Charlena Grimes honored at the White House

Charlena Grimes, academic coordinator for the Washington State University College of Engineering and Architecture, was one of 14 recipients nationwide invited to the White House this week to receive a 2004 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

The award — given this year to nine individual and five institutional recipients — recognizes people who have mentored underrepresented students in science, mathematics and engineering. Grimes is thought to be the first-ever WSU recipient.

“Charlena has transformed the lives of numerous underrepresented students at Washington State University who (many against all odds) have pursued and successfully entered careers as engineers,” said Bob Olsen, associate dean of undergraduate and student services for the college. “Many of them came to WSU with a variety of obstacles between them and their goals. Because of Char’s sustained support, encouragement and influence, they left as well-trained engineers with a sense of confidence and pride.”

Grimes, with the college since 1982, has directed both the Minority Engineering Program and the Women Engineering Program on campus. She developed and directs the BRIDGE Workshop, now in its 16th year, for incoming women and minority students.

The five-day workshop, offered each August prior to the start of fall semester, offers seminars on career planning, time management, stress management and study skills; classroom sessions on chemistry and math placement; and campus tours. More than 800 students have participated in BRIDGE since she created the program in 1990, and the program has increased the retention rate of underrepresented students by more than 20 percent.

Grimes also formed chapters of organizations for African-American, Hispanic, and Native American engineers and pioneered the establishment of a free summer camp for Native American youth, and their teachers, interested in engineering, as well as a camp for Latina/o students.

During her time at WSU, the number of African-American, Hispanic and Native American students in the college has more than doubled, and she has had an effect on the lives of more than 1,000 underrepresented students, Olsen said. She has received numerous awards, including the WSU Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award, WSU Presidents Employee Excellence Award, the Council of Minority Student Presidents Award and the Finer Womanhood Award, presented by Phi Beta Sigma, an African-American fraternity.

More important, Grimes is willing to help any student who comes through her door. Students often are lined up waiting to talk to her. Her walls are lined with photos of former students, often in cap and gown with one arm around her.

In support of her receiving the award, numerous students wrote about how Grimes helped them through difficult times, encouraging them on to graduation. Occasionally, she opened her home to them when their lives became overwhelming. One student, for example, was trying to balance college life while her mother was dying of cancer. With Grimes’ support, she finished her degree.

“I truly believe that if she had not been there for me, encouraged me and a lot of other students like me, we would not be where we are today, leading successful lives with great careers,” wrote an African-American engineering alumna. “There were a million times in those university days when I wanted to quit. And there were a million times that she helped me get past those moments and move on.”

Grimes had to overcome obstacles of her own in her educational pursuit. While working at the University of Illinois in the 1960s, mechanical engineering professor the late S. L. Soo mentored and encouraged Grimes to pursue an education. A job brought her to the Northwest, and she later worked at WSU as a draftsman, research aid and eventually coordinator of college programs, including the undergraduate student services and the minority and women in engineering programs.

Meanwhile, she continued taking classes at WSU. In 1984, she earned a bachelor’s degree in humanities — more than 20 years after she started. She continued taking classes and, in 1997, received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.

“She understands students with financial difficulties because she had them; she understands single parents because she was one; she understands what it is like to be a woman in engineering because she was one; she understands what it is like to pursue a degree later in life since she did,” wrote Olsen in his nomination of Grimes.

One male African-American student wrote, “Char is motivated, caring, and in the trenches up to her eyebrows. She makes a special effort to intercept kids coming in from high school. They aren’t ignored or pampered. She provides networks, tutoring, activities, and her home telephone number.”