HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) ANNUAL CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION IN CHARLOTTE, NC ON JUNE 19-24, 1999

I attended the ASEE conference in Charlotte, NC on June 19-24. The highlights of those events that I attended are listed as follows.

1. IEEE ABET/EAC Workshop, 8:30am-5:00pm, Sunday, June 20.

The workshop was given by C. Denny Avers (c.avers@ieee.org), William E. Sayle, II (w.sayle@ieee.org), and David Soldan (d.soldan@ieee.org) of the IEEE Committee on Engineering Accreditation Activities (CEAA). It began at 8:30am and ended at 5:00pm at the Adam’s Mark Hotel. The emphasis was on careful pre-visit preparation, disclosure of real and perceived conflicts of interest, and confidentiality. General information about ABET and the Commission is given at http://www.abet.org. The spirit of ABET 2000 is to look at the evidence of what the student really learned (to gain knowledge required for entry to the engineering profession). The institution must continuously improve itself. In addition, the issues related to student, faculty, facilities, institutional support, and financial resources must be linked to program objectives. These criteria were elaborated during the one-day workshop along with several group exercises. I was particularly impressed by the IEEE practice to assign a mentor to each junior program evaluator. Perhaps ASCE can look into it and do something similar in addition to requiring each evaluator to serve as an observer. I suggested this possibility to Tom Lenox and Mike Kupfermann of ASCE later during this conference.

2. Main Plenary, 8:30-10:15am, Monday, June 21.

ASEE President Ernest T. Smerdon spoke first. He was followed by Ralph Snyderman, Dean of Medicine, Duke University and Richard B. Priory, COB and CEO, Duke Energy Corporation. Dr. Snyderman touched on the subject of bioengineering and gave a good overview of medical practice in the future. Dr. Priory was a professor of structural engineering at UNCC, and stated that a good engineer should have more than four years of formal education. He also answered many questions from the audience after his presentation.

3. Session 1313 – Promoting and Rewarding Effective Teaching, 10:30am-noon, Monday, June 21.

Rich Felder moderated the session on a faculty development program for the SUCCEED Coalition that was initiated in 1996. Speakers included Rebecca Brent, Doug Hirt, and Sigfried Holzer. The Faculty Development (FD) program consists of

• linkage to related programs on campus,
• designation of a FD coordinator (with release time) in the College of Engineering,
• faculty rewards,
• faculty learning opportunities,
• new faculty programs, and
• graduate students.

It was concluded that "things are happening." However, it appears that more efforts are needed to promote and effective teaching.

4. Session 1415 – CE Luncheon, 12:30-2:00pm, Monday, June 21.

Approximately 50 civil engineers were there for the luncheon meeting. After lunch, a brief business meeting was held for the ASEE Civil Engineering Division.

5. Focus of Exhibits, 2:30-4:15pm, Monday, June 21.

I walked through the booths in the exhibition hall. Many software and book companies were there along with soft drinks.

6. Session 2275 – Promotion and Tenure, 8:30-10:15am, Tuesday, June 22.

The main points that I learned were the necessity of having mentors, developing an area of expertise, getting undergraduate students into research activities, understanding yourself, and hard work. None of these pointers is new to me.

7. Session 2375 – Fame, Fortune, or Both: Life After Tenure, 10:30am-noon, Tuesday, June 22.

Panelists included Denice Denton, Charles Reinholz, Jim Stice, Curtis Tompkins, and Phil Wanket. They emphasized leadership at an early age, career planning and mobility, mentoring, each individual’s uniqueness, and reality. Phil Wanket recommended the out-of-print book Teaching Engineering that is now available on the Internet at http://www.asee.org/pubs/teaching.htm. Anyone can download it as long as no one is making money on it.

8. Session 2515 – Master’s Degree as First Professional Degree, 2:30-4:15pm, Tuesday, June 22.

The informative session was moderated by Dennis Fallon. Paper authors included Howard Epstein, Jim Yao and Loren Lutes, Ed Koehn, Eric Adams and Rafael Bras, Phil Gould and Kevin Truman. Approximately 70 people crowded into a room seating 45. Questions were raised, and existing programs of ME at Lamar, Cornell, MIT, and Washington University were presented as examples.

9. Session 3330 – ERM Distinguished Lecture, 10:30am-noon, Wednesday, June 23.

Rich Felder spoke on "Schooling Versus Education and Other Balancing Acts." The inspiration for Rich’s talk came from Mark Twain who said: "I try to not let my schooling interfere with my education." He quoted Henry Kissinger who said that "university politics are vicious especially when the stakes are so small." It is challenging for engineering educators to alternate between the roles of "gatekeeper" and "coach." There were many questions asked and Rich discussed them at the end of his talk.

10. Session 3415 – Chi Epsilon Luncheon, 12:30-2:00pm, Wednesday, June 23.

Approximately 15 people were there. David Breyer of UNCC gave a good talk about the different kind of students that we have today.

11. Session 3552 – ASEE: Nostalgic Look, 2:30-4:15pm, Wednesday, June 23.

Bill LeBold and Bob Page moderated this session. Bob Page presented a slide-video show that was prepared by Larry Grayson of the US Department of Education. The photographic records of ASEE disappeared somehow. Bob asked the audience to send pictures to either Larry Grayson or Bob Page in an attempt to rebuild the historic file.

In addition, I attended Sessions 3152 (Academy of Fellows Breakfast meeting), 3705 (ASEE Reception), and 3805 (ASEE Banquet) on Wednesday, June 23. Once again, I wish to thank (1) Jim Nau and Dennis Fallon for inviting Loren Lutes and me to present our paper in Session 2515, (2) Bob Randall and John Weese for nominating me as an ASEE Fellow, and (3) the Lohman Professorship for enabling me to participate in these educational activities. I really enjoyed attending the ASEE Conference in Charlotte, NC during these past few days.

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