ABSTRACT
In the fall of 1993, faculty members of the Mechanical Engineering (ME) Department of the University of South Alabama (USA) began a self-study to evaluate the undergraduate curriculum as part of their preparation for the school’s next accreditation visit in 1999. At the time, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) was moving away from counting the number of design hours to design-across-the-curriculum as a criterion for evaluating engineering programs (ABET 1992). The self-study team was aware of calls for curricular reform by organizations such as the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE 1994) and the National Science Foundation. The Green Report, published jointly by the Engineering Deans Council and the Corporate Roundtable of ASEE in October 1994, identified many curricular objectives sometimes referred to as “softer skills” (ASEE 1994); e.g., communication skills, teamwork, appreciation of diversity, and awareness of the social aspects of engineering. Under ABET’s Engineering Criteria 2000 (ABET 1998), engineering programs will, in fact, be required to document student performance in these softer skills.
