The primary mission of the School of Technology at Michigan Technological University is to provide a quality education to students who wish to pursue a career in the practical application of engineering, forestry, or surveying principles.

Vision Statement

The School of Technology at Michigan Technological University will be a recognized leader in the State of Michigan, and in the Upper Great Lakes Region, for the quality of its programs and the excellence of its technicians, technologists, and surveyors.

Historical Overview

The Department of Applied Technology was created in August of 1969, with the purpose of housing the "less than baccalaureate" degree programs at Michigan Technological University. Up until 1982, the Department offered certificate and Associate in Applied Science degree programs. Beginning with the Fall quarter of 1982, a BS degree program in Surveying was transferred from the School of Forestry to the Department, which by 1982, had been renamed the School of Technology. By this time certificate programs had been eliminated which left associate degree programs in engineering technology and forest technology and the newly acquired BS degree in Surveying.

At the time of the last NCA review, in 1988, the School of Technology consisted of four engineering technology programs: Civil Engineering Technologies, Electrical Engineering Technologies, Electromechanical Engineering Technologies, and Mechanical Design Engineering Technologies; a program in Forest Technology; and the BS degree in Surveying.

In 1992, faculty proposed a new Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology (BSET) degree program with options in both Electrical- and Mechanical-Engineering Technology. In 1997, a new associate degree program in Chemical Engineering Technology, developed in partnership with the Department of Chemical Engineering, Dow Chemical Company, Dow Corning Corporation, and Delta College will be offered. This program will produce individuals with skills necessary for entry into the chemical-processing industries. Two faculty have been hired to teach in this program.

Shortly after the NCA review in 1988, the Director of the School of Technology retired and a new Director, formerly the Coordinator of the Civil Engineering Technology area was appointed. In 1995, the Director was named Dean of the School of Technology.

University Goal 1: Sustain and Enhance the Quality of Undergraduate Programs.

Subgoal 1: Continuous Improvement of Undergraduate Education.

Accreditation

The Technology Accreditation Commission (TAC) of Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technologies (ABET) currently accredits the four engineering technology programs (civil, electrical, electromechanical, and mechanical design), and the Related Accreditation Commission (RAC) of ABET accredits the surveying program. The Society of American Foresters recognized the forest technology program. The new programs (BSET and chemical engineering technology) will be submitted for accreditation review when each program has graduated at least one class (a TAC-ABET rule) and when timing will allow the new programs to be synchronized with the accreditation cycles of existing programs. Planning documents, which show accreditation history and future accreditation cycles, are presented in Attachment 1.

New Academic Programs

Faculty in the School of Technology have been active in proposing new academic programs to complement the existing Associate and Bachelor of Science degree programs. On May 20, 1994, the School of Technology received final approval from the Board of Control to offer athe BSET with options in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Technology. Currently, faculty are working on a new Associate degree program in the area of Chemical Engineering Technology, which is scheduled to begin, on the MTU campus, with the start of the Fall quarter, 1997. These new degree programs have caused faculty to carefully review existing academic programs to ensure continuity between A.A.S. and B.S. degree programs. Additionally, revisions to the School of Business and Economics degree program has generated a review of the articulation of degree programs between the School of Technology and the School of Business and Economics. These initiatives directly support the School of Technology’s mission of providing students with applications-oriented education.

Computer-Enhanced Instruction

Since 1988, faculty in the School of Technology have adopted computers as a teaching tool. In the last ten years, faculty have worked with three generations of computers which have encompassed at least three different computer architectures. The advent of computers as a teaching tool has caused faculty to rethink curriculum content, the approach to problem solving, report writing and communications, and data acquisition and reduction. Technological changes have also brought changes to each curriculum. For example, the Surveying and Forest Technology curricula have been influenced by global positioning technologies. The School’s computing labs are a strength in their currency of equipment, the machine-to-student ratio, and the administrative support and reliability of the network and installed software.

Industry Advisory Committees

Each program in the School of Technology has an industry advisory committee to advise its faculty. Curriculum improvements are incorporated as appropriate as they are suggested by the School’s various industry advisory committees. External professionals help to balance the academic approach to learning with the practical needs of a profession as presented by the advisory committee members. A list of the companies represented on these committees is presented in Attachment 2.

