The Engage Program: Implementing and Assessing a New First Year Experience at the University of Tennessee

The Engage initiative at the University of Tennessee addresses the needs of entering engineering students through a new first year curriculum. The program integrates the engineering subject matter of the freshman year, teaches problem solving and design by application, and seeks to address the incre...

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Published inJournal of engineering education (Washington, D.C.) Vol. 91; no. 4; pp. 441 - 446
Main Authors Parsons, J. Roger, Seat, J. Elaine, Bennett, Richard M., Forrester, John H., Gilliam, Fred T., Klukken, P. Gary, Pionke, Christopher D., Raman, D. Raj, Scott, Tom H., Schleter, William R., Weber, Fred E., Yoder, Daniel C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2002
Subjects
Educational Change
Engineering Education
Teaching Methods
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Summary:The Engage initiative at the University of Tennessee addresses the needs of entering engineering students through a new first year curriculum. The program integrates the engineering subject matter of the freshman year, teaches problem solving and design by application, and seeks to address the increased retention and graduation of engineering students. Noteworthy curriculum features of the Engage program include a hands‐on laboratory where students do physical homework to practice the concepts introduced in lectures, placing all freshman engineering students in a year‐long team design curriculum, and a team training course where engineering upperclassmen are trained in team facilitation techniques and placed as facilitators with the freshman design teams. The Engage program was piloted during the 1997–98 academic year with 60 students. In 1998–99, the program was scaled up to 150 students, and fully implemented with the entire freshman class of 465 students during the 1999–2000 academic year. Engage students have shown a significant increase in academic performance compared to students following a more traditional curriculum. Graduation statistics show the positive long‐term results of this effort.
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J. Elaine Seat is a NSF Visiting Professor working to establish the team facilitation courses to teach teaming and performance skills to engineering students. She received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and the Ph.D. in Education specializing in Human Motor Behavior/Performance Psychology from The University of Tennessee.
Fred T. Gilliam is the Associate Dean of Engineering for Academic Affairs at The University of Tennessee. He received his Bachelors and Doctoral degrees in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Tennessee and a Masters degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology. His research interests include applied aerodynamics, aircraft design, and innovative models for engineering education. Dr. Gilliam's career in education began with the Department of Aeronautics at the United States Air Force Academy where he served for 12 years as a faculty member, Director of Research, and Associate Department Head. For three years prior to his current position, Dr. Gilliam was Associate Head of the Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Department at the University of Texas in Austin.
Thomas H. Scott (B.S., M.S. Auburn University, Ph.D., University of Florida) is an Associate Professor in the Engineering Fundamentals Division and an Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Tennessee. He is involved in the advising of freshman engineering students. He is a qualified administrator for the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator and has administered the MBTI to all freshman engineering students since 1990.
D. Raj Raman received his B.S.E.E. from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1986, and his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Cornell University in 1994. He is currently Associate Professor of Biosystems Engineering at The University of Tennessee, and is a licensed P.E. in Tennessee.
Roger Parsons (B.S., University of Illinois, M.S., Carnegie‐Mellon University, and Ph.D., North Carolina State University) is the Director of the Engineering Fundamentals Division and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tennessee. As a mechanical engineering professor, he taught in the areas of design, thermodynamics, and energy systems, but he is now principally involved in the freshman team design and project laboratory.
John H. Forrester received his Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics in 1968 from Iowa State University and joined the faculty at The University of Tennessee at that time. His research interests have included biomedical fluid mechanics, biomechanics, and computer‐assisted instruction. Teaching activities have been quite varied, but have always included fundamental engineering mechanics courses. Currently, Dr. Forrester's primary emphasis is on the physical homework aspect of the Engage Program.
Fred E. Weber is an Associate Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at The University of Tennessee. He received his B.S. from the University of Michigan and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, both in Chemical Engineering.
Daniel C. Yoder is an Associate Professor in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department at The University of Tennessee (UT). He received all his degrees from Purdue University, all in Agricultural Engineering. At UT since 1991, he conducts research and teaches courses in soil and water conservation and hydrologic instrumentation.
Richard M. Bennett, Ph.D., P.E., has been on the faculty at The University of Tennessee since 1983 and currently is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He has held a half‐time appointment in the Freshman Engineering Engage Program for the past three years.
P. Gary Klukken is a Clinical and Counseling Psychologist who is currently the Director of the Student Counseling Center in the University of Tennessee Division of Student Affairs, and Program Coordinator and Director of Training for the Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program in the College of Education. He is a researcher in creativity process and assessment, focusing on engineers. He received his degrees from Moorhead State University (Minnesota) and the University of Florida.
Christopher D. Pionke is an Associate Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Science Dept. at the University of Tennessee. He received his bachelors' degrees in Engineering Physics and Engineering Science and an M.S. in Engineering Science from UT. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Georgia Tech. He conducts research and teaches courses in mechanics and design.
William R. Schleter (B.S.M.E. University of Missouri‐Rolla) is an instructor in The University of Tennessee Engineering Fundamentals Division focusing on teaching engineering graphics and computer programming portions of the curriculum.
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SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1069-4730
2168-9830
DOI:10.1002/j.2168-9830.2002.tb00730.x