Spanning the Globe

ASEE Prism, Feb 2006 by Barr, Ronald

Thanks to strong leadership and the active exchange of ideas, ASEE's presence is increasingly felt throughout the world. BY RONALD BARR

IN THIS ERA of globalization, ASEE is making strides to become an international leader in engineering education. Last September, I attended the fourth Global Colloquium on Engineering Education (GCEE) in Sydney, Australia. The global colloquia are a series of international conferences that ASEE has been organizing over the past four years in conjunction with societies like ours in other countries to exchange worldwide ideas on engineering education. In Sydney, ASEE hosted exploratory meetings with representatives from more than 40 international organizations concerning the establishment of an International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES). The goal of IFEES would be to provide a forum for communication, cooperation and coordination of activities among the engineering education societies of the world. The fifth global colloquium is scheduled to be held in Rio de Janeiro in October 2006. At the Rio meeting, we believe that IFEES will be officially established and an inaugural governing board will be elected. And if things go as planned, the sixth GCEE and IFEES meetings will be held in Istanbul. I invite you, my fellow ASEE colleagues, to attend these meetings, so start saving your international travel money.

In October, I attended the 35th annual Frontiers in Education (FIE) meeting in Indianapolis. The conference's "Indy 500" theme appropriately underscored the fast-track nature of the papers and innovative ideas presented at FIE. In conjunction with FIE was the second annual CASEE symposium. CASEE is the Center for the Advancement of Scholarship in Engineering Education, and it was founded by the National Academy of Engineering in 2002 to foster a climate of continuous improvement in engineering education, focusing on educational research. It was gratifying to see so many ASEE members involved in leadership positions at both the FIE and CASEE activities in Indianapolis.

The week following FIE, I was at the ABET annual meeting in San Diego. The highlight of this year's ABET meeting was the unveiling of the Penn State report on the influence of EC 2000 in engineering education over the past 10 years. The report included a press release titled Engineering Graduates in 2004 (are) Better Prepared Than Graduates of a Decade Earlier. The report represents the starting point for vital discussions on the effects of outcomes-based assessment in engineering education, discussions in which we must all participate. By my count, five past ASEE presidents, as well as Executive Director Frank Huband, were in attendance at this year's ABET meeting. And of course, ASEE is now a Lead Society in ABET, so our leadership will have even greater influence on the accreditation processes that make our engineering programs better.

In December, I participated in several panel discussions at the ASIBEI meeting in Morelia, Mexico. ASIBEI, the Ibero-American Association of Engineering Schools, represents all the engineering programs in Central and South America. At ASIBEI, the panel discussions focused on five common themes: engineering programs, accreditation, new teaching paradigms, curricula and educational research. While engineering is becoming a global enterprise, it is interesting to note that many international organizations still look to the United States and ASEE for leadership and guidance on these key engineering education issues. I am proud of the hundreds of ASEE member and staff member volunteers who are providing leadership in these many capacities.

On a final and different note, the ASEE elections for national offices are coming soon. I encourage each of you to vote for the candidates of your choice. Your participation in ASEE elections is one way to have a voice in the future leadership of ASEE as we span the globe and America, too.

Ronald Barr is president of the American Society for Engineering Education.