TECHNICAL PAPERS
Jan 1, 2008

General Education for Civil Engineers: Sustainable Development

This article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLY
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 134, Issue 1

Abstract

The ABET criteria for engineering programs no longer has a requirement for humanities and social sciences but instead requires a general education component that complements the technical component of the curriculum. Achievement of the outcomes called for in the ABET criteria and the ability to apply the constraints listed in ABET Criterion 3 can be facilitated by a well-designed general education component. The old humanities and social science components that many programs still have would probably allow most programs to meet the current criteria but the requirement for general education offers an opportunity to improve the overall educational experience for all civil engineers. One approach to general education for civil engineers would be to incorporate a theme and a case is made that sustainability and sustainable development is a good theme for a civil engineering program.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

References

ABET Inc. (2007). “Criteria for accrediting engineering programs effective for evaluation during the 2007–2008 accreditation cycle.” http://www.abet.org/Linked%20Documents-UPDATE/Criteria%20and%20PP/E001%2006-07% 20EAC%20Criteria%202-9-06.pdf (June 5, 2007).
Amadei, B. (2004). “Engineering the developing world.” The Bridge, 34(2), summer, http://www.nae.edu/nae/bridgecom.nsf/weblinks/MKEZ-5ZSRD2?OpenDocument (December 7, 2005).
ASCE. (2004). “The role of the civil engineer in sustainable development.” ASCE policy statement 418, http://www.asce.org/pressroom/news/policy_details.cfm?hdlid=60 (March 7, 2006).
ASCE. (2006). “Code of ethics.” ⟨http://www.asce.org/inside/codeofethics.cfm⟩ (June 5, 2007).
ASCE. (2007). Civil engineering body of knowledge for the 21st century: Preparing the civil engineer for the future, 2nd Ed., Body of Knowledge Committee of the Committee on Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice, ASCE.
ASEE. (1994). “The Green report, educating engineers for a changing world.” ⟨http://www.asee.org/resources/beyond/greenReport.cfm⟩ (June 5, 2007).
ASTM. (2005). “Standard guide for general principles of sustainability relative to buildings.” ASTM E 2432-05, West Conshohocken, Pa.
Canadian Council of Professional Engineers (CCPE). (2006). “CEAB accreditation criteria and procedures.” http://www.ccpe.ca/e/prog_publications_3_1.cfm (March 7, 2006).
Cutcher-Gershenfeld, J., et al. (2004). “Sustainability as an organizing principle for large-scale engineering systems.” ⟨http://esd.mit.edu/symposium/pdfs/monograph/sustainability.pdf⟩ (May 31, 2007).
Drucker, P. R. (1999). “Beyond the information revolution.” Atlantic Monthly, October, 47–57.
Grayson, L. P. (1993). The making of an engineer, Wiley, New York.
GT. (2007). “Georgia Tech School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, BSCE objectives and outcomes.” http://www.ce.gatech.edu/about/bsce_objectives.php (June 5, 2007).
Hughes, T. P. (2004). Human built world: How to think about technology and culture, Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Jackson, D. (1939). “Present status and trends in engineering education in the United States.” Engineers’ Council for Professional Development, New York.
Jacobs, J. (2004). Dark age ahead, Random House, New York.
Kelly, W. E. (2006). “Engineering for sustainable development and the common good.” Current Issues in Catholic Higher Education, 25(1), 43–64.
McHarg, I. L. (1971). Design with nature, Doubleday and Company, Garden City, N.Y. (paperback ed.).
Merritt, R. H. (1969). Engineering in American society 1850–1875, Univ. of Kentucky Press, Frankfort, Kentucky.
National Research Council (NRC). (1999). “Our common journey: A transition toward sustainability, board on sustainable development.” National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., http://darwin.nap.edu/books/0309067839/html/ (March 7, 2006).
National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE). (2006). “NSPE code of ethics.” http://www.nspe.org/ethics/eh1-code.asp (March 7, 2006).
Ollis, D. F., et al. (2004). Liberal education in twenty-first century engineering, Peter Lang, New York.
Reich, R. B. (1991). The work of nations, Alfred A. Knopf, ed., New York.
Reynolds, T., ed. (1991). The engineer in America, Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Rhodes, F. H. (2006). “Point of view—Sustainability: The ultimate liberal art.” Chronicle Higher Educ., 53(9), B4–B4.
Roberts, D. J. (1994). “Sustainable development—A challenge for the engineering profession.” The role of engineering in sustainable development, American Association of Engineering Society, Washington, D.C., 44–61.
Rowe, D. (2002). “Environmental literacy and sustainability as core requirements: Success stories and models.” Teaching sustainability at universities, W. L. Filho, ed., Peter Lang, Frankfurt, Germany, 79–103.
Russell, J. S., and Stouffer, W. B. (2005). “Survey of the national civil engineering curriculum.” J. Profl. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract. 131(2), 118–128.
Sample, S. M. (2001). The contrarian’s guide to leadership, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline, Doubleday, New York.
Smithsonian. (2006). “America on the move.” http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/index.html (March 7, 2006).
Snow, C. P. (1998). The two cultures with an introduction by S. Collini, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, U.K.
TRB. (2004). “Development and deployment of standards for intelligent transportation systems.” ⟨http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/sr/sr280.pdf⟩ (June 5, 2007).
UCLA. (2007). “ABET homepage.” http://cee.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/acad_abet.php (June 11, 2007).
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). (2006). “P3-people, prosperity, and the planet: Student design competition for sustainability.” http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/award_winners.html (March 7, 2006).
Vaill, P. B. (1996). Learning as way of being, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
Vest, C. M. (2005). “Educating engineers for 2020 and beyond.” Educating the engineer of 2020: Adapting engineering education to the new century, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., http://print.nap.edu/pdf/0309096499/pdf_image/160.pdf (March 7, 2006).
White, L. (1968). “Engineers and the making of a new humanism.” Dynamo and virgin reconsidered: Essays on the in the dynamism of western culture, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., 143–149.
White, L. (1978). Medieval religion and technology collected essays, Univ. of California Press, Berkeley, Calif.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 134Issue 1January 2008
Pages: 75 - 83

History

Received: Mar 10, 2006
Accepted: Jul 18, 2007
Published online: Jan 1, 2008
Published in print: Jan 2008

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Authors

Affiliations

William E. Kelly, F.ASCE
P.E.
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, DC 20064. E-mail: [email protected]

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Download citation

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

Cited by

View Options

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Get Access

Access content

Please select your options to get access

Log in/Register Log in via your institution (Shibboleth)
ASCE Members: Please log in to see member pricing

Purchase

Save for later Information on ASCE Library Cards
ASCE Library Cards let you download journal articles, proceedings papers, and available book chapters across the entire ASCE Library platform. ASCE Library Cards remain active for 24 months or until all downloads are used. Note: This content will be debited as one download at time of checkout.

Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
ASCE Library Card (5 downloads)
$105.00
Add to cart
ASCE Library Card (20 downloads)
$280.00
Add to cart
Buy Single Article
$35.00
Add to cart

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Copy the content Link

Share with email

Email a colleague

Share