet strategic engineering workforce demand by promoting the success of girls and women who traditionally have not pursued engineering—an untapped national resource.
More information about the Bagley College of Engineering can be found at www.bagley.msstate.edu.