Illinois State hosts Rivian event to highlight engineering careers

Image courtesy of Illinois State University

NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State University hosted “Engineering Career Paths with Rivian” on Monday at the Bone Student Center.

The university invited Rivian to speak with students about career opportunities and give them a chance to connect with company representatives about future employment.

Branden Delk, director of student success and recruitment for Illinois State’s College of Engineering, said the event helped students enhance their learning and see real-world connections beyond the classroom.

“We try to give them as many opportunities as we can to understand how what they’re learning in the classroom affects the real world,” Delk said. “A lot of times that happens through these industry opportunities.”

Delk said these experiences also help students confirm they are on the right path and genuinely interested in their chosen major.

These opportunities are made possible through Illinois State’s new engineering program, which opened in fall 2025.

The program has been decades in the making, Delk said, with multiple factors influencing the decision to launch it.

“It’s really about meeting students’ needs where they are so the university can continue to grow and thrive,” he said.

The program has seen strong success in its first year, and the university hopes that growth will continue.

“This is really opening the door for us to a whole new population of students,” Delk said.

Students who enrolled in the engineering program in the fall have also shown high retention rates into the spring semester.

“We had a little over 85% first- to second-semester retention,” he said. “That’s an indicator that, overall, they’re having a good experience.”