2008 Woodie Awards
Stevens Engineering Degree Will Remain Unchanged
The class of 2010 will receive Bachelor of Engineering degrees.
Michael Lutkenhouse
Issue date: 8/22/06 Section: Campus News
- Page 1 of 1
Since the incoming freshmen class in the fall of 2005, nearly every engineering student at Stevens Institute has been thinking the exact same thing "What's happening to my Bachelor of Engineering?" The short answer is "nothing at all."
Persistent rumors citing the reduced credit load of freshmen, or that the engineering accreditation needs to be renewed. These rumors are nothing more than just that rumors. Everyone can rest assured that for years to come, the degrees of engineering students will still read the same. Dean Korfiatis, head of the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering, stated in a brief conversation that there is "no truth to the rumor any changes will lead to a degree name change."
The decision to review the curriculum was in part due to concern with the freshman workload and changes were made to lighten the freshman load in hopes of making the transition into college easier. After holding a formal discussion in which students were encouraged to take part, the decision was finally made to lighten the load for freshmen, in the hope of making the transition into college more manageable. The most major change results from pushing physics back until second semester.
The credit reduction for freshman is be mostly attributable to the loss of credit for physical education classes. While a reduction in required humanities occurred, the credits for the two humanities that were removed have been turned into general electives, to allow students to study where their interests lay. Other changes include a revamp of the "design spine" and offering a choice between chemistry II and biology. Prior to the class of 2009, students were required to take chemistry II without option.
Stevens Institute of Technology's last accreditation by the ABET occurred in 2003, and are scheduled to take place every 6 years. Thus, the next time the Institute's accreditation should be reviewed is 2009. Regardless of the timeline for renewal, however, the ABET website clearly states that "ABET accredits programs only, not degrees, departments, colleges, or institutions." This means ABET isn't the organization that decides what Stevens' students' degrees read our school does. For right now, as well as the foreseeable future, Stevens has decided that it will read Bachelor of Engineering.
Persistent rumors citing the reduced credit load of freshmen, or that the engineering accreditation needs to be renewed. These rumors are nothing more than just that rumors. Everyone can rest assured that for years to come, the degrees of engineering students will still read the same. Dean Korfiatis, head of the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering, stated in a brief conversation that there is "no truth to the rumor any changes will lead to a degree name change."
The decision to review the curriculum was in part due to concern with the freshman workload and changes were made to lighten the freshman load in hopes of making the transition into college easier. After holding a formal discussion in which students were encouraged to take part, the decision was finally made to lighten the load for freshmen, in the hope of making the transition into college more manageable. The most major change results from pushing physics back until second semester.
The credit reduction for freshman is be mostly attributable to the loss of credit for physical education classes. While a reduction in required humanities occurred, the credits for the two humanities that were removed have been turned into general electives, to allow students to study where their interests lay. Other changes include a revamp of the "design spine" and offering a choice between chemistry II and biology. Prior to the class of 2009, students were required to take chemistry II without option.
Stevens Institute of Technology's last accreditation by the ABET occurred in 2003, and are scheduled to take place every 6 years. Thus, the next time the Institute's accreditation should be reviewed is 2009. Regardless of the timeline for renewal, however, the ABET website clearly states that "ABET accredits programs only, not degrees, departments, colleges, or institutions." This means ABET isn't the organization that decides what Stevens' students' degrees read our school does. For right now, as well as the foreseeable future, Stevens has decided that it will read Bachelor of Engineering.
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