The Making of a “Pro”—A Faculty Viewpoint

The making of engineering professionals requires a new dimension in educational programs to produce graduates competent and technically literate enough to practice on the highest level, sensitive to the effects of technology on society, and able to provide leadership in the industrial, societal, and political arenas. Professions, being neither craft guilds nor labor unions, must practice primarily in the spirit of public service, embrace ethical codes, and have a genuine care for society. Such objectives coincide with ASCE's current Goals Study. Two years of preengineering followed by 4-yr programs in professional schools of engineering as independent as those in law and medicine are recommended to make those leaders and pros society will need in the future. Schools should operate on honor systems to emphasize ethics. The programs should be practitioner-oriented curricula culminating in specialization, backed and integrated by the Founder Societies, and broadly based on humanities, all engineering sciences, societal responsibilities, leadership, and cooperative experience.