2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The goal: Develop an engineering program of study to meet the needs of local industry, match the liberal arts identity of the college, and provide a pathway contained within a four-year experience for students who discover the joy of engineering after starting college. Achieving this goal is driving development of two new engineering programs: a BA degree with a major in Engineering and a BS degree in Engineering.
These programs are being developed at a small, liberal arts college of 2,800 students. Discussions with local industries demonstrate significant employment opportunities in engineering; discussions with high school teachers demonstrate interest in studying engineering while remaining local; discussions with current students and alumni demonstrate that many students who come to the college are potentially interested but unsure about engineering. A pilot BA in Engineering Science built out of the physics department demonstrated sufficient interest among the student population attracted to the college, greenlighting development of the currently conceived BA and BS programs in Engineering.
The BA and BS will share the first two years of curriculum to develop a strong engineering mindset among students with project-based classes involving outside stakeholders. At the end of the second year in the program, students will choose the BA or BS pathway. For students selecting the BA, a complementary area of interest will be recommended: Environmental Science, Biomedical Applications, Business Operations, and Theatre Arts, among others. Students will take courses in this area of interest and apply an engineering mindset to develop a hybrid set of skills and experiences, followed by a semester-long senior thesis project. The BS in Engineering is designed to be ABET accreditable and will provide students with a strong technical engineering background through upper-level courses taken the junior and senior year and a yearlong capstone engineering project.
All students also complete the broad college core distribution requirements, maintaining the liberal arts standards of the college. Both programs will be completed within the 130-credit cap for the college. These programs specifically draw on the strengths of the college to create multidisciplinary engineering programs of study while maintaining the breadth of coursework and viewpoints characteristic of a liberal arts college. This paper will provide details on our development process, rationale, challenges, and goals for building these two new engineering programs.