One year after Trustee Bernard Gordon pledged to donate $20 million to Tufts' School of Engineering, faculty and administrators at the school have developed plans to utilize the funds for a series of mandatory workshops and programs which promote communication and leadership skills for engineering students. They hope that the pledge, to be fulfilled within the next several years, will assist the University in shaping future leaders within the professional engineering field.
While there are no definite plans for the distribution of the donation, Dean of the School of Engineering Ioannis Miaoulis projected that the contribution would largely go to fund a new curriculum which would incorporate five required workshops into existing engineering courses. The workshops would help students to excel in more professional-type settings by training them on presentation skills, prototype building, teamwork skills, Internet proficiency, and leadership.
"Both the school and Dr. Gordon are interested in creating engineers who are not only well-grounded in the fundamentals, but who can also communicate their ideas, work in teams, and be confident to take risks and make decisions," Miaoulis said.
The workshops are also part of an emphasis to refine engineering students' liberal arts skills to complement their technical knowledge. "Every company which comes to Tufts wants students to be able to speak better and write better," engineering Professor Steve Chapra said. "The workshops are the first step in ensuring that."
Certain elements of the program are already underway, as all freshmen engineers taking EN 1 are now required to present their final project design to a group of mock venture capitalists at the end of each semester. This requirement aims to provide a more meaningful perspective to students, particularly to those who may seek an entrepreneurial position later on in their career.
"The simulation really makes learning computers come alive and makes learning less academically-oriented and more professionally-oriented," Chapra said. He said that the project was a vast improvement over last year's introductory programming course, as it gave students more creative options and added a commercial element.
Other workshops will become part of the curriculum next semester, as students enrolled in the thermodynamics course will take a simultaneous workshop on teamwork skills. All projects and tests throughout the course will be done in groups, which will enable students to immediately practice what they learn.
"We want our students to play a leadership role in their field, so they need to be able to work in teams and lead teams," said Miaoulis.
Students expressed a mix of opinions on the curriculum changes, as some feared that the added workshops, although incorporated into the schedule, would infringe on their free time.
"I think it's ridiculous that they're adding onto the curriculum," sophomore Scott Kronewitter said. "Engineers simply don't have the time; by adding classes they're taking away our lives."
Other students were skeptical that they need the leadership and management skills that the new workshops are expected to promote. "It might help if I wanted to have a managerial position later, but I don't really think people at that position use that many engineering skills anymore," freshman Justin Mercier said. "It all depends on your job choice."
However, other engineers were enthusiastic about the workshops and said they add diversity to the curriculum.
"They're interesting and they'll help us when we get out into the world and have to do projects for real companies," said freshman engineer Laurie Cormier, who showed particular interest in the hands-on prototype building workshop that is currently being developed.
In addition to the workshops, Miaoulis hopes that the donation will allow the University to supplement the School of Engineering's current professional training endeavors by hiring outside firms and corporations to work with students and adding new faculty who have strong project-based backgrounds. Both additions would enhance students' design skills as well as provide them with a professional, experience-based perspective on their field of study.
Gordon's money may also be used to create a special track for students who are interested in pursuing a combined Bachelors and Masters degree within a five-year time frame, which would feature many more project-related courses. Miaoulis said that the concrete planning would begin in the near future once the pledge is realized.
