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The Evolution of Engineering and Engineering Technology Educational Programs in the United States

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Conference

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Vancouver, BC

Publication Date

June 26, 2011

Start Date

June 26, 2011

End Date

June 29, 2011

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Issues Affecting Engineering Program Development

Tagged Division

Engineering Technology

Page Count

9

Page Numbers

22.1458.1 - 22.1458.9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--18618

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/18618

Download Count

367

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Paper Authors

biography

George D. Ford Western Carolina University

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Construction Management at Western Carolina University. Dr. Ford worked for more than 15 years in the corporate world in plant engineering and environmental engineering positions and managed numerous construction projects as a plant engineer in the paper, plastics, and rubber industries including warehouses, manufacturing buildings, and utilities infrastructures.

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biography

Aaron K. Ball Western Carolina University

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Aaron K. Ball is a Full Professor and serves as the Graduate Program Director in Engineering and Technology at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. from Appalachian State University, and earned his doctorate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His areas of interests include fluid power, advanced machining, prototyping systems, and applied research.

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Abstract

The evolution of engineering and engineering technology educational programs in the United States Dr. George Ford, P.E.1 and Dr. Aaron Ball2AbstractSince the turn of the century, there have been about the same number of programs in themechanical, electrical and civil disciplines to be newly accredited by the AccreditationBoard for Engineering and Technology (ABET) in the engineering field versus theengineering technology field. According to ABET, the mechanical, electrical and civildisciplines represent over forty percent of the total current number of engineering andengineering technology programs they oversee. However, considering only newlyaccredited programs since 2000, there have been considerably more engineeringprograms than engineering technology programs to receive their first review by ABET.In addition, while there have been some small, recent enrollment increases in engineeringprograms nationwide, these programs typically suffer from low enrollments and highoperating costs. This paper provides a discussion of the trends in the creation of newlyaccredited engineering and technology educational programs, a review of enrollmenttrends in these programs and a forecast of professional job growth in engineering andtechnology in the United States.Keywords: engineering enrollment, engineering accreditation, engineering technology enrollment1 Western Carolina University, Belk 211, Cullowhee, NC 28723, gford@wcu.edu2 Western Carolina University, Belk 211, Cullowhee, NC 28723, aball@wcu.edu 2011 ASEE Conference, Vancouver, BC 1

Ford, G. D., & Ball, A. K. (2011, June), The Evolution of Engineering and Engineering Technology Educational Programs in the United States Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18618

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