Judy Sawyer worked in the dual degree engineering program for 16 years, processing applications and acting as an advisor and liaison for dual degree engineering students. Early last week, she was asked to clean out her belongings and leave the school.
“The administration did not tell the dual degrees, but they found out for themselves and broadcast the info to the rest of the program,” said dual degree engineer (DDE) Elaine Chang. Chang is pursuing her dual degree at Washington University and Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.
Sawyer’s abrupt dismissal comes amidst a slew of major changes to sweep the Engineering School since Dean Mary Sansalone’s tenure began last semester. Regarding these changes, students have voiced concerns about the streamlining of the dual degree program and the possible merging of civil engineering with mechanical engineering at the graduate and doctoral levels.
These changes ultimately come as part of larger plans by Sansalone to cut the current engineering school budget.
Sansalone looked to address many of these concerns at a Dean’s Forum last Friday; dual degree students, however, left the meeting early after Sansalone refused to take any further questions on the state of the program.
“A student asked why Judy Sawyer was not transferred instead of dismissed outright, and she said it was a personality problem that led to her dismissal. At that point she stopped taking questions from dual degree [students],” said Chang. “Most of the dual degrees left after that comment.”
Sansalone noted in an e-mail to Student Life that they are working to improve the dual degree admissions process by running applications through the main University admissions office. They also intend to recruit from fewer schools, narrowing their focus on select universities.
Sawyer reports that she was left out of the decision-making process even though previous deans worked with her in developing the goals of the dual degree program.
According to Sawyer, she was informed “that they were going to cut back on the dual degree program, and that they wouldn’t need two people to coordinate it.”
In Chang’s opinion, the plan to cut back on the dual degree program flies in the face of many of Sansalone’s main goals: A better retention rate and a broader liberal arts education.
“It’s very strange that the dean would attempt to cut a program that does so many things that she wants to accomplish for the school,” said Chang. “I think one of the things that causes such a high retention rate [95 percent] is its very insular nature. If she attempts to generalize or integrate the dual degree program into the regular engineering program that retention rate will suffer.”
Actual plans for the reorganization of civil engineering have yet to materialize, though senior and EnCouncil president Paul Moceri noted that such discussion has occurred.
“Nothing’s definite at this point, but [Sansalone] did say that they were talking about joining the [civil and mechanical engineering departments] under the theme of structural engineering, particularly at the masters and doctoral levels,” said Moceri.
Moceri noted that much of these decisions came as part of budget cuts from the University.
“The budget was tight to begin with. They’re just trying to work to better control the finances so we can put better money into academic programs,” said Moceri. “I respect the dean’s decisions to better utilize the resources of the school as a whole. It’s unfortunate that people got let go, but in the bigger sense it’s needed to go forward.”
Many students, however, fear that this marks the beginning of far more significant changes to come.
“For me, the only reason why I can see they’re trying to merge these departments is a budget crunch,” said an engineering student, remaining anonymous for fear of academic repercussions. “I feel that they’re trying to take money away from all the other departments in order to fund BME [bio-medical engineering], and I’m scared that Wash. U. is pretty much going to emphasize the BME part of the engineering program.”
The student noted that many peers share this same concern, fearing that other departments in the engineering school will be ignored in favor of its strongest department, bio-medical engineering.
“They merged the graduate program with Arts & Sciences, and if they keep following this trend and attempt to merge the whole engineering program with ArtSci, people are going to be very upset. That’s not the direction students want to go in.”