SoE Undergraduate Majors

1
ABET 2000 and Electrical Engineering at
Stanford Bruce Wooley March 2001
2
Accreditation Challenges at Stanford

• Admissions
• Students admitted to the University by the
  University
• Can delay choice of major to end of sophomore
  year
• EE must compete for students
• Large number of general education requirements
• Limits number of engineering courses, even for
  upper division students
• Relative size of the undergraduate population
• 103 declared undergraduates
• 838 graduate students, of which 412 are PhD
  candidates

3
Challenges, contd

• Changing student backgrounds
• Engineering art is less visible than for
  previous generations
• New students more likely to have taken apart
  the software that runs a system than the physical
  implementation
• Students are less tolerant of delayed
  gratification
• Growing intellectual span of electrical
  engineering
• What is EE in the 21st century?
• Will not be able to maintain a common core for
  all EE students
• Faculty reluctance
• Resistance to preliminary documentation burden

4
ABET 2000

• Advantages
• Determine own goals
• Establish processes for measuring degree to which
  objectives are met and for correcting
  deficiencies
• Difficulty
• Increased paperwork because must complete
  extensive self assessment and justify program
• Should be easier next time

5
Keys to Success

• Dedicated faculty member managing process
• Department Vice Chair, Bob Gray
• Dont leave process to a staff person w/o faculty
  awareness and oversight
• Sufficient support staff in the Department and
  School
• Student services office directed by Marcia
  Keating
• Thorough preparation of self assessment
• Minimize burden on faculty material accessible
  on web
• Positive student response
• Visiting examiner met privately with students in
  context of weekly seminar required of all
  undergraduates
• Record of initiatives to strengthen undergraduate
  education

6
Recent Undergraduate Initiatives

• Office of Student Services in the Department
• Can serve as advocate for students
• Research Experience for Undergraduates
• 10 week summer program in which undergraduates
  work in a faculty research group
• Undergraduate Honors Program
• Undergraduate Mentor program
• Juniors and seniors serve as mentors for lower
  division students interested in EE
• Undergraduate lunches with participation of
  faculty advisors
• Faculty access is a major student concern