Technical and Economic Context (CP)

Lafayette College understood the social context of the engineering world and the difficult challenge engineering has with the technological and social world. The connection between the world and engineering has always lacked important pieces. Lafayette College made sure to fulfill those missing pieces by providing the engineering studies major in 1970. They knew they needed to be one of the major colleges like MIT, UCLA, and various others that made a vital contribution to the conflicting relationship between engineering and the world. Lafayette joined a large list of schools combating these issues by implementing required training in ethical codes, business management, policy studies, economics, and humanities. Lafayette College not only recognized the necessity for academic change, but also the change occurring in the executive workplace and created the engineering studies degree because of the “21st century where business is global, companies expect employees to fill multiple roles, and the age of the specialist is rapidly coming to an end. The increasing demand for professionals with interdisciplinary skills calls for innovation in undergraduate education—a fusion of engineering and the liberal arts that equips students with a new and diverse set of problem-solving tools” (Lafayette College). The degree allowed students to experience a new realm of engineering never seen before at Lafayette.

Lafayette established the major with 16 main courses spread amongst foundational engineering, core, and elective courses. The foundational courses in the major are the main ones that begin to establish the engineering mindset and to tend to contain strict labor intensive science, math, and economic courses. The foundation contains seven courses that includes the classes listed below

Figure 1. EGRS Foundation. (Lafayette Engineering Studies Program)

A majority of these classes are completed by all engineering students by the end of their sophomore year. The foundation provides a fundamental basis for various science backgrounds to help engineering students have a better understanding of where exactly they fit in the engineering world. The core of the engineering studies major consists of three classes. They are EGRS 251 (Introduction to Engineering and Public Policy), EGRS 261 (Engineering Economics and Management), EGRS 451 (Engineering and Society). The last part of the major is what really makes engineering studies interesting and attractive to some students and that is the flexibility of class selection. The flexibility of the degree allows a student to choose between a variety of engineering classes for electives along with the required three 200 and 300-400 level engineering courses. Then finally is the ability to take other classes across various disciplines on campus to fill other requirements for the major. For instance, the common course of study has several requirements across plenty of disciplines. This includes sections of the social sciences, humanities, global and multiculturalism, and arts. Here is exactly where the problem lies.  The flexibility of the major, specifically with regards to other disciplines other than engineering, seems to be the most evident problem with the major. 

Analyzing the engineering studies major shows that the majority of the students that graduate with this degree truly did not enter it until their sophomore year. Students often refer to it as a natural catch or fall back degree because of their departure from one of the big four BS engineering majors. This is what leads to low enrollment early on in the degree. The two largest problems recognized by these issues is that students lack to realize what the engineering studies degree has to offer and the current marketing pattern of the degree. The flexibility of the degree may actually be a bit too flexible as some notice that the degree offers classes that do not pertain to anything and unfortunately in their mind does no benefit toward their career choice. A mindset of “tell me what I need to know and do” takes precedence over flexibility. Thus, the degree does not necessarily guide the students in a professional direction that may be more apparent and appealing to them like the accredited engineering degrees do. A flexible, but more guided path may be better suited for students. In terms of the current marketing pattern of the engineering studies degree, the benefits are not apparent to incoming students or engineering students in general. Students and professors currently are not making it a point to advertise the degree. The BEST society, one of the on campus clubs, is the club for the engineering studies degree program. Currently because of COVID there is minimal to no activity within the club promoting the degree. Even when COVID was non-existent, meetings for the club had a small number of attendees. Current enrolled students in engineering studies also tend to work towards construction management as a career path. Sadly, although the curriculum pushes many classes in this discipline, that is not the only career path that is accessible through the engineering studies degree. With collaboration between students and professors, they can properly utilize marketing techniques to ensure early enrollment into the degree to understand the purpose, advantage, and endless opportunities the degree has to offer.

As mentioned before, the solution to these problems is proportional to one another so as one is implemented the other problem will begin to be solved as well. The proposed solutions are to optimize the curriculum with a comprehensive system that enables students to obtain the engineering degree while simultaneously integrating a critical path in interdisciplinary varieties using CPPT and to enhance the marketability of the engineering studies degree through the utilization of students and professors. 

The economics context pertains often to engineering studies as many of the core engineering studies courses require economic classes. The foundation of the degree has a management and money background to it and often leads many students to pursue a minor in economics. The economics minor consists of the required engineering studies ECON 101 class, ECON 251 (Macroeconomics), ECON 252 (Microeconomics), and 4 other economics electives. 

This provides engineering studies students with additional information with regards to markets, monetary policy, finance, global poverty, and economic behaviors. Although it is not the only path available to engineering studies it tends to be a critical piece and a likely avenue for the engineering studies degree.

The diverse degree of engineering studies provides students with endless opportunities. The formation and model of the degree allows students to coordinate various classes to create the ultimate liberal arts degree. This model conforms directly to the 21st century workforce model and the way businesses, corporations, and companies are recruiting new employees to be able to handle the adversities they may face. Many other colleges and universities with similar degrees have students that recognize the importance of the liberal arts engineering degree, “Of course you need a liberal arts education. You need to understand the context of the field you are working in, and you can’t do that if you only work in your field. You also need to talk with people outside your field.” As an engineering major at Smith, “it’s been obvious we’re members of the world, not members of the engineering world” (When Engineering Meets Self and Society: Tang). As a result, this puts Lafayette College engineering studies students at a great advantage compared to other engineering students, because of engineering studies exposure to various perspectives and people they are better equipped to handle situations. This degree has led students to an abundance of professions like construction management, health care, business, architecture, and other forms of engineering where communication amongst professionally diverse individuals is essential. This type of diverse degree is believed to be very beneficial to students across the engineering discipline as they notice “the liberal education they received will help them build a more successful career, especially in the long run” (When Engineering Meets Self and Society: Tang). The skills associated with the degree emphasize the importance of real world applications in communication, writing, and teamwork. The Lafayette College engineering studies degree does just that for graduating students and it shows. 

Click below to learn about the New Engineering Studies curriculum outline.

New EGRS Introduction (CP)