Departmental Advisory Boards Their Creation, Operation, And Optimization

Most academic engineering departments should strongly consider having a Departmental Advisory Board. There are many options for the membership, purposes, and usefulness of these Boards. This paper will present the views and suggestions of an engineering faculty member who has been associated with boards for Chemical Engineering Departments as a faculty member, as a department head, and as a member of a Board at another university. Experiences over a 35-year period will be used to explore ways in which these Boards and their members can be utilized to the fullest advantage for the sponsoring Departments and for the Engineering College.