The Office of Special Programs is responsible for many different outreach projects, including the College of Engineering outreach website (www.engr.uiuc.edu/outreach) and Engineering Advocates (www.engr.uiuc.edu/sp/advocates), and outreach program for elementary, middle, and high schools.

Special Programs maintains a database of all students who have participated in College of Engineering outreach events. These students are informed of upcoming engineering events, scholarships, and other opportunities through an outreach newsletter and email correspondence. The Lego Robotics - FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Competition is administered through the Office of Special Programs. MentorNet (http://www.mentornet.net), an electronic mentoring program, is also part of the office.

The Office of Special Programs is also responsible for Engr. 199W, a mentoring class for first-year women and a section of the Service Learning Program, LINC (Learning in the Community). Students in the LINC section work with middle school girls on computer science and technology projects.