(406g) Eroding Engineering Education: a Profession Under Threat

A profession requires that students are taught by those well-versed in practice, that there is a body of knowledge that identifies the profession, that life-long learning is required to master the knowledge, there is a passion to serve society and that the profession is self-regulated through its code of ethics and governing body. But, chemical engineering education is controlled by closed tribes who hire the ?Learned Ones' to fulfill other goals. The training and background of these ?Learned Ones' has markedly changed.

Engineering education, the training of our future chemical engineering practioneers - those who control hazards, impact society to a larger extent than any other profession and advance our technical culture, is increasingly in the hands of people who have never practiced and controlled by non-engineers. But, the university dictates:

? Talents of who is hired;

? Evaluation of advancement within the tribe;

? Measures of stature; and,

? Effort spent on education.

New faculty members are hired for their research potential, not their industrial experience at the undergraduate practice level. Promotion pays lip service to teaching while counting publications, research dollars and Ph.D.'s supervised. The literature is replete with statistics that the stature within in a university is measured by how little the individual has to do with undergraduates. Assistant professors truly must publish or perish.

Textbooks are written for faculty by faculty. They do not provide perspective. New faculty members have an increasingly narrow perspective of engineering as their education requires increasing specialization. Textbooks are written for faculty by faculty. They do not provide perspective. We only have to look at the development of the new paradigm (G. G. Brown, to BSL to a Committee) or to the completely flexible ABET standards where we can define who we are because we aren't who we were to see that the ?Learned Ones' have changed. But, have the elements of practice changed?

Our undergraduates move into an environment where they must exercise their problem, creative, integrative, critical and life-long learning skills in an environment where answers are not black or white, right or wrong. Engineers no longer stay with the same company for a life-time. This places increasing responsibility on the ?Learned Ones' to socialize engineers into the requirements of professional practice.

Engineering education serves the profession, not the universities. We must have a passion for education. We need re-establish:

? Teaching by practitioners;

? Focusing on the core practice oriented knowledge;

? Focusing on practice oriented skill development;

? Developing ethical reasoning.

We cannot rely solely on our capstone courses to fulfill these goals.