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Session 3642

Engineering Management at UMR – Alumni Voices

Stephen A. Raper, Ph.D., CPP Associate Professor Department of Engineering Management The University of Missouri-Rolla

Abstract

The Department of Engineering Management at the University of Missouri-Rolla is among the oldest of its kind in the United States, and has over 2000 Bachelors level alumni graduates. The Department will undergo ABET accreditation under the new assessment based criteria in the fall of 2002. The new criteria specify that engineering programs should seek to continuously improve their degree offerings through an ongoing assessment process that includes constituent input. Our own department has specified undergraduate alumni as one of the prime or key constituents that will be queried for input into our own processes. For the first time in our history, we sent a detailed survey to all of our undergraduate alumni. We also solicited salary information that could be submitted anonymously. The results from the survey will be presented and discussed.

Introduction

The Department of Engineering Management at The University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR) has been in existence for over thirty years, and was among the first degrees of its kind in the United States. The Department’s founder, Bernie Sarchet, knew that many engineers eventually progressed to management positions during their career. This is still true today. However, most engineers did not have the benefit of studying management or business in the midst of a rigorous engineering curriculum. Graduate school, or trial by fire seemed to be the only options for those engineers. However, Professor Sarchet came to UMR, a campus that at the time did not have a school of business, and proceeded to develop a curriculum that blended the rigors of a traditional engineering and science degree with courses that provided a strong foundation in business and management. Many who have knowledge of Engineering Management at UMR believe that if a business school had been in existence, this unique degree may not have ever existed. Professor Sarchet also had the strong support of campus administrators, enabling him to overcome certain organizational and cultural roadblocks that exist on many engineering campuses. In short, a very unique engineer degree was able to grow and flourish. The Department is now a comprehensive department offering the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees.

The degree is an engineering degree by virtue of its curriculum, and by virtue of its accreditation. The first two and one half years of the curriculum is virtually identical to any other typical engineering degree. The core set of courses all students must take include

“Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Raper, S. (2002, June), Engineering Management At Umr Alumni Voices Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--11069