An Integral Approach To Teaching History Across The Engineeing Curriculum

The debate is as old as the profession and the sought after answer remains almost as elusive and ambiguous today as it did a century ago. What is the role of humanities courses in engineering education? How many liberal arts courses requirements should an engineering student take? What do these courses accomplish? Even in the brief history of the engineering profession and the subsequent accreditation movement in engineering education, a consensus has never been reached. Closer to consensus is the conclusion that engineers need some type of humanities based education; although the reasons for this conclusion may be varied, changing, and even conflicting. I suspect it is this perpetual lack of consensus that has entombed the majority of the dialogue in its broadest manifestation, that is, the “humanities courses” debated as an eclectic amalgam. Discussing details within a tenuous consensus is a recipe for trouble. Nonetheless, certain courses have always loitered around the tables of debate. History has been one of them.