Raise the Bar: Strengthening the Civil Engineering Profession

In 1998, the American Society of Civil Engineers issued Policy Statement 465: Academic Prerequisites for Licensure and Professional Practice. This policy statement declared that, in the future, education beyond the baccalaureate degree would be necessary for entry into the professional practice of civil engineering. In 2003, ASCE established the Committee on Academic Prerequisites for Professional Practice to study and implement this vision for the civil engineering profession. This chapter provides a historical summary of the initiative known as “Raise the Bar.” It includes a short summary of key events leading to the development of the civil engineering Body of Knowledge (BOK) and integrating the BOK into engineering practice. Appendixes include a detailed timeline of events, an annotated bibliography of published papers, and rosters of individuals involved in efforts.

This paper applies the sociological theory of professions, as espoused by Abbott and Freidson, as a conceptual framework to assess the critical issues associated with the ongoing implementation of ASCE Policy Statement 465—also called the “Raise the Bar” initiative. The sociology of professions provides an objective basis for evaluating key aspects of the initiative, including publication of the civil engineering body of knowledge, raising educational standards for licensure, collaboration with other engineering disciplines, and defining the role of paraprofessionals. The analysis demonstrates the following: (1) the models of professionalism by Abbott and Freidson are highly applicable to civil engineering; (2) most aspects of Policy Statement 465 implementation are consistent with these models; (3) the initiative is contributing to the strength of the profession as intended; and (4) some future dditions and adjustments appear to be warranted. From this analysis, the author derives recommendations for the future direction of the Raise the Bar initiative.

In June 2006, a diverse group of civil engineering leaders gathered to articulate an aspirational global vision for the future of civil engineering in 2025. Under this vision, civil engineers were entrusted by society to create a sustainable world and to enhance the quality of life. Civil engineers would do this competently, collaboratively, and ethically as master builders, environmental stewards, innovators and integrators, managers of risk and uncertainty, and leaders in shaping public policy. This chapter reviews the summit meeting and the vision developed there. The profile of a civil engineer in 2025 is articulated and efforts needed to implement the vision are outlined.

ASCE published the Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century, known as BOK1, in 2004. With a favorable reception from the civil engineering community, a revision (BOK2) was undertaken that would incorporate lessons learned from the early implementation of the principles outlined in BOK1. This chapter traces the development of both editions of the BOK report. It describes the development of topics for inclusion in the BOK, determination of “desired level of achievement” for each topic area, and correlation of achievement to Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain. Levels of achievment were identified for entry into professional practice, as well as each stage of a young engineer's career. The process of reviewing BOK2 is summarized.

This chapter summarizes the decade-long process of developing and implementing new accreditation criteria in support of the ASCE Raise the Bar initiative, identifies the principal lessons learned through this process, and provides recommendations for future developments in the accreditation domain of this ongoing effort to raise the educational standard for civil engineering professional practice. The effort to translate the civil engineering Body of Knowledge (BOK) to accreditation criteria for engineering programs is described. An initiative to change the ABET prohibition on dual-level accreditation was undertaken and enacted. The evolution of the BOK educational outcomes is described, along with planning to review the BOK at regular intervals. Appendixes include a comparison of BOK requirements and ABET criteria

The Raise the Bar initiative recommended changes to the formal education of civil engineers, based on the Body of Knowledge (BOK) reports. A survey of civil engineering curricula was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of BOK-driven changes to the undergraduate curriculum. This paper reviews the steps taken at three specific programs leading to a baccalaureate degree in civil engineering (BSCE): University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, and University of Texas at Tyler. Changes to the curriculum of each program are described and appendixes detail the engineering coursework before and after the BOK-driven changes.

As part of ASCE's Raise the Bar initiative, efforts to describe a civil engineering Body of Knowledge (BOK) focused on the prelicensure attaiment of experiential skills by engineering interns. The ASCE “experiential initiative,” which began in 2007, led to the development of outcomes with experiential expectations. This paper provides a summary of activities to develop experiential guidelines. The strengthened experiential outcomes include the responsibilities of engineering interns, their supervisors and mentors for documenting, validating, and reporting experience activities during the prelicensure phase of a young engineer's career. An appendix provides an example of how an outcome can be translated into a series of activities and experiences that can be documented and validated.

Because ASCE considers “professional practice” to mean “licensed practice,” implementation of the Raise the Bar initiative included efforts to change the requirements for engineering licensure at the state level. A key step involved asking the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) to modify its Model Law and Model Rules so that admission to the engineering licensing exam would require an accredited bachelor's degree in engineering, a master's degree or additional coursework, and four years of progressive engineering experience. These changes were enacted in 2006. The history of efforts to make these modifications is described, including the debates within NCEES, and lessons learned are identified. Provisions pertaining to the educational requirements of the current Model Law are included in an appendix.

Efforts to influence state laws to reflect the increased educational requirement for licensure were undertaken as part of ASCE's Raise the Bar initiative. The process of modifying the Model Law and Model Rules established by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) in 2006 was contentious and in 2008, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) issued a position paper, “Mandatory Educational Requirements for Engineering Licensure,” that was later endorsed by eight other professional societies. This paper assesses the key points of opposition presented in the ASME position paper from two complementary perspectives: first, the validity of each specific point of opposition, based on objective evidence, logic, and recent multidisiciplinary visions of the engineering professions future and, second, consistency with the theoretical framework of professionalism as described in the Sociology of Professions. The ASME position paper is included as an appendix.

The Body of Knowledge (BOK) element of the Raise the Bar initiative called for reforming, not refining, civil engineering education and intensifying the prelicensure experience. As such, the BOK effort offers a study in major change. This paper summarizes the leadership lessons learned as a result of developing the BOK, primarily for use in the United States. The leadership lessons learned include: conduct scholarly studies, start with vision, expect and deal with setbacks, apply a change model, test-drive terminology, function transparently and inclusively, persevere and practice principled compromise, recognize and leverage serendipity, and stand respectfully and thankfully on the shoulders of others.