The Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) is a state funded program for New Jersey students who are educationally and economically challenged and who are greatly underrepresented in science and technological fields. On the occasion of EOP's Silver Anniversary, New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman issued a proclamation declaring that "this outstanding program offers students, at the university level, a unique chance to realize careers that might otherwise be unattainable, and provides for those students a number of services and support programs to further their chances for academic success."
New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) was among the earliest higher education institutions in the State to accept the challenge posed by the New Jersey Department of Higher Education to "identify, recruit and provide financial assistance to needy students who are residents of this State in order that they may be able to attend institutions of higher education." In response to this challenge, the Engineering Opportunity Program was established in 1968. It was renamed the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) in 1975 to reflect its broader mission of providing access to other areas of study at the university, including architecture, science, and business. From an initial enrollment of 19 students, EOP has grown to over 550 currently enrolled.
Within the context of state policy and the specific guidelines established, EOP’s mission has a particular focus on the recruitment of African-Americans and Hispanics, who disproportionately attend the most impoverished school districts and have been historically underrepresented in institutions of higher education, especially technological institutions. The recruitment of women students also has been a priority of the Program since, like ethnic minorities, women traditionally have been underrepresented in technological, mathematical and science-based careers.
To achieve its mission, EOP works closely with high schools that have significant enrollments of African-American and Hispanic students and with pre-college programs, urban school districts, community agencies and industry. The Program provides intensive academic preparation in a pre-freshman residential summer program. This advanced preparation is followed with counseling, tutoring and scholarship support services, which continues throughout the student’s undergraduate life at NJIT.
Facilitating the transition from academia to the corporate environment or graduate studies is part of the EOP mission. Close ties with industry enable the Program to provide students with diverse work related experiences. The Undergraduate Research Experience (URE) Program of EOP encourages students to include graduate and professional studies in their career planning and assists them in preparing for careers in academia by involving them in faculty guided and mentored research activities early in their undergraduate years. Assistance is also provided in the graduate admission process and identification of graduate financial aid. URE, established in September 1990, works in close collaboration with the Graduate Studies Office and the Center for Pre-College Programs at NJIT. This close collaboration affords a number of graduate students the opportunity to finance their education through stipends received as teaching assistants on campus and in public schools. This partnership also assists in the encouragement of students to pursue teaching careers, particularly at the university level.
The university has consistently displayed strong commitment and support to EOP and provides adequate resources to assure the Program’s success.
