Engineering forum details plans for school’s future

Puneet Kollipara
Scott Bressler

Dean Mary Sansalone presented a detailed version of her plan to modernize the engineering school on Wednesday evening at a forum sponsored by the Engineering Council.

Sansalone’s “Plan for Excellence” was unveiled during the fall semester, causing some controversy within the engineering community.

During her presentation, Sansalone outlined the elements of and motivations for several major changes set to occur over the next several years.

“Dean Sansalone is developing plans for the future that will guide our investments, guide our programs, guide our recruiting activities and will position us to meet the many challenges that will face us throughout this century,” said Chancellor Mark Wrighton, who spoke at the start of the forum.

The changes include efforts to decrease the student-to-faculty ratio, reorganize the academic departments and add Writing I as a requirement for all engineering students.

Sansalone explained that, in comparison with other peer institutions, the School of Engineering has a relatively high undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio.

Sansalone announced that this ratio would be reduced to 10 to 1 by 2010, from its current level of 13 to 1, through the hiring of several new faculty members and the reduction of the undergraduate engineering class size from 285 to 235.

“The advantage of this is that each student then gets more personal attention. There are more opportunities for many of [them] to work in research labs or to work in projects with faculty,” said Sansalone.

Although 60 percent of University undergraduate engineers engage in some type of research, Sansalone said that there are currently not enough available opportunities to accommodate all requests.

Also, beginning next semester, Writing 1 will be required for engineers.

In an interview following the presentation, Sansalone noted the importance of writing skills for engineers.

“Engineering graduates lag behind in terms of writing ability, so we would obviously like to address that in the undergraduate curriculum,” she said.

Another change involves the elimination of many adjunct faculty positions; some of the eliminated positions will be changed to full-time lecturers. Accreditation teams that visited the University this past fall suggested that, due to the small size of the school, there was too broad of a focus and that there were too many part-time faculty members.

Sansalone justified the move, saying, “One of the issues with adjuncts is when they’re part-time and they come on the campus and they leave, they’re not here to advise you, to have you in their lab doing undergrad research, and to do all the things full-time faculty do.”

The school will also be focusing on several new research ventures that will be part of the school’s increased emphasis on serving society and assisting national and international needs in health care, poverty, energy and the environment. Some new research areas include more efficient sources of energy and neural engineering.

“Energy is one of the most important challenges that our country faces,” said Wrighton. “And arguably, in as much as energy and the environment are inextricably linked, this set of issues will be confronting us for a good long while.”

The presentation culminated in plans for a new engineering complex on the northeastern side of campus. The new buildings would be constructed around Whitaker Hall and in the surrounding parking lot. The school has not finalized plans for these buildings yet.

According to Sansalone, many of the changes to the school came about due to student interest, especially through speaking with student groups like EnCouncil.

Despite concerns over the availability of some upper-level electives and over the growing trend towards more specific areas of research, many students left the meeting feeling more optimistic about her plans.

“I think that it’s rough because everyone is not used to this big change, but I think that overall her goals are well intentioned and that I think she’s moving in the right direction,” said Liz Campbell, a junior chemical engineer. “I think that juniors and seniors and sophomores are worried because they’re not necessarily getting the benefits that she’s projecting, but I think overall it’s the best thing for Wash. U.”

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