Strengthening The Body Of Knowledge – How Integration Of Practicing Engineers As Adjunct Faculty Can Enhance Educational Outcomes

Reformation of engineering education has been discussed for many decades in the United States. Noteworthy are the periodic reports, beginning with the Mann Report of 1918, that have emphasized the need for engineering education reform. Since Mann’s report there have been many other significant reports published from 1930 to present that stress this need.Two such studies were those completed in recent years by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 1 and the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) 2 . The impetus for both was a realization that major changes in engineering education were needed to meet 21 st century challenges. Important conclusions from these studies are that civil engineering education must foster more interdisciplinary collaboration, include more team-based learning, and provide more learning experiences that feature problem solving involving socio-economic challenges as well as the application of engineering skill. Such collaboration, knowledge, experience, and engineering skill are required of effective practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to describe why the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE) has worked to integrate practitioners from multiple disciplines who possess extensive professional practice experience within the faculty team as Adjunct Faculty, how we are doing this, and the unique aspects the Adjunct Faculty are contributing to the educational process. The paper will specifically address how this engagement of Adjunct Professors as collaborative members of the team help the department to achieve the four characteristics of a model faculty described by the ASCE publication, Body of Knowledge for the 21 st Century(BOK2) Committee 3 as: 1) Scholars, 2) Effective Teachers, 3) Having Relevant Practical Experience, and, 4) Providing Positive Role Models. The paper will also describe the deliberative process we have used to develop a formal charter to guide and describe this effort, and the care taken in Adjunct Faculty appointments to adhere to the recommendation of the BOK2 Committee 4 that “...practitioner participants should meet the same criteria as the full-time faculty as described in this section – namely, scholarship, teaching effectiveness, and positive role modeling.” Adjunct Faculty – Variable Definitions in Practice The adjective “adjunct” has been defined in various ways, including: “a subordinate or incidental thing 5 ,” “added or joined as an accompanying object or circumstance 6 ,” “attached in a subordinate or temporary capacity to a staff 7 ,” “something added or extra but subordinate 8 ,”and “attached or belonging without full or permanent status: an adjunct surgeon on the hospital staff 9 .” The noun “professor” has also been defined in various ways, including: “a university teacher of the highest rank in a faculty 10 ,”“(loosely) any college or university teacher 11 ,” and “one that teaches or professes special knowledge of an art, sport or occupation requiring skill 12 .” P ge 15101.2 With variable usage of the adjective “adjunct” and the noun “professor” it is not surprising that the title Adjunct Professor has variations in meaning and uses at our colleges and universities. Several examplesabstracted from policies issued by educational institutions can be found in Appendix A. It is evident that policies developed for adjunct faculty within various institutionsvary considerably concerning defined roles and responsibilities, credential requirements for appointment, compensation, length of appointment, involvement in department policy and curricula planning, etc. Understandably, these variations as well as vagaries in definition, as outlined above, cause considerable confusion and uncertainty in the engineering educator community regarding the general role of adjunct faculty within college and university departments, and their potential contribution to broaden and deepen the knowledge of the collective faculty and to improvethe achievement of educational outcomes. ABET EAC Requirements for Faculty Teaching Design Courses For Civil Engineering programs, the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET, Inc. includes specific requirements 13 for faculty teaching design courses: “The program must demonstrate that faculty teaching courses that are primarily design in content are qualified to teach the subject matter by virtue of professional licensure, or by education and design experience. The program must demonstrate that it is not critically dependent on one individual.” Similar criteria 14 are given by the ABET EAC for Environmental Engineering Programs. An adequate number of licensed engineers having practice experience may be difficult to come by at many engineering colleges. Barry et al 15 researched the value placed on licensure and professional experience on faculties at three Civil Engineering departments and found a trend for less value being placed on these attributes at universities with a relatively high number of doctoral students and extensive research programs. At many research universities today, tenuretrack faculty appear to have an increasing research and science focus, and often may not have pursued licensure and lack professional practice experience. Accordingly, augmenting the ranks of the faculty with licensed practitioners having extensive design experience not only can benefit the program by increasing the breadth and depth of expertise in design areas as well as professional practice skills such as communications, teamwork, etc., but can help in meeting specific requirements for accreditation. ASCE Body of Knowledge Recommendations The ASCE publication, BOK2, presents a vision for future engineering education containing twenty-four outcomes arranged into three general categories (foundational, technical, and professional) with six identified levels of achievement (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation). The recommendations presented are that entry into the professional practice of Civil Engineering requiresknowledge at the achievement levels prescribed for each of the twenty-four listed outcomes by a combination of education at the bachelor’s level, specialty education at the master’s or equivalent level, and pre-licensure experience 16 . Recognizing that engineering is a profession of practice, guidance for faculty include the recommended model faculty possess relevant practical experience in the subject P ge 15101.3 matter taught so as to provide relevance, knowledge, understanding, and passion for the subject matter 17 . One approach (and likely difficult to implement) to satisfying this recommendation would be to institute a program requiring all faculty teaching design courses to be professionally licensed, possess extensive professional experience in the fields being taught, and to maintain contemporary knowledge by ongoing professional practice. Another means of achieving this goal is by effectively integrating practitioners into the faculty and curriculum to provide the necessary practical experience. Desired Program Outcomes and the Need for Faculty with Professional Practice Expertise The ABET, Inc. General Criteria for Baccalaureate Level Programs 18 contain eleven (a through k) specific stated program outcomes. Although all apply to professional practice to a degree, several have a clear and direct connection: (c) An ability to design...within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability (d) An ability to function on multidisciplinary teams (f) An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility (g) An ability to communicate effectively (k) An ability to use...engineering tools necessary for engineering practice For undergraduate degrees, the Program Educational Objectives of the University of WisconsinMadison Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 19 include providing students with: 1. The knowledge, tools and understanding of analysis, measurement, and design processes; 2. The ability to work and communicate effectively and efficiently individually and collaboratively; and, 3. An ability to recognize and respond in an appropriate manner to ethical, environmental, economic, legal, political, and social issues. These departmental Educational Objectives further state that Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (BSCE) graduates are to be prepared to contribute to their communities through the following career and professional accomplishments and abilities: 1. To plan, design, construct, and manage both natural and built processes and systems to meet determined needs using technical knowledge, computer skills, and design principles with communication, leadership, and team skills; 2. To utilize measurement and analysis tools along with experimental data in investigating natural and built systems; 3. To understand and incorporate economic, environmental, political, social, safety, and global considerations in design, investigation, and construction of natural and built systems; 4. To enhance analysis and design tools and experience through life long learning; and 5. To serve others through professional responsibility, leadership, and participation in professional and public activities, and good citizenship. P ge 15101.4 More general goals of the department and college include: 1. Providing a challenging and stimulating academic environment in which creative talents flourish. 2. Making research and instruction relevant to contemporary problems. 3. Offering quality degree programs at the baccalaureate, masters and doctorate level, with excellent grounding in basic sciences and encompassing all major sub-disciplines of practice. 4. Maintaining a leadership position in research and development of knowledge and sustainable technologies to successfully address future societal challenges. 5. Providing effective progra