An overwhelming shortage of minority students in engineering schools prompted many colleges and universities to establish programs that encourage minority students to pursue careers in engineering. The University of Kansas School of Engineering responded to this shortage by starting SCoRMEBE.

SCoRMEBE, the Student Council for Recruiting, Motivating and Educating Black Engineers, was born in 1970. Three African-American engineering students at KU, William Nunnery, Gene Kendall and Ralph Temple, sowed the seeds for the program that would attract more minority students through promoting engineering to high school minority students as well as providing academic and financial support to engineering students at the university. Faculty and administration at KU, including, Dr. Don Green, Dr. Floyd Preston and Dean William Smith, helped the program become established and flourish.

In 1971, the School of Engineering took its commitment a step further by appointing Dr. William Hogan as the school's first assistant dean of minority affairs. Under Hogan, the program grew and minority enrollment increased. In 1977, under Hogan's guidance, SCoRMEBE was named one of the four best minority engineering programs in the country by the committee on Minorities in Engineering, an appendage of the National Research Council.

Hogan was appointed associate executive vice chancellor of KU in 1979. Ron Fleming was selected to replace Hogan as director of SCoRMEBE. In 1980, Earl Savage was hired to fill the position. Savage stayed in the post until 1984, at which time the current director of Diversity Programs, Florence Boldridge, was hired.

During her tenure, enrollment of minority students has remained steady and the focus has been attracting high-quality students and helping them adjust to the demands of succeeding in college while studying a challenging curriculum.

Boldridge has also focused on expanding the program to make it even more welcoming to students of diverse backgrounds. In 1987, the School of Engineering established a student chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. In 1990, the office established student chapters of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and the Society of Women Engineers.

In 1995, the office underwent a name change to reflect its greater diversity. It is now known as Diversity Programs for the School of Engineering.

This year, 2001, marks not only an important anniversity for the program, but yet another direction. The school will soon introduce a student chapter of the Asian American Architects and Engineers Association to address the needs of Asian-American students.