 I
was shocked and distressed to learn
that
ASEE’s vice president for
Institutional Councils, Isadore
T. Davis, suffered a severe
stroke last month while preparing
to go to work and that he succumbed
three days later from complications
of the stroke. It was especially
shocking because Isadore had been
at ASEE headquarters the day before
his stroke for ASEE’s executive
committee meeting. I have received
a number of messages from his friends
and associates expressing much sadness
that Isadore is suddenly gone from
us. He was a good friend to engineering
and an outspoken advocate of diversity.
He will be greatly missed. We are
gathering details of his distinguished
career, and a full obituary will
be carried in an upcoming issue
of Prism.
This month’s cover story,
“Writing
a New Chapter” focuses
on the impact that some large foundations
are having on engineering education.
The Whitaker Foundation, for example,
has given more than $900 million
since 1976 to help establish programs
in biomedical engineering, a field
often overlooked by universities
because of its interdisciplinary
nature and the difficulty of bringing
together the two disciplines. The
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has played
a major role in the development
of distance education programs,
and generous support from the Ewing
Marion Kauffman Foundation has helped
create entrepreneurship programs
for engineering students.
There is a pressing need for our
citizenry to have a better grasp
of technology. Graduates of engineering
programs can use their education
in a broad array of career fields
outside engineering. In “Speaking
the Same Language,” we
look at Bachelor of Arts degree
programs in engineering. The goal
of most of these programs is to
create more technically literate
graduates who may not make engineering
a career. They may go on to become
lawyers or business executives,
but whatever path they choose, they
will definitely have an advantage
in the workplace.
We also need a more diverse group
of young people to enter engineering.
In “Engineering?
¡Sí!” we
introduce you to Viva Technology,
whose goal is to get Latino youngsters
excited about science, engineering
and math careers. There is a great
need—last year, only 6 percent
of bachelor’s degrees in engineering
went to Hispanics.
I believe you will find these stories
highly interesting. We’re
very interested in generating a
dialogue between you and your colleagues
on the pages of Prism. Please drop
us an e-mail at prism@asee.org.
Frank
L Huband
Executive Director and Publisher
f.huband@asee.org
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