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Lessons Learned from the Recent Accreditation Cycle

Introduction

The Civil Engineering program at Villanova University was evaluated by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET in Fall 2008. This was the second time this program was evaluated under the criteria adopted by ABET in 1999 and the first time this (or any other) program was evaluated under the new program-specific criteria developed by ASCE and adopted in 2008. This paper will describe the evolution of our assessment process and some of the key factors that led to our successful evaluation. In addition, changes to our curriculum and outcomes as a result of the new program criteria will be discussed.

Background on Villanova University and the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department

Villanova University was founded in 1842 by the friars of the Order of St. Augustine. It is a comprehensive Roman Catholic institution that welcomes students of all faiths. The university, the college, and our department are well ranked by US News and World report. For example, last Villanova was ranked #1 in the Northeast, the college of engineering was ranked #10, and the Civil Engineering program was ranked #81.

The university is located approximately 10 miles west of Philadelphia in what is often referred to The University offers a wide variety of degree programs through four colleges: the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the School of Business, the College of Engineering, and the College of Nursing. There are approximately 6,000 undergraduates at Villanova; nearly 900 of those major in engineering.

All engineering students take the same courses freshman year and they are required to select a major at the end of freshman year. We h their enrollment in CEE 2602 Civil Engineering Measurements, which is a required course students take in the fall semester of sophomore year (Table 1). Some key figures to note from this table are: The number of students in our program has varied from 46 to 59 over the past five years. On average, 77% of our sophomores graduate with their BSCE within three years of enrolling in CEE 2602. On average, 82% of our sophomores graduate with a degree from Villanova within three years of enrolling in CEE 2602.

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Welker, A. (2009, June), Lessons Learned From The Recent Accreditation Cycle Paper presented at 2009 Annual Conference & Exposition, Austin, Texas. 10.18260/1-2--5241