Conference Session

Communication and Collaboration

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sally Blomstrom, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; Hak Tam, University of California, Santa Barbara

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

is intended for first year students. We expect thestudents to gain competencies in these areas: 1. Demonstrate increased abilities in speech, personal communication, and career communication. 2. Demonstrate the presentation of speeches to inform and to persuade (to convince, to activate). 3. Lead or participate in group discussions reaching problem-solving or fact-finding goals, and respond to comments and questions from the audience while maintaining objectivity. 4. Maintain group cohesiveness by using task and maintenance behaviors (including recording and analyzing your group uses of these group dynamic actions.) 5. Use informative, persuasive, and empathetic listening strategies and write journal entries

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Endeavor

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Brocato, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

authentic engineering situations. The first case study, “The Pendergrass Circuits E-mail,” is a one-page story that literally puts students into the narrative as a character, requiringthem to read, analyze, discuss, and reflect on the story’s details before deciding what sorts ofactions and written documentation are necessary. The second case study involves close analysisof the space shuttle Challenger disaster, in particular the written and oral communication thattook place prior to the disaster itself. As this paper shows, using case studies as described herecan provide students with valuable exposure to the types of decisions they might have to make intheir professional careers while also providing engineering programs with a sound method

Conference Session

Communication and Collaboration

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Julie Sharp, Vanderbilt University; Marilyn Dyrud, Oregon Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

body paragraph? Is the topic specifically linked to your career (engineering, finance, etc.) so that the audience will know why you are discussing this topic? 4. Organization: Is the paper organized appropriately with Page 14.1287.4 headings? Is a main point (thesis) stated? Are the paragraphs divided logically? Are subpoints expressed in topic sentences for each body paragraph? Is the order of subpoints logical? 5. Development of paragraphs: Are paragraphs developed logically with relevant, specific, sufficient details? Do details stay on the subject? Are they appropriate? 6

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Endeavor

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Edward Gehringer, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

purpose is to, e.g., accommodate larger attachments than inboxes can holdon the employer's e-mail system? Suppose the employer has a policy (as some universities do)of allowing private use of the employer’s computer equipment, as long as it does not hinderofficial use? How can our students protect their accounts against break-ins? Not only does thiscase raise important privacy issues, it also touches on the issue of separation of work andpersonal life, which all of our students will face as they begin their careers.1. IntroductionWhen someone, allegedly David Kernell [1], hacked into Vice-Presidential candidate SarahPalin’s Yahoo account [2] last September 16, he highlighted a distinction that is rapidly growingin importance in today’s social

Conference Session

Critical Thinking and Creative Arts

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Beth Todd, University of Alabama; Garry Warren, University of Alabama; Susan Burkett, University of Alabama; David Cordes, University of Alabama; Marcus Brown, University of Alabama

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

the NY Times every week, starting the second week of classes, day TBA, at 12:30 and free pizza will be included. You will find in your career that technology and society can change quickly and slap you in the face if you’re not paying attention—we’ll talk about this more later in the semester. You are required to attend five (5) of these discussion sessions during the semester, and to submit a paragraph or two about the main ideas discussed to me by e-mail (1% of your grade each). If you have a class conflict at the time of the discussion, you will be required to submit five essays – a paragraph summarizing a science article in the NYTimes, and a paragraph giving your comments about it, again 1

Conference Session

Liberal Education and Leadership

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Val Hawks, Brigham Young University; John Harb, Brigham Young University; Alan Parkinson, Brigham Young University; Spencer Magleby, Brigham Young University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

drive it. Where will this leadership comefrom? China? India? The United States? The choice is ours to make.”14 These calls and many Page 14.11.3others like them are not the only evidence of the increasing need for leadership in technicalareas. One need only look at the rapidly changing landscape of global competition, the flatteningof industry organizational charts and continued reliance on multi- and inter-disciplinary teams inglobal and domestic environments.Over 50% of engineers serve in a management or leadership position during their career, manyhaving take their first steps in management within 5 or 6 years of graduation.15

Conference Session

Liberal Education and Leadership

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Hanson, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Julia Williams, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

degree program. It also reflects Rose-Hulman’s emphasis on service activities. In addition to “leadership,, Rose-Hulman recentlyadded “service” to the institutional student learning outcomes. Thus, underlying theme in theLeadership Academy is that leadership skills are applicable in all areas of one’s life, not just atwork.In the Post-Course Survey, the participants were asked “In what areas of your life do you thinkthis leadership training will help you?” Every participant identified at least one area in additionto work. Their responses included the following: ≠ Student ≠ Family ≠ Extra curricular ≠ Friendships ≠ Career ≠ Follower & Leader ≠ CommunitySeveral

