The Bioengineering Professional Persona: A New Communication-Intensive Course for a New Program in a New-ish College of Engineering
- Conference
- Location
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Marietta, Georgia
- Publication Date
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March 10, 2024
- Start Date
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March 10, 2024
- End Date
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March 12, 2024
- Tagged Topic
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Diversity
- Page Count
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16
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--45566
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/45566
- Download Count
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131
Paper Authors
John W. Brocato
University of Georgia
orcid.org/0000-0001-7637-8884
John Brocato is a Technical Communication Lecturer in the School of Chemical, Materials, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Georgia. Prior to this role, he was the coordinator of and an instructor in the Shackouls Technical Communication Program in the James Worth Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University where he helped establish one of the earliest embedded engineering-communication programs in the United States. John has published on engineering-communication pedagogy for many years, including papers on engineering ethics and communication; active-learning pedagogies; and the intersection of engineering and theatre. He has also held multiple leadership roles at the section and national levels, including President of the Southeastern Section and the national Zone II Chair, and he presently serves as the ASEE Campus Representative for the University of Georgia.
Abstract
In 2018-2019, the [name of institution] established a campus-wide writing-literacies initiative that would fund writing-intensive efforts across and within disciplines. The School of Chemical, Materials, and Biomedical Engineering (CMB) at [name of institution] created the position of Technical Communication Lecturer as a way of inculcating engineering communication within its diverse set of degree programs and emphases. One of the first major steps in this process has been the creation of a course called The Bioengineering Professional Persona, a writing-and-presenting-intensive offering that explores what it means to be a bioengineer in modern society and what special responsibilities bioengineers may have, for instance, during a time of global pandemic. Amplifying the novelty here is the fact that the College of Engineering within which both CMB and this course reside is 11 years old, which, of course, makes it unusually young compared with typical higher-learning institutions around the U.S. As a result, the faculty involved with this new course view their role as one of helping to cultivate a culture of engineering communication in this relatively young engineering college. This paper describes this new course within the context of the larger [name of institution] initiative and examines the course’s rationale, its contents and delivery, student responses from nearly 10 semesters of offerings, and areas for future development and improvement.
Brocato, J. W. (2024, March), The Bioengineering Professional Persona: A New Communication-Intensive Course for a New Program in a New-ish College of Engineering Paper presented at 2024 South East Section Meeting, Marietta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--45566
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