Site Team Report

14. The North Central Association Criteria

The School of Technology at Michigan Technological University offers Associate Degrees (two year programs) in Civil Engineering Technology, Electrical Engineering Technology Electro-mechanical Engineering Technology, Mechanical Design Engineering Technology, Chemical Engineering Technology, and Forest Technology. The Chemical Engineering Technology program is new and cannot be assessed yet. All other Associate Degree programs are fully accredited by the Technology Accreditation Commission (TAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technologies (ABET), which monitors the academic quality of these degrees.

Two four year degree programs are now offered in the School: a B.S. in Engineering Technology with options in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Technology and a B.S. in Surveying. The Surveying degree program is accredited by the Related Accreditation commission (RAC) of ABET. The Engineering Technology degree is recent and has not yet undergone a program accreditation review.

All of these programs are appropriate to an institution of higher education. The Dean of Technology is a capable leader.

Assessment All technology programs except for the new Chemical Engineering Technology have defined goals and assessment measures. They are each in the early stages of analyzing the results and there has been little attempt to feed back these results to modify the curriculum or other departmental activities. This is a faculty-led process that is moving steadily forward. The university has set up a structure to provide overall organization of assessment and all departments appear to be demonstrating mastery of the level of knowledge appropriate to the degree granted. Each program in the School of Technology has or shares an industry advisory committee which meets regularly to provide curriculum improvement and to advise its faculty.

Finances The School is able to operate effectively with present resources. Student computing facilities are excellent due to the way student computing fees are returned to the School for local use. However funds for equipment upgrades and faculty development are tight. New laboratory space has become available recently for student projects and test facilities. In-kind industry gifts have been solicited by the faculty, resulting in a good number of useful pieces of equipment. The School is looking for ways to fund program coordinators of the various programs for a fraction of their time to allow for their administrative duties.

The School has distance education initiatives which are tied to the needs of surveying professionals and to regional industry needs. The surveying distance education program has produced it first graduates. The methods of interacting with the remote students is still developing and the School should be careful to assess the learning outcomes of these students relative to the on-campus students.

Enrollment in the School is strong. The School serves an important function in university retention, as the majority of the graduates have transferred from other programs at the university. It has also provided an important service to improve computer literacy on campus by offering courses in computer technology.

The School has been pro-active in working with local industry, especially in helping them get equipment up and running. This effort should continue and be integrated with a campus effort to form a climate where appropriate industry feel attracted to the Houghton region because of the university resources. In addition the School should look for ways to improve its visibility among the academic community and to market its capabilities both within and external to the university.

Overall, the School of Technology serves important roles on the Michigan Tech campus and is in a good position to continue to grow and improve.

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