Liberal Studies in Engineering - Broadening the Path to the Profession: Feasibility Study

This Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) project will develop a framework for establishing an undergraduate, pre-professional, Bachelor of Arts degree program called Liberal Studies in Engineering. This program intends to establish an alternative pathway into engineering and attract the interest of a different group of students than existing approaches. The program will utilize the substantive content of the traditional undergraduate engineering program - the engineering sciences, the laboratory activities, and design projects - and subject this to study from the perspectives of the humanities, arts, and social sciences as well as engineering. Traditionally engineering education emphasizes mathematics and science prerequisite topics for beginning students and addresses the broader social, economic, cultural and ethical aspects much later in the curriculum and often in an indirect manner. The planned liberal studies in engineering degree envisions reversing the process, offering students an approach to the discipline from a humanistic, artistic, and social perspective. It is expected that the Liberal Studies in Engineering approach will attract the interest of a segment of undergraduates that do not find their goals and concerns represented in the current mathematics-first prerequisite structure of the discipline. Additionally the attention to context and emphasis on analytical thinking, multiple framing, critical reflection and practical reasoning, key dimensions of learning in the liberal arts, may better prepare students for the realities of current and future engineering practice.

This project represents an initial phase in the development of a Liberal Studies in Engineering degree. A feasibility study will be carried out to identify the institutional policies and procedures that must be in place, the resources needed, and prerequisites students should have for a Liberal Studies in Engineering degree program. As part of this, efforts will be made to promote and support the development by project participants of leaning units that illustrate the approach of teaching exemplary engineering content from the perspective of the humanities and social sciences. Peer review, and technical support will be made available for module development. The study will include input from faculty and administrators at selected institutions to obtain diverse and broad-based perspectives. This study represents the beginning of a multi-phase process to explore and develop a potentially transformative step in broadening participation in engineering by offering a pathway into the discipline and a route to a degree that is markedly different from the traditional path but still encompasses comparable content.