| BY RONALD BARR ASEE
IS LIKE A HEALTHY GARDEN THAT HAS
PLENTY OF ROOM TO GROW.
Our highly successful conference
in Portland, Ore., was an important
reminder for me of just what a great
organization ASEE is and how proud
I am to serve as its president.
Working in the summer garden—my
place to relax and think—it
occurred to me that being president
is like growing tomatoes. ASEE’s
successes start out as small seedlings,
carefully planted and nurtured,
and grow into strong, healthy plants.
ASEE presidents pass through the
garden from one year to the next,
each planting new seedlings and
harvesting the fruits of others’
work. This is my year to tend to
the ASEE garden.
One thing that came across loud
and clear in Portland was that we
are operating in a global engineering
arena. American engineering graduates
cannot compete economically with
the “commodity engineers”
in India and China. American engineering
education needs to produce new “hybrid
tomatoes,” or engineers who
are technically competent and who
also possess superior talent in
creativity, leadership, and communication
skills.
Although ASEE is a founding member
of ABET, the discipline’s
accrediting body, it was only this
past year that we became a “Lead
Society” for the ABET-accreditation
process. This means that ASEE will
be responsible for selecting visitors
to review engineering programs.
Much credit for harvesting this
“big tomato” goes to
our immediate past president, Sherra
Kerns. We hope that this new relationship
with ABET will enable ASEE faculty
members to have a major impact on
engineering education reform.
The scholarship of engineering
education and research is blossoming.
The January 2005 issue of our Journal
of Engineering Education introduced
a new look and broadened coverage.
ASEE members are collaborating with
the National Academy of Engineering
in its Center for the Advancement
of Scholarship on Engineering Education.
Can scholarly research in engineering
education be the catalyst that drives
curriculum reform and leads to its
sustainability? We may attempt to
answer this question at the 2006
ASEE Conference Plenary session
in Chicago.
ASEE is planting seedlings in a
brand-new section of our garden,
in the K-12 ground, and they have
been fast-growing. The Engineering
K-12 Center Web site serves
as a data reservoir for hundreds
of K-12 outreach programs. “Engineering,
Go For It!” has sold over
600,000 copies and is in its second
printing. Our K-12 constituent committee,
with some 400 new members, was awarded
Division status at the Portland
meeting. And engineering and technology
courses are now being offered at
the high school level.
There are other ASEE endeavors
that will soon be ripe. The initial
endowment for the ASEE National
Teaching Award is near completion,
and the accompanying Lillian Gilbreth
medal has been approved by the Board.
We are in the initial stages of
launching an online journal. Efforts
to form an International Federation
of Engineering Education Societies
with future meetings in Australia,
Brazil, Turkey, Singapore, and beyond
continue. As I walk through the
ASEE garden, I cannot help but observe
that our organization is in the
best condition I have seen in 25
years, but we can do even better.
There are an abundance of tomatoes
in our garden. Some will become
ripe for picking, and others may
still remain green for my successor,
President-Elect David Wormley. Each
president has but one year to tend
to the ASEE garden, and I know it
will go quickly. So please join
me in making the ASEE garden the
best it can be. We will all enjoy
the fruits.
Barr is the 111th President
of the American Society for Engineering
Education.
|
The ASEE publications department
was recognized by the national publication
and design community with 10 awards
during the past year.
Prism magazine took home
seven APEX 2005 awards, which recognize
excellence in publications work
by professional communicators. The
awards are based on excellence in
graphic design, editorial content,
and the ability to achieve overall
communications excellence. The competition
for the awards was intense this
year, with close to 5,000 entries.
In addition to receiving a Grand
Award in the Writing category for
“The Water Guy,” November
2004, Prism was also honored with
six Awards of Excellence in the
following categories:
- Feature Writing:
“Storm Riders,” November
2004
- Covers: “From
da Vinci to the Classroom,”
Summer 2004
- Magazines &
Journals; Printed Four Color:
Prism magazine, February 2005
- Design &
Layout: “Sweating the Small
Stuff,” October 2004
- Photographs:
“The Water Guy,” November
2004
- Special Purpose
Writing: “The Cheating Culture,”
September 2004
Prism was also named a
finalist for three Distinguished
Achievement Awards for Excellence
in Educational Publishing by the
American Association of Educational
Publishers (AEP). “From da
Vinci to the Classroom,” Summer
2004, was a finalist for the Design-Cover-Adults
category; “Opening a New Book,”
February 2004, was a finalist in
the Design-Article-Adults category;
and “The Water Guy,”
November 2004, was named finalist
for the Design-Photograph-Adults
category.
|
 W.
Leighton (“Late”) Collins,
Executive Director Emeritus of the
American Society for Engineering
Education, passed away Wednesday,
Aug. 10, 2005 in Columbia, Md. He
was 99 years old.
A member of ASEE since 1932, Collins
was the executive director from
1955 to 1969. He presided over the
expansion of ASEE and its evolution
into an internationally recognized
professional organization. In 1965
the Society moved its headquarters
to Washington, D.C., from the University
of Illinois, Urbana campus.
“Late” Collins had
a long and distinguished career
as an educator and administrator.
He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees
in civil engineering from the University
of Illinois in 1928 and 1932, respectively.
He accepted a teaching position
with the university and remained
a full-time member of the faculty
of the department of theoretical
and applied mechanics until 1955,
when he became executive director
of ASEE on a part-time basis. In
1969 he received the University
of Illinois College of Engineering
Alumni Honor Award for distinguished
service in engineering.
