Abstract
Preparation for a first ABET EC 2000 visit requires new ways of thinking and organization. Industrial partners can be of strategic help in making the transition from the old to the new Criteria for an Engineering Program or a College of Engineering because most corporations have embraced the "Quality" transitions of the last two decades, including Quality Teams, ISO 9000, Malcolm Baldridge competitions and the like. These companies, therefore, are a resource for the institutional change required to implement EC 2000. This paper presents a case study of how an engineering college teamed with a strategic industrial partner can use expertise and external viewpoint to introduce the concepts of total quality management and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) among the faculty. The purpose of this partnership is to focus the thinking of the faculty and administration and to identify areas of strength and weakness within the programs. This paper describes how such a partnership was established over the two-year period - 1999-2000 between the College of Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso and Raytheon Corporation in preparation for an ABET EC 2000 visit in Fall 2001. An assessment of the faculty after a 1999 joint workshop and 2000 ABET Mock Visit showed: (i) significant improvements in faculty understanding of ABET EC 2000; (ii) significant gains in knowledge of areas of strength and weakness; and (iii) enhanced interdepartmental interaction among faculty in the college.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 10923-10931 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings |
State | Published - 2001 |
Event | 2001 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition: Peppers, Papers, Pueblos and Professors - Albuquerque, NM, United States Duration: Jun 24 2001 → Jun 27 2001 |