The Missouri University of Science and Technology office of student diversity, outreach and women’s programs will host a celebration in honor of the 40th anniversary of the minority engineering and student diversity programs at Missouri S&T.

The celebration will be held at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, in the Havener Center on the Missouri S&T campus in Rolla. The event is open to the public.

The semi-formal event will begin with a cash bar cocktail hour at 5:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. Tickets to the event are $15 for Missouri S&T students with a valid I.D. and $25 for alumni, staff, faculty and the general public.

Melanie Wulff, program specialist for student diversity, outreach and women’s programs, says the event is designed to celebrate student success and thank supporters of the programs.

“This is event is the first in a series of events, called ‘Decades of Diversity,’ celebrating significant anniversaries of several campus diversity organizations in 2014 and 2015,” she says. “We want to celebrate these milestones by honoring the successes of students involved and thanking the programs’ supporters.”

The minority engineering and student diversity programs focus on the recruitment, retention and professional development of traditionally under-represented minorities in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Founded in 1974, the Minority Engineering Program was developed by a group of faculty and members of the Association for Black Students who hoped to bring minority students to campus through a scholarship program supported by industry. Eight years later, in 1982, 63 students in the program had received degrees.

Now a part of Student Diversity, Outreach and Women’s programs, the program offers students scholarships, supports student-run recruitment weekends, hosts summer camps, offers mentoring and tutoring, hosts industry presentations and advises student organizations.

For more information about the event or to purchase tickets, contact Wulff at 573-341-4228.