 |
 |
By Darin Stone
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 18, 1996
A $624,000 grant from the National Science Foundation designed to develop a bachelor's of arts degree in engineering has been awarded to the UA College of Engineering and Mines.The money will support a five-year program called Engineering with Liberal and Technical Education, or ELITE, with the intent of allowing students to explore their interests by combining liberal arts and engineering classes.
Professor of Systems and Industrial Engineering Suvrajeet Sen said the new discipline will provide engineering students with a more diverse education.
"This is designed to provide a broad education with engineering problem skills that can be used in other disciplines," Sen said.
The new degree, which will consist of 120 credit hours, will not distract from the normal engineering curriculum, he said.
"We will continue to provide a focus in engineering, but the breadth of the (bachelor's) program will come from the rest of the university," Sen said.
David George, geological engineering senior, said combining engineering and liberal arts classes will make engineering graduates more prepared to enter the work force.
"The more well-rounded students are, the better off they will be when they enter the industry," George said. "Having classes outside engineering will help to establish better relationships with co-workers."
Systems and Industrial Engineering researchers Sen, William Ferrell, Jeff Goldberg, and Julia Higle teamed up to develop the ELITE program, which is tentatively set to begin by the spring of 1997, according to a UA news release.
Sen said the program has a limit of 30 to 40 students for the first three years and will increase to 50 for the final two years.
The bachelor's of science degree in engineering will not be affected by the new bachelor's of arts degree.
|
|
|