Why You Should Care About ABET And how you can help with ABET accreditation of the Civil and Environmental Engineering undergraduate degrees A quick orientation

What is ABET ?  Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology  Accreditor for degree programs in applied science, engineering, and technology  A federation of 31 professional and technical societies representing these fields  Accredits 2,500 programs at over 550 colleges and universities in the U.S.  Provides quality assurance and promotes innovation in higher (engineering) education  Accredited both CIEG and ENEG programs in 1999 for 6 years

Why is ABET accreditation important for you?  The accreditation criteria help to define what your degree should provide you  The accreditation process helps your department to continually analyze and improve its courses and curriculum  The accreditation process requires that your voice be heard in evaluating the program  Your degree must be from an ABET-accredited program to meet requirements for professional licensure (Engineer In Training, Professional Engineer)

How does a degree program get accredited?  A panel of ABET experts evaluates the program: courses, curriculum, people, and facilities  The degree program must meet General Criteria that apply to all engineering degrees  The program must also meet Program Criteria, which are specific to Civil / Environmental Engineering  The department must demonstrate that it uses a continual process of evaluating the courses and curriculum, and makes changes when needed  The department must even show that it examines and improves its own evaluation process

The Two Loops of ABET Accreditation Establish indicators that objectives are being achieved Determine how outcomes will be assessed Determine how outcomes will be achieved Determine outcomes required to achieve objectives Determine educational objectives Evaluate/Assess Input from constituencies Formal instruction student activities Self- examination “outer loop” Program evaluation (“inner loop”) Course evaluations and other surveys

We need your help!  We need your assessment of how much you learn in each course, in specific topic and ability areas.  We ask you to participate in frequent evaluations and surveys. These include course evaluation, focus group, EBI exit survey, and alumni survey.  We need your suggestions for improvement !