ASEE seeks to provide support and services to the entire engineering education community-from first-year instructors at small schools to the deans of large
research universities. Our challenge is to address the priorities, interests, and concerns of the many groups within our community. Our goal is to enhance and broaden services to our members. In this regard, we are undertaking
several initiatives that should interest you.In this month's PRISM, we present the results of a survey of assistant professors in the article "What Do Assistant Professors Want?" The relatively high response rate shows that our
members have much to share with us about the state of engineering education, and we will be conducting more surveys of different components of the engineering/engineering technology academic community in the near future. Female
educators, faculty members at research-intensive schools, and non-U.S. engineering educators are among the constituent groups from which we plan to solicit opinions for future PRISM articles.
Also for our non-U.S. members, ASEE's
Board of Directors recently approved a three-year trial for a new class of international membership at a reduced fee. These members will have access to ASEE publications via the Internet instead of receiving print versions, which
will ensure that they receive PRISM in a timely fashion (which is sometimes difficult with overseas mailings). It will also reduce costs to both ASEE and our international members. At the end of the trial period, the Board of
Directors will determine if online-only memberships will be made available to ASEE members in the United States and Canada.
ASEE has also begun development of a Web-based database designed to catalog all available continuing
education opportunities of interest to engineers. We hope that this "lifelong-learning clearinghouse" will be valuable to our members and to the engineering community at large by allowing them to more easily locate and pursue
courses that will help them grow professionally. For those who develop and provide content for continuing engineering education, we hope that use of this database by engineers will increase participation in your programs.
Each of
these efforts has a common purpose: to better serve our members and others in the broad engineering education community. We can do a better job of serving you when we understand your concerns and your needs. By responding to one of
our surveys or another communication, I hope you will share your thoughts and ideas with us.
As always, I look forward to your comments and suggestions.
return to