“Engineering Criteria 2000” accredidation at WPI by Jason O. P apadopou los N ew speak S ta ff W PI is one o f only tw o U.S. u n i v ersities selected to p articipate in the testing o f a new accred itatio n program designed by the A ccred ita tion Board for E ngineering and T ech nology (A BET). WPI and another public university will start ev a lu a t ing stu d en ts’ achievem ents based on the “ E n g in eerin g C rite ria 2 0 0 0 ," w hich is the name for the proposed accreditation program . A B E T with the help o f WPI will m onitor and record the results, problem s, and ad vantages o f the program and will then prepare a case study based on each institution’s results. M ost of W P I’s engin eerin g d isc i plines are presently accred ited by A BET. A BET (previously know n as E C PD ) was established in 1933, and has been accepted by the US D epart m ent o f E ducation as the only agency charged w ith accreditin g en g in ee r
and d id n ’t w ish to accredit W P I’s “ Big changes are in the w ind. The ing program s. A B E T ’s proposals engineering degrees. C ircum stances new thinking is m uch more in line are u sually im plem ented by co m m it have changed greatly since then, and tees o r co m m issio n s, such as the with W P I’s philosophy, w here o u t now ABET w ants to follow W P I’s com es are im portant, not co u rse s.” E ngineering A ccred itatio n C o m m is exam ple, and establish it into its ac U nlike most o th er co lleg es and sion (E A C or EA C o f A BET). These creditation process. are usually made up from m any p er univ ersities in the U .S., W PI has “ We at W PI are really looking sons w orking in o r asso ciated with long since adopted an educational forw ard to this. It is in c o n e d u c a tio n a l in s titu tio n s . cert w ith our m ethod o f e d u W P I’s President P arrish is cation. WPI is not highly a m em b er o f EAC. “ W e a t W P I a re r e a lly lo o k in g f o r w a r d to k n o w n o u ts id e N ew E n T h e c o n c e p t b e h in d th is. I t is in c o n c e r t w ith o u r m e th o d o f gland. T his will m ake us “ E n g in e e r in g C r it e r i a e d u c a tio n . W P I is n o t h ig h ly k n o w n o u ts id e highly visible,” com m ented 2000” is to e v alu a te the N e w E n g la n d . T h is w ill m a k e u s h ig h ly D ean D urgin, on the a d v a n abilities and sk ills, college v is ib le . ” -D e a n W illia m D u rg in tages for WPI o f being se students have g ain ed from th e ir c o lle g e e d u c a tio n . lected as a test site. T his is in contrast to the A B E T has already e sta b current accredidation program . At lished a testing schedule for the first program tailored a ro u n d evaluating the m om ent a stu d en t g raduates once phase o f testing, and W PI has been the outcom es of a stu d e n t’s e d u ca he o r she has accu m u lated a set o f tion rather than an accum ulation of follow ing the criteria since January. courses. It is not surp risin g then, co u rses. This p ro cess does not e n The first phase will entail im p le sure that the student has the ability to m entation o f the criteria proposed in that “ E n gineering C riteria 2 0 0 0 ,” “E ngineering 2000.” WPI has a l was setup after w hat Dean Durgin apply the know ledge g ain ed , in a called “quiet lobbying o f A B E T ” by field related to his o r her d iscipline. ready setup a com m ittee to oversee W PI deans. In fact A BET w as at A sked to co m m en t on the new the im plem entation o f the criteria. As soon as M arch, a team from A B E T first very resistant to W P l's ‘P la n ’, criteria. Dean W illiam D urgin said
will visit WPI, m eet w ith the co m m ittee to discuss the program in m ore detail, and see what has already been accom plished. Several more m eet ings w ill be conducted betw een the two parties this year. A fter this p e riod A BET will analyze the results and prepare a case study based on W P l’s im plem entation o f the c rite ria. T he two case studies that w ill be prepared, (one for W PI, another for the o th e r university) will be used as a guideline for other colleges. T he second phase o r “beta test ing” w ill com m ence early next year. Bela testing will involve four ad d i tional universities (2 public, 2 p ri vate), six in total w hich will then im plem ent the proposed criteria. By the end o f 1997 A B E T plans to have prepared case studies on all six in sti tutions. The A B E T board plans to vote on the revised program criteria in N ovem ber, 1997, and if approved, com plete im plem entation of criteria by the year 2000.
