Mary Sansalone, Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, recently announced the creation of a “Plan for Excellence,” which will overhaul major aspects of the engineering school. In particular, there are three significant changes which will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the school’s future: the construction of three new academic buildings which will serve as a springboard to help expand the resources of nearly every engineering department; the elimination of the undergraduate Aerospace Engineering major in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; and the merging of the Department of Civil Engineering with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering to form a new Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Structural Engineering. Of course, such a drastic restructuring of so many aspects of the engineering school is bound to cause concern. Such concerns are warranted and indeed necessary, considering the ambitious nature of this plan. Yet we also believe that there are real benefits to be gained from implementing the “Plan for Excellence.”
The most drastic part of this plan is the elimination of the undergraduate major in Aerospace Engineering. This is not a decision that should be taken lightly. Despite the fact that the department only awarded six Bachelor of Science degrees during the 2005-2006 school year, the elimination of the program, starting with the entering freshman class of 2011, means that a useful recruiting tool for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences will be gone. Meetings with industry advisors indicated that a better course of preparation, however, would be an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering followed by a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering. This advice appears to be sound. In fact, we are glad that Dean Sansalone consulted industry advisors in the first place. Such advice is critical to maintaining the professional quality of the engineering school, and we applaud her for it.
An equally important aspect of the plan is the creation of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Structural Engineering. This is a measure we also support, although we do have several reservations. It is unclear whether this change is merely an administrative restructuring or whether the undergraduate majors in Civil and Mechanical Engineering will also be completely changed. This is something that Dean Sansalone needs to communicate clearly to students and staff. Students in both programs need to be assured that their future, whether it be employment or professional certification, is not placed in jeopardy as a result of this merger. These students also need to have some input into the final structure of this decision.
The decision to build three new academic buildings for the engineering school is a no-brainer. The future for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is critically dependent on its ability to recruit high quality students. These new buildings will surely help with that goal, and we applaud Dean Sansalone for deciding on this much needed expansion.
It is not an understatement to say that the “Plan for Excellence” will fundamentally alter nearly every aspect of the engineering school. These are the first truly major changes since the founding of the Biomedical Engineering Department in 1997. More communication and input from students, staff, and industry experts is still needed to determine whether the full plan is the best possible option for Washington University. But right now we are confident enough in what we have seen to approve of Dean Sansalone’s vision for the school. For these reasons, we endorse the “Plan for Excellence.”