ABET visits, interviews, evaluates Rose

Rose-Hulman is a highly-ranked, well-respected institution by not only the general public and employers, but also by its peers. This respect, as illustrated in U.S. News and World Report is one of the key selling points of the Institute.

But there exists a measure of excellence which is worth more to students than a whole SRC full of “Number #1” hats, and that is the accreditation received from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).

Representatives from ABET were on campus October 22 - 24, observing nearly every aspect of Rose’s academic life to determine if the departments of the institution should be reaccredited. According to Arthur Western, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of the Faculty, and Professor of Physics and Optical Engineering, “Obtaining an undergraduate engineering degree from an ABET accredited engineering department is the first step in becoming a registered professional engineer.”

Richard Stamper, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, says, “From a pragmatic standpoint it is important to us because it is important to the organizations that loan our students money, it is important to the companies that recruit our students, and it is important to the individuals and organizations that donate money to the Institute. But aside from that, it is also important because it provides a framework for continuously seeking ways to improve the Institute.”

Before coming to campus, each evaluator read extensive “Self-Studies” prepared by each department being evaluated. Upon arrival on campus, the evaluators spent their time assessing student work (examples of poor, average, and good), interviewing students, faculty, and administrators, and even sitting in on a few classes.

Stamper had one of his classes observed by an ABET evaluator. “I was nervous about having an ABET evaluator observing one of my classes, particularly since the sample size is so small...some days [class] goes well and some days it doesn’t.”

Stamper was also interviewed by one of the evaluators. “I spent about 15 minutes talking with the evaluator later in the day after he observed one of my classes. He asked questions about a variety of topics.” And as to class that the evaluator observed? “He seemed particularly pleased with the attentiveness and engagement that the students displayed during the class,” Stamper said.

Many students have misperceptions as to the significance of ABET’s visit; should they be worried that their particular department might lose its accreditation? Western responded to this concern by saying, “No currently accredited program can lose it’s accreditation following this visit. The worst that can happen is that a deficiency in the program would be cited by the visiting team. We would then have roughly three years to take corrective action before that program’s accreditation would be lost. Should this unlikely event occur, we obviously would work diligently to correct the perceived deficiency.”

While some departments are up for reaccreditation, some departments either did not exist or were still too young to be accredited when ABET was here last in 2000. According to Western, “Four programs are up for ABET accreditation for the first time this cycle: Biomedical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Software Engineering, and Computer Science.” As for accreditation for these newer programs, “I am very optimistic about receiving accreditation for all programs,” says Western.

Some Rose departments have been accredited for more than 70 years.