Biomedical Engineering major approved by faculty for next fall by Brian Parker Associate Editor Last Thursday, February 1st, the fac ulty held a special meeting in order to finish the agenda from their January 18th meeting. The first item for consid eration was the addition o f a new major in Biomedical Engineering. Provost Apelian spoke in favor o f the new major, stating: ‘T his program will respond to the needs o f the marketplace, particu larly to many women who are interested in the field o f Biomedical Engineering. We ought to have a department of this sort." There was some concern over w hether the necessary laboratory space could be
found and whether the program as a whole might cause the faculty to take on more work. The Provost’s response to this was that revenue generated by the program would be reinvested in faculty and additional space. It is expected that around 110 stu dents will be ultimately involved in the program, starting with around ten this fall. Professor Cheetham, head of the Biology and Biotechnology Department mentioned that the program will increase diversity on campus, help to bring in more students and be overall be a healthy addition to what the school has to offer. He also jokingly remarked that perhaps this addition will merit a new building on campus for all o f the biology related
WPI History and Traditions Part VII: The Winter Carnival by Donna Emma Edzards Associate Editor This week’s article is all about that annual event known as the Winter Car nival. It all started about 60 years ago as yet another Freshman/Sophomore Ri valry event, the Tech Carnival. This event was the kickoff to all other com petitive affairs. The Freshman and Sophomore classes would each put on a skit to be judged by a select team o f judges. While these judges made their decision, the faculty would put on a skit o f their own. Mind you, all o f these skits were totally and uniquely conceived, directed and acted out by the partici pants. Nils Hagberg, the campus cop, was MC o f the event telling jokes be tween skits to keep the audience o f up perclassmen, faculty and staff enter tained. The Tech Carnival saw an unfortu nate demise in those rebel years that our grandparents would rather forget, the 1960’s. It was at this lime thal the students became rowdy and the skit top ics were considered greatly distasteful. The event which started out o f fun as a chance for freshmen to meet sophomore students and the faculty deteriorated into
a rather unpleasant affair. Last year we saw the revival of this event w'ith a new twist. The Tech Carni val returned to campus as the Tech Win ter Carnival. The original idea o f bring ing faculty and students together was restored with the Faculty/Student Social in Gompei’s Function Room. Other events which were featured last year and will again be held this year include the Open Mic, Bands, the Klondike Bar Hunt, Turkey Bowling, and Broom Ball on the Quad. New to this year’s carnival are the Hot Pepper Eating Contest, and hypnotist Ronny Romm. All Winter Carnival Events are free to participants and many offer the chance to win great prizes. Also, don’t forget to go to WPI night with the IceCats at the Worcester C en trum, a 4pm game versus division rivals, the Springfield Falcons. Come cheer on the hometown team to victory! It costs only $5!!! T hat's less than it costs fo ra trip to the movies, and chances are you’11 sec more hits and fights. See Chris Jachimowicv in the Student Activities Office for details. So jum p at your chance to make WPI history! See you on the Quad and at the game!
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ing at graduation. Currently, students who drop an IQP or an MQP, and have letter grades, receive class credit for those units o f work (but not credit to wards their IQP or MQP). Students who have received SPgrades must have those changed to letter grades to receive credit. Confusion arises from the fact that audit sheets still count the SP as credit until graduation. If SP grades are not changed to letter grades, they evaporate at the time o f graduation (this is because they are a recordof progress, not achieve ment and after a student graduates they have presumably moved on). A motion was made to allow SP credit to stay on the final transcript, but this was denied by the faculty. The faculty also approved a mecha nism to enforce W PI’s long-standing policy on pay and credit. In 1973 WPI adopted a policy that allowed students to receive pay and credit from the same organization, as long as the work for pay and the work for credit was clearly sepa rated. The new method for ensuring that
NEWSPEAK STAFF PHOTO / JE F F PETERSON
A WPI wrestler pins down an opponent during the wrestling meet against Coast Guard last Tuesday. WPI won the match, 27-20.________________________________________
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this policy is followed will probably involve a form thal the student, the ad viser, the employer and the director of co-op will have to solve. A new masters program in Civil and Environmental Engineering was ap proved. There was also a report from the Financial and Administrative Policy committee with regard to next year’s budget. Although the school is hoping to see 650 new freshmen, the budgeting process is counting on 630 in its most recent figures. There is a projected tuition increase of around 5%, but this figure is not definite as the budget pro cess is ongoing. An interesting point was made that between 1992 and 1995 total expenses went up 16.5% while academic expenses for the college saw a 5 .1% increase. More information on minors and con centrations will be available to students in a supplement to the undergraduate catalog. This supplement should be distributed inconjunction with Academic Advising Day (February 15th).
WPI Wrestling takes on Coast Guard
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programs on campus. Rachel Butland spoke on behalf of students when she voiced her con cerns over the num ber o f C ategory II classes (courses offered every other year) which might limit student’s abil ity to go on co-op o r to a project center. She also noted that the program ’s three separate interest areas (from which all BM E students must choose one) might force students to becom e over concen trated. There were reassurances that the fac ulty would be more than willing to work with students on small problems, as well as try to reclassify some o f the category II classes if there was enough interest. On the topic of interest areas, it was pointed out that currently students inter ested in Biomedical Engineering at any level have to show strengths in particu lar areas. This cannot be assured if students do not concentrate on a particu lar interest. Another issue considered at the meet ing was the current policy on “SP” grad
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Student Government A ssociation ..............................................7 Counseling an d Student Development C enter....................... 7 Club C o rn er.................................................................................... S Greek C o rn e r..................................................................................9 C la ssified s..................................................................................... 11 The “F unnies” ............................................................................. 11