2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Submission to: American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) 2025 Conference in Montreal, CN

Title: The Importance of “Place” in the Building and Establishment of a New Engineering Program
By: Mark Pagano, ASEE Fellow and Professor of Mechanical Engineering - School of Engineering and
Technology, University of Washington Tacoma (UWT), and Michael Sullivan, Retired Principle - Artifacts, Inc. Tacoma, WA USA

Abstract
In today’s world, “place” has ever increasing importance in almost every known culture and geographic region. Therefore, it should follow that to properly educate tomorrow’s conscientious engineers, an institution’s “place” should be a critically important consideration when a university faculty develops and establishes new engineering programs. Educating responsible engineers who are socially and sustainably competent includes a solid grounding of where they are from and the culture and history that helped shape them. The respect that’s graduates have for the notable aspects of “place”, especially those related to environmental stewardship and empathetic regard for culture should have a significant imprint on a students’ future roles as practicing engineers. Place was definitely an important factor in 1989 when the State of Washington committed to establishing several new regional higher education institutions in an effort to serve place-bound students and their surrounding communities across the state. The local Tacoma Community quickly responded to this call with an application for one of these new campus locations and after a successful conclusion to the year-long process, UWT was launched in downtown Tacoma in late 1990. As a result, the campus now considers place in every major decision it makes as it continues to develop and grow. Thus the idea of place was carefully considered as UWT recently proposed, designed, and implemented two new engineering programs, civil and mechanical, and an accompanying facility to house them.
Tacoma has long been associated with the rise (and fall) of the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest and at one point in the early 1900’s it was commonly referred to as “The Lumber Capital of the World”. Therefore, it was determined this history should be a key element in the overall design of these two new programs on the UWT campus. Likewise, Tacoma is home to the Puyallup Tribe of Indians who possess a keen sense of place which includes a spiritual relationship with the natural resources that are available in the region on which they depend for shelter, sustenance, and livelihood. Most early European settlers did not have the same respect for the natural world when they first reached the area and began to harvest the vast timber resources of the region. This resulted in a turbulent relationship with early Tacoma settlers and the local Salish People, including the Puyallup Tribe. All of these factors (i.e. the timber history, the long-time sustainable practices, and the ongoing and much improved relationships with local Tribes) were carefully woven into the fabric of these two new programs as well as the new facilities that will house the programs as they were developed and designed respectively.
A partnership was formed with the Puyallup Tribe whose people have been “educating” and “engineering” their people in an environmentally conscience manner in villages situated in almost the exact same location as the current UWT campus since time immemorial. The Tribe was instrumental in helping understand the story of this place as we worked together to fully integrated this story into not only the fabric of the academic programs but also into the building architectural composition itself so that future students would experience it each day of their educational journey. Place was even considered in material selection for the facility and hence a beautiful and sustainably-sourced cross-laminated-timber design was chosen for the new building.

A second significant example of place being used in the design of the program and facility is a focus on the history of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (TNB) that is being arranged into a display on the walls outside the Civil Engineering Senior Capstone Design Lab on the third floor of the new facility. UWT has the unique distinction of being the world’s closest four-year engineering program to this famous civil engineering landmark with it being located just six miles directly west of the campus. The historic context and innovation used in the initial bridge design, the resulting disaster, lessons learned, and the community resilience and efforts to rebound and build a new bridge will all beautifully adorn the walls of the facility. The impact that this tragic accident had on civil engineering and bridge design in general are also included.

The paper and presentation will detail efforts to secure state approval and funding for the two engineering programs and the related facility and will include the story of how “place” was carefully considered in the design of both the programs and facilities. The partnerships with the Puyallup Tribe will be described and their impact and influence on the project will be highlighted, especially the cultural elements and land acknowledgement that are part of the first floor entryway exhibit. Likewise, details of the partnership with the Harbor History Museum and the Tacoma News Tribune for the TNB display will also be covered. Detailed descriptions and beautiful photographs of the facility with explanations of how “place” influenced the design with respect to the timber history and the TNB will also be presented. Examples of how these displays are integrated into the curricula of CE and ME will also be outlined.