Location, Location, Location: The Value of Disciplinary Adjacency in Enhancing Environmental Engineering Programs
Abstract
Since the field was largely born out of civil engineering, most of the initial environmental engineering degree-granting programs began in civil engineering departments. Many have stayed there. However, 10 of the last 25 environmental engineering programs accredited by ABET have emerged in other departments. The rationale for aligning environmental engineering programs with other disciplines can be based on numerous factors including diversity of perspectives within the department, collaboration opportunities, facilities requirements, and efficiency. This study examines the distribution of ABET-accredited environmental engineering programs across departments, to include specific program adjacencies and trends over time. In addition, the study examines faculty perspectives on the departmental alignment of environmental engineering programs, to include the faculty’s overall satisfaction with their program’s adjacencies, and the advantages and disadvantages of its particular alignment. Furthermore, it examines faculty perspectives on the program adjacencies that they believe would be most useful, as well as the reasons why. These faculty perspectives can be used to inform the actions of academic institutions who are forming new environmental engineering programs, or those considering a program realignment. In addition, they can inform faculty in existing programs of potential inter-program collaborative possibilities, regardless of which department currently houses their program.
Description
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Keywords
ABET-Accredited Environmental Engineering Programs
Citation
Dacunto, P., & Butkus, M. A. (2019, June), Location, Location, Location: The Value of Disciplinary Adjacency in Enhancing Environmental Engineering Programs Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--33069