Conference Session

College Industry Partnerships Division Technical Session 2

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert G. Batson P.E., University of Alabama

Tagged Divisions

College Industry Partnerships

Leaves with Industry: Three ExperiencesIntroductionOne approach to developing and strengthening relationships between universities and industry isto have tenured faculty members engage in one-to-two semester sabbatical leaves at an industrysite. Personal relationships between the faculty member and managers/engineers at the host siteare developed; graduate students can become involved in a way that leads to a masters ordoctoral degree research topic; follow-on contracts and publishable results often benefit thefaculty visitor; new methods/technology introduced by the faculty visitor, and introductions toother faculty members with specific expertise, can benefit the industrial host.In contrast, most sabbatical leaves involve leaves of absence for

Conference Session

College Industry Partnerships Division Technical Session 2

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark Angolia, East Carolina University; Leslie Pagliari, East Carolina University; James Kirby Easterling, Eastern Kentucky University School of Business

Tagged Divisions

College Industry Partnerships

representative of a University affords a faculty member access toa wide variety of facilities and individuals willing to share processes and information that wouldnot normally be available to them. An early observation from one of the authors was howwilling most companies are to bring faculty and students into their facilities for tours andexplanations of their business. Through these visits, personal networks grow, along withindustry expertise, providing the individual growth and future opportunity.Transitioning from the corporate world to academia requires balancing risks and rewards for theinstructor, as well as the institution. Some risks are fairly obvious, whereas others are somewhathidden. A personal challenge overcome in both case studies was

Conference Session

College Industry Partnerships Division Technical Session 3

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mark Angolia, East Carolina University; John Pickard, East Carolina University; Leslie Pagliari, East Carolina University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

College Industry Partnerships

-conventional ideas from the next generation ofSTEM graduates. Personally, there is an internal satisfaction in sharing knowledge and fosteringgrowth in the next generation of professionals for industry. Without an intrinsic sense ofaccomplishment, there may be little incentive for a professional to donate their time. Theseinternal rewards must be supported by faculty through recognition and presentation of “letters ofappreciation” from the College.Faculty benefit through maintenance and upgrade of personal skills in the face of changingtechnology, having a pathway to keep course material current, developing a broader personalnetwork, and intrinsic rewards of providing a better student experience.4. Adopting Industry Fellows for Online/Distance