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Session 3615

LEADERSHIP 101 DEVELOPING THE LEADER IN ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS Robert Martinazzi, Andrew T. Rose, Jerry Samples University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown

“The one quality that can be developed by studious reflection and practice is leadership.” General Dwight Eisenhower Abstract Conventional wisdom defines leadership as a skill and as such it can be learned. The question becomes one of where to begin when teaching leadership skills? Researching the voluminous amount of leadership material available to industry clearly indicates the starting point must be with the individual focusing on themselves. Students of leadership must first scrutinize their trustworthiness and integrity ensuring they are genuine and authentic in their personal character. Once they have ascertained their trustworthiness, the students then focus on the level of trust they must develop with others to have a positive influence on them so as to create a synergistic relationship with the various members of a team.

This paper will discuss the content of a highly successful course entitled “Engineering Leadership” taught primarily to senior Civil Engineering Technology students. Based on two nationally recognized books, the first half of the course teaches students habits for personal and interpersonal effectiveness as a leader. Emphasis is on introspection of one’s own life followed by examining the character based requirements essential for meaningful and productive interpersonal relationships.

The second half of the course specifically develops the leader inside the students. The pedagogy for this portion of the course requires students to study leadership material and present mini lectures on certain areas. Essential leadership traits, skills and attitudes representative of an authentic leader are the targeted requirement of each mini lecture.

As noted above, leadership can be developed by studious reflection and practice. This course provides students with both tenants ensuring a thorough understanding and comprehension of leadership. The evaluations of this course, by both students and other faculty, along with testimonials of graduates, indicate this objective has been accomplished for this unique course.

Introduction Most engineering and engineering technology curriculum contain a very comprehensive compendium of technical courses designed to insure students are competent upon graduation. It is obvious ABET1 accreditation requirements necessitate the need for adequate and in depth coverage of the technical content in each discipline. Accreditation ensures a high academic standard exists in every program receiving ABET accreditation.

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2004, American Society for Engineering Education

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Martinazzi, R., & Samples, J., & Rose, A. (2004, June), Leadership 101: Developing The Leader In Engineering And Engineering Technology Students Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--13443