Bowling Alone and Leaving Students Behind: Placing ASEE Civil Engineering Division Membership Trends in Context

Andrea L Welker,; Leslie Nolen

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Committee on Educational Policy Presents: Holistic Program Topics
Tagged Division: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL)
Page Count: 10
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43021
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43021
Download Count: 83

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Paper Authors

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Andrea L Welker, P.E. The College of New Jersey orcid.org/0000-0001-5305-1715

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Dr. Andrea L. Welker, PE, F.ASCE is the Dean of the School of Engineering and a Professor in the department of Civil Engineering at The College of New Jersey.

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Leslie Nolen American Society of Civil Engineers

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Leslie Nolen, CAE, serves as director, educational activities for the American Society of Civil Engineers. She brings over 25 years of association management experience to her work with ASCE's Committee on Education on issues of importance to the undergraduate education of civil engineers.

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Abstract

Membership in the Civil Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) peaked at 695 in 2010. At the time of writing, membership has decreased by approximately 40% from that peak. This trend is consistent with declines in most divisions in Professional Interest Council (PIC) IV, which includes the Civil Engineering Division; the only divisions seeing growth in PIC IV were First Year Programs and Minorities in Engineering. Overall, membership in ASEE has declined as well and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has also experienced declines in membership. Reports on membership organizations reveal that this problem is not unique to ASEE. More than a third of all membership-based organization are not growing or shrinking, and nearly 40% of associations, like ASEE, shrunk or did not grow. Mature organizations (>10 years old) were hardest hit. Faculty membership in and involvement with professional societies is important for faculty and their students. From a student perspective, professional societies can bridge the gap from school to profession. From a faculty perspective, professional societies provide camaraderie and a space to share knowledge. Professional societies provide a mechanism for learned professions to establish standards of conduct, create bodies of knowledge, and other functions of self-governance. Modeling this behavior and activity is a vital part of the education of well-rounded engineering students.

In this paper we seek to uncover the reasons why membership is declining in the Civil Engineering Division and propose solutions to halting this decline. We will examine the tactics used by the Civil Engineering Division to attract members and conduct interviews with existing members to find out why they joined and stayed, those holding leadership positions to determine why they took on these roles, and with potential members to uncover barriers to membership. In addition, we will seek to uncover any relationships between faculty composition and membership (e.g. percentage of adjunct/contingent/tenure-track faculty). This understanding will guide the Civil Engineering division in targeting their recruiting and programming to ensure that the division remains a vibrant, relevant organization for its members.

Citation
Format

Welker,, A. L., & Nolen, L. (2023, June), Bowling Alone and Leaving Students Behind: Placing ASEE Civil Engineering Division Membership Trends in Context Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43021

TY - CPAPER
AB - Membership in the Civil Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) peaked at 695 in 2010. At the time of writing, membership has decreased by approximately 40% from that peak. This trend is consistent with declines in most divisions in Professional Interest Council (PIC) IV, which includes the Civil Engineering Division; the only divisions seeing growth in PIC IV were First Year Programs and Minorities in Engineering. Overall, membership in ASEE has declined as well and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has also experienced declines in membership. Reports on membership organizations reveal that this problem is not unique to ASEE. More than a third of all membership-based organization are not growing or shrinking, and nearly 40% of associations, like ASEE, shrunk or did not grow. Mature organizations (&amp;gt;10 years old) were hardest hit. Faculty membership in and involvement with professional societies is important for faculty and their students. From a student perspective, professional societies can bridge the gap from school to profession. From a faculty perspective, professional societies provide camaraderie and a space to share knowledge. Professional societies provide a mechanism for learned professions to establish standards of conduct, create bodies of knowledge, and other functions of self-governance. Modeling this behavior and activity is a vital part of the education of well-rounded engineering students.

In this paper we seek to uncover the reasons why membership is declining in the Civil Engineering Division and propose solutions to halting this decline. We will examine the tactics used by the Civil Engineering Division to attract members and conduct interviews with existing members to find out why they joined and stayed, those holding leadership positions to determine why they took on these roles, and with potential members to uncover barriers to membership. In addition, we will seek to uncover any relationships between faculty composition and membership (e.g. percentage of adjunct/contingent/tenure-track faculty). This understanding will guide the Civil Engineering division in targeting their recruiting and programming to ensure that the division remains a vibrant, relevant organization for its members.

AU - Andrea L Welker, P.E.
AU - Leslie Nolen
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Bowling Alone and Leaving Students Behind: Placing ASEE Civil Engineering Division Membership Trends in Context
UR - https://peer.asee.org/43021
DO - 10.18260/1-2--43021
ER -