In 1971, Collins was awarded the
first Distinguished and Unusual
Service Award given by ASEE. Later,
this award was renamed the W. Leighton
Collins Award for Distinguished
and Unusual Service. Collins set
up a teaching enhancement endowment
fund for outstanding teachers of
engineering at the University of
Illinois. Memorial contributions
may be made to: W. Leighton Collins
Fund, University of Illinois Foundation,
Harker Hall, 1305 W. Green St.,
Urbana, IL 61801. In memo section
of check, please specify: “In
memoriam for W. L. Collins.”
|
Amid the annual Rose Festival,
the bustling crowds, and the springtime
weather, engineering took the spotlight
for a few June days in Portland,
Ore. From June 12-15, ASEE hosted
its 2005
annual conference at the Oregon
Convention Center, where more than
3,300 people attended, including
2,216 prime registrants, and over
100 companies exhibited. Attendees
were treated to speeches from G.
Wayne Clough, president of Georgia
Tech, and Dwight C. Streit, vice
president of Foundation Technologies
for Northrop Grumman Space Technology,
at the Main
Plenary, as well as a host of
other distinguished lectures and
papers throughout the conference.
When not spending time advancing
engineering, conference-goers took
day trips to the Bonneville Dam
and Mount St. Helens, browsed Powell’s
Books, ate at the many fine restaurants
downtown and took in the scene at
Pioneer Courthouse Square.
|
| Eighth
Annual Colloquium on International
Engineering Education
The University of Rhode Island
International Engineering Program
and Georgia Institute of Technology
will hold the Eighth Annual Colloquium
on International Engineering Education,
to take place Nov. 10-13, 2005,
in Atlanta. With a focus on
strategies and techniques for preparing
young engineers for the global workplace,
this meeting will bring educators
together with members of the private
and public sectors for information
sharing and building a national
agenda for the internationalization
of engineering education.
For more information, see the colloquium
website (www.uri.edu/iep).
|
| Campus
Representative Awards The
Campus Representative Reception
at the annual conference in Portland,
Ore., celebrated an outstanding
year that included several record-setting
achievements in member recruitment.
David Lynch of the University of
Alberta won the overall award for
most professional members recruited
with an all-time high of 81, while
also becoming the first campus rep
award winner from Canada.
Sharon Sauer from Rose-Hulman Institute
of Technology became the first campus
rep to win an overall award (highest
percentage of membership) in consecutive
years. And Bruce Feodorov
of New England Institute of Technology
set a new record—30—for
student members recruited.
See the full list of winners at
“On
Campus” on the ASEE website.
|
Engineering
Deans Council Honors
K-12 Outreach The ASEE Engineering
Deans Council presented the 2005
Engineering Deans Council Award
for Promoting Engineering Education
and Careers to Betsy Willis of Southern
Methodist University for her work
on Visioneering: Designing the Future.
Through a TV show, live event, and
on-demand webcast, the Visioneering
program now reaches an estimated
audience of more than 8 million
viewers, showing students, parents,
and educators that engineering can
be a fun, creative and rewarding
career.
|
| Call
for Submissions
The
Journal of Engineering Technology
is accepting submissions. Visit
http://www.asee.org/about/publications/divisions,
www.purdue.anderson.edu/etd/journal.htm
or the latest issue for complete
manuscript requirements, a style
guide for authors, and a list of
topics of interest. Submit 11 copies
of the printed manuscript with abstract
to: Carlos A. Ortiz, Manuscript
Editor, Southern Polytechnic State
University, Civil Engineering Technology
Department, 1100 South Marietta
Parkway, Marietta, GA 30060; email:
cortiz@spsu.edu.
|
 Sallie
Keller-McNulty,
the former group leader for
the Statistical Sciences Group
at Los Alamos National Laboratory,
became dean of Rice University’s
George R. Brown School of
Engineering. Rice is now the
only major research university
with female deans in both
science and engineering.
|
|
 Formerly
the University of Michigan’s
dean of engineering, Stephen
W. Director
has taken the position of
provost at Drexel University.
|
 Founding
Dean of the College of Engineering
at the University of Texas-San
Antonio Zorica
Pantic-Tanner
was named president of Wentworth
Institute of Technology.
|
| 
Joseph
Bordogna resigned
as deputy director and chief
operating officer of the National
Science Foundation and is
returning to the University
of Pennsylvania as Alfred
Fitler Moore professor of
engineering. Bordogna was
the agency’s longest-serving
deputy director.
|
|  Formerly
the dean of engineering at
Michigan State University,
Janie
M. Fouke has
taken the position of provost
and senior vice president
for academic affairs at the
University of Florida.
|
|  Christophe
Pierre has
taken up the post of dean
of the faculty of engineering
at McGill University. Pierre
was the Stephen P. Timoshenko
Collegiate Professor of Mechanical
Engineering as well as the
associate dean of graduate
studies at the University
of Michigan.
|
|  The
former dean of engineering
at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign,
David
E. Daniel
is the new president at the
University of Texas-Dallas.
|
|  Alan
Cramb, formerly
professor and head of the
department of materials science
and engineering at Carnegie
Mellon University, has assumed
the positions of dean of the
school of engineering and
John A. Clark and Edward T.
Crossan Professor of Engineering
at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute.
|
|  Mark
J. Kushner,
Founder Professor of Engineering
at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign,
has taken the position of
dean of Iowa State University’s
college of engineering.
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