The Engineering Career Development Center comprises the Career Center satellite office for engineering students as well as the Cooperative Education (Co-op) program.
Our mission is to provide a one-stop shop for engineering students seeking career and professional development opportunities, as well as internship and Co-op experiences.
Co-op at The University of Alabama is a formal academic program comprised of three semesters of full-time work experience (one spring, one summer, one fall), alternating with full-time study. While Cooperative Education has a history at UA which dates back to 1921, it was in 1963 that the Co-op program was inaugurated by Edward J. Finnell Jr. as a part of the College of Engineering. The first cohort had just eight engineering students. By the spring of 1964, there were 75 students enrolled in the program. By 1973 there were 168 students enrolled in the program, and it had expanded across other disciplines to include business and arts and sciences. Today there are more than 900 students who participate in the program at any given point, with more than 200 at work each semester. Throughout the years, more than 650 companies have recruited UA students through the Co-op Program.
