Honolulu, Hawaii
June 24, 2007
June 24, 2007
June 27, 2007
2153-5965
Aspirational Visions of Civil Engineering in 2025 & Policy 465
Civil Engineering
19
12.200.1 - 12.200.19
10.18260/1-2--2015
https://peer.asee.org/2015
602
RONALD W. WELCH
Ron Welch is Professor and Chair, Department of Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Tyler. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Virginia. Ron received a BS degree in Engineering Mechanics from the United States Military Academy in 1982 and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1990 and 1999, respectively. Ronald_Welch@uttyler.edu.
James K. Nelson
Jim Nelson is Dean of Engineering and Computer Science at The University of Texas at Tyler. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Texas, Louisiana, California, and South Carolina. Jim received a BS degree in civil engineering from the University of Dayton in 1974, and MS and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Houston in 1976 and 1983, respectively. jknelson@uttyler.edu.
AN ASPIRATIONAL VISION OF CIVIL ENGINEERING IN 2025: THE BOK AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING CURRICULA 1
INTRODUCTION The report entitled Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge was published by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in January 2004. This report, which is generally referred to as the BOK report, outlined the fundamental knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for the practice of civil engineering at the professional level in the 21st century. This report by ASCE is consistent with the report entitled The Engineer of 2020 prepared by the National Academy of Engineers (NAE) in 2004. As stated by the NAE, the engineers in 2020 will need more technical and business practice skills than are currently expected of engineers today. These reports are forward looking in that they have tried to articulate that which will be needed in the future if civil engineers are to continue having the significant impact on society and public welfare that they have in the past. For reference, the outcomes specified by ASCE are presented in Appendix I. Part of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes outlined by ASCE are obtained through formal structured education, and other parts are obtained through focused professional experience after graduation. The Curriculum Committee of the Committee on Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice (CAP3) was charged with two fundamental tasks regarding the formal education component, namely: Determine the current status of civil engineering education in relation to the formal educational component of the BOK, and Determine the nature of change necessary to support the formal educational expectations of the BOK. Presented in this paper is an extended summary of the work of the committee. The primary topics addressed in the paper are: The current status of civil engineering degree programs in relation to the ASCE BOK and a means to assess that status at an individual institution, Strategies for implementing the ASCE BOK into an institution’s civil engineering degree programs at comprehensive doctoral institutions as well as undergraduate focused institutions, and A methodology for the assessment of BOK-compliant civil engineering degree programs. Further, this paper provides ideas for institutions in implementing an ASCE-BOK compliant curriculum. It is not intended to provide a single model, or the way it should be done. Rather it is
1 This paper is extracted from the ASCE report Development of Civil Engineering Curricula Supporting the Body of Knowledge for Professional Practice, 2006.
Welch, R., & Robinson, M., & Glagola, C., & Nelson, J. (2007, June), An Aspirational Vision For Civil Engineering In 2025: The Bok And Future Directions For Civil Engineering Curricula Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--2015
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