University of St. Thomas

Talk Abstract:

As professional education developed over the past century, engineering became the one major profession for which the accredited degree is at the bachelor's level. 

The rapid rise of globalization, the increasingly public face of engineering, the need for diversification of the profession, the desirability of later and more flexible entry points, and the need to integrate the actual engineering function into the educational process more are all reasons why engineering education should now be rooted in a liberal undergraduate base with the professional degree moved to the graduate level. 

Some models arising around the world show ways in which this may be done; however, there is an imperfect alignment between those who would benefit from these changes (the public and students) and those who have the primary control over such changes (faculty and entry-level employers).  Some ways of addressing this issue are discussed.

Author Bio:

C. Judson King was from 1995 until 2004 Provost and Senior Vice President – Academic Affairs of the University of California system.  Before that, he was Provost, Professional Schools and Colleges on the Berkeley campus.  He has been at Berkeley since 1963 as a faculty member in Chemical Engineering, chaired that department and was Dean of the College of Chemistry.  He now directs the Center for Studies in Higher Education on the Berkeley campus.  He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has received a number of national awards from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Chemical Society, the American Society for Engineering Education and the Council for Chemical Research.  His research before turning his interests to the study of higher education has been in methods of separating mixtures and solutions.  He is the author of over 240 journal articles and the text, “Separation Processes”, McGraw-Hill, 1971, 1980.