Conference Session

Writing Is Fundamental

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Beth Richards, University of Hartford; Mohammad Saleh Keshawarz; Hisham Alnajjar, Computer and Electrical

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

, non-literature texts).A second advantage to the participation of English Literature instructors is that they live inHerat, teach at the university, and plan to remain there to build careers. They are deeply investedin rebuilding their country and are eager to act as a “service center” for the university.The challenges of assessment—first semester and beyondStudents are admitted to the HU engineering program based on their performance in secondaryschools as well as an entrance examination, which focuses on math, science, and analytical skills.As noted above, there currently is no mechanism in place to assess incoming students’ Englishlanguage skills. Even if such an instrument were available, at this point there is no capacity forteaching

Conference Session

Tree-huggers, Diggers, and Queers--Oh my!

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dean Nieusma, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

interdisciplinary collaboration. The conceptualgrounding in interdisciplinarity not only makes sense theoretically; it also facilitates orienting theminor toward a variety of undergraduate major disciplines. Thus, in developing the minor,faculty participants agreed on the importance of connecting sustainability education withstudents’ disciplinary interests and career aspirations. And luckily, despite pedagogicalshortcomings with the electives approach to big-picture education for most engineering students,the curricular format makes it easy for engineering undergraduates to elect the sustainabilitystudies minor in STS within their existing curricular templates. H&SS electives are simplyreplaced with specific courses that meet the sustainability

Conference Session

Engineering Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Endeavor

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Herkert, Arizona State University Polytechnic; Jameson Wetmore, Arizona State University; Heather Canary, Arizona State University Polytechnic; Karin Ellison, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

possible socialimplications of research; (4) ability to identify values and stakeholder interests; and (5) examplesof how different career paths lead to different macro-ethical implications and outcomes (e.g.,pacifists in military jobs).The consultants, advisors, and visitors agreed that the ambitious goal of this project to integratemicroethics and macroethics was well worth pursuing. We worked to formulate ways tointegrate the two spheres. There was much discussion about how to conceive of the relationshipbetween micro and macro issues. Are they overlapping contexts, such as a Venn diagram mightconvey? Are they different levels of abstraction and application to consider? Are they in aninherent duality of action and structure, such as described

Conference Session

Critical Thinking and Creative Arts

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christy Moore, University of Texas, Austin; D'Arcy Randall, University of Texas, Austin; Hillary Hart, University of Texas, Austin

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Springs. The second chroniclesthe career of a developer, Gary Bradley, whose success in transforming “4,000 acres of pristineHill Country into one of the state’s largest and fastest selling subdivisions” 6 made him the targetof that environmental movement to protect Barton Springs. Page 14.1180.3Austin filmmaker Laura Dunn’s alliance is clearly on the side of the environmentalists. At thesame time, though, she evenhandedly explores other sides of the issues: namely, property rightsand the American dream of home ownership. Her cast of characters, in addition to Gary Bradleyand the many local activists, include Robert Redford who speaks for the

Conference Session

Tree-huggers, Diggers, and Queers--Oh my!

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

George Catalano, State University of New York, Binghamton; Caroline Baillie, Queens University, Kingston

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

and relationships of peoples andorganizations involved in technological development.”1 Harris et al2 describe theirapproach to engineering ethics as bridging the gap between theory and practice usingcurrent case studies available such as Hurricane Katrina and global warming. Fledderman3seeks to provide a text and a resource for the study of engineering ethics and to help futureengineers be prepared for confronting and resolving ethical dilemmas that they mightencounter during their professional careers. Martin and Schinzinger4 provide anintroduction to the key issues in engineering ethics, taking account of both specificorganizational contexts and broader technological trends. Baura5 approaches engineeringethics from an industrial perspective

Conference Session

Tree-huggers, Diggers, and Queers--Oh my!

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Erin Cech, University of California, San Diego; Tom Waidzunas, University of California, San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Conference Session

Communication and Collaboration

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Alley, Pennsylvania State University; Are Magnus Bruaset, Simula Research Laboratory; Melissa Marshall, Pennsylvania State University; Marianne M. Sundet, Simula Research Laboratory; Sarah Zappe, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education

Conference Session

Critical Thinking and Creative Arts

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Helen Donis-Keller, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education