Engineering Well-Being Committee
The EWC exists to foster a mutually supportive environment of well-being for students, faculty, and staff, instilling a sense of belonging to an inclusive and healthy engineering community.
Updated 10/23/2023
The Engineering Well-Being Committee (EWC) is a College-wide committee with departmental subcommittees. At the College level, we collaborate with the Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee, promote college- and university-wide initiatives and resources on health and well-being, and engage with student groups and organizations within engineering to execute events focused on mental health and well-being. At the department level, subcommittees collaborate with other departments and with the College to lead initiatives to engage in dialogue about mental health and well-being. They also focus on implementing the committee’s mission and vision through academic and non-academic improvements that affect the day-to-day lives of students.
Spring 2020 Student Mental Health Forum:
Featured a presentation on mental health and stress, and a panel discussion featuring students from each engineering discipline. Topics addressed sleep, work/life balance, academic and non-academic stress, physical health, intersectionality of mental health and bias and discrimination, and more.
Forums will be planned for each academic year and will help gauge the effectiveness of EWC initiatives in improving student well-being over time.
First-Year Student De-Stressor Event:
A first-year student coloring de-stressor event was held the first weekend of the school year and served as a relaxing get together and opportunity for students to get to know one another.
Fall 2020 Inter-Departmental Workshop:
This workshop contributed to the EWC’s collaborative effort in launching the Mental Health and Well-Being university-wide student survey, and the ongoing efforts of collaborating with Gayle Doyle and the Drosdick Hall Peers to create a more robust student mentorship system within engineering.
Health and Well-Being Survey:
This survey was launched in spring 2021 to gauge effectiveness and areas of improvement around university-wide health and well-being. COE-specific survey data will analyzed and presented to the EWC, which will then take appropriate actions to best serve the needs of the entire Villanova engineering community.
Open general meetings occur approximately once a month during the fall and spring academic semesters, and departmental subcommittee meetings occur approximately twice a month. If you are interested in joining this committee or want to attend our next meeting, please reach out to your subcommittee’s student and faculty/staff co-chairs or the College student and staff co-chairs, listed below.
EWC Co-Chairs:
Laura Matthews (Staff)
Subcommittee Co-Chairs:
CBE: Dr. Dorothy Skaf (Faculty)
CEE: Dr. David Dinehart (Faculty)
ECE: Edward Char (Faculty)
ME TBD (Faculty) and Student TBD
Drosdick Hall Graduate Club: TBD