External Funding Source

The School of Technology serves a community-college function in this geographic region which qualifies the School for grants under the Carl D. Perkins program. In the last ten years, the School has qualified, based on the count of students who are eligible for the Pell Grant, for financial support that has totaled just over $100,000. The School used these funds almost exclusively for equipment support that included both equipping a computer lab and other laboratory equipment. Because the amount of this funding is based on a count of Pell Grant recipients enrolled in our programs, the exact amount available from this source cannot be relied upon each year. In the years this source of funds has been available, it has helped to greatly improve the quality of undergraduate programs in the School of Technology.

Distance Education

Faculty have expanded their teaching mission to include place-bound students through the University’s distance-education program. Approximately one-third of faculty members have taught a class for distance-education students. The first graduate from the Surveying distance-education program was graduated in the Fall of 1996. Planning is underway for students at Mead Paper Company and Ford Motor Company to take classes from School of Technology faculty. Distance-education classes provide another opportunity to review class content and upgrade the presentation to meet the demands of presenting information to students through videotape-delay methods. The December 30, 1996 issue of the Detroit News lists distance education as second pick for their Top 10 Societal Trends for 1997—"2. Online education will continue to grow as students take more and more classes via computer."

School of Technology—Technology Center

The recent acquisition of laboratory space, in a building located eleven miles from the main MTU campus (see Attachment 3), has provided the School of Technology the opportunity to enhance undergraduate education. The facility is named the School of Technology—Technology Center to reflect the intended use of the building, which is to provide a laboratory space in which students can work on technical projects that relate to their senior-projects requirement. In the approximately 7800 square-foot facility, students will work on senior-projects classes and in several new labs, including an engine dynamometer/vibrations lab, a systems administration lab, and a weather radar lab.

This facility represents a great opportunity for faculty and students in the School of Technology. The Technology Center was acquired to meet a need that developed with the implementation of the BSET degree program. Each option, Electrical- or Mechanical-Engineering Technology requires a senior-projects sequence of classes. It was not possible to perform long-term projects in currently existing laboratory space—because the previously existing labs are instructional labs and must be available for a variety of classes through the quarter and academic year. The Technology Center provides adequate floor space for projects in an environment where electrical and mechanical projects can go on in close proximity to one another.

The shop area in the building is adaptable to mechanical projects and fabrication while the "show-room" portion of the building is good for electrical- and computer-related projects. During the Winter and Spring quarters of 1996/7, two formal classes were taught at the building with the students traveling to the Technology Center for classes.

As the facility comes fully online, more classes will be taught in the building. These classes will be primarily projects sequences in EET480, Senior Projects Development and Fabrication (variable up to 12 credits), which is taught every quarter, and MET457 and MET458, Senior Projects I and II (each 3 credits). The mechanical classes are taught in a winter/spring sequence. Other projects, such as the weather radar system, will be on-going at the facility. Other regular on-campus classes may be taught in the Technology Center to facilitate course scheduling and to minimize travel by faculty and students.

Other programs in the School will benefit from the facility. For example, the Civil Engineering Technology program can establish a concrete testing lab in the facility that will allow students to perform experiments that are not reasonable in the current location in the basement of an on-campus building. Ground-level access with two large overhead doors allows students to handle heavy materials and easily remove waste concrete—tasks that are not readily accomplished in the current basement facility.

Challenges for the Dean and faculty are the condition of existing labs and the quality/currency of existing laboratory equipment. The student lab fee for computing and other laboratory fees for expendables greatly help to maintain laboratory facilities, but some non-computing labs would be difficult to support on student fees because the expense greatly exceeds what the School can reasonably charge our students. A weakness is the ability to replace outdated laboratory equipment on a regular basis. A strength of the faculty is their willingness to approach industry with requests for in-kind gifts of needed equipment. Perhaps as much as $250,000 worth of equipment has been obtained from in-kind industry gifts in the last ten years. Industries who have provided support are General Motors and Allen Bradley. Items received include; programmable controllers, a Buick automobile, test equipment, and sensors.

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