2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A small private university is partnering with local industry to establish a new engineering program designed to help meet industry’s growing demands for engineering graduates. While there are existing engineering programs from some large public and private schools in the state, they are not producing enough engineering graduates to meet the demands in the region. Industry provided input to help determine what initial degrees will be offered: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Systems Engineering. The university has strong and well-established programs in math and science to help support these degrees. The Higher Learning Commission recently approved for the university to offer these three degrees. Many of the local companies are in the aerospace industry so the new program will have an aerospace emphasis.

Many of the proposed reforms of engineering education have recommended including a stronger connection between industry and academia. An important goal of an undergraduate engineering program should be to prepare students for professional practice since the majority of graduating students will go into industry. In a landmark study funded by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Sheppard et al. (2009) recommended better alignment between the preparation of engineering students and professional practice. They wrote (pp. 169-70), “the central lesson that emerged from our study is the imperative of teaching for professional practice, with practice understood as the complex, creative, responsible, contextually grounded activities that define the work of engineers at its best.”

Since there are no alumni yet from the new program, the engineering advisory board will consist of non-alumni industry members. Local industry will also provide: internships and capstone projects for students, guest speakers, adjunct instructors, and potentially hardware that can be used in labs and for demonstrations. Additionally, industry may provide some funding for the program. This paper will discuss the unique partnership between industry and academia to help establish a brand new industry-focused engineering program.