Coalition Project Director 

Director's Message

Dr. Karen Frair

Through the combined efforts of the seven institutions that comprise the Foundation Coalition, we have begun establishing a new foundation for undergraduate engineering education. Since coming together in 1992 with a vision for strengthening the existing foundation, we have accomplished a great deal, but much work lies ahead.

We've faced many unexpected challenges, but in keeping our vision -- our dream-- in sight, we've been able to meet those challenges and press forward. As our formal vision statement suggests, we envision a new culture of engineering education, a culture where students and faculty work as partners to produce an enduring foundation for student development and life-long learning.

As we pursue this dream, we do so with our mission -- what we intend to achieve -- in focus. This mission - to construct improved curricula and learning environments, to attract and retain a more demographically diverse student body, and to graduate a new generation of engineers who can more effectively solve the increasingly complex, rapidly changing societal problems of today's world - has been steadfastly pursued.

In focusing on our mission and striving toward our vision, we have worked hard and have seen results. There are five areas of which we are especially proud. They are our assessment and evaluation work, modification of curriculum models for specific campus cultures, our assessment and evaluation work, our institutionalization objectives (which are to ensure that the changes we invoke outlive the formal Coalition), and most importantly, our lower-division curriculum reform and our success in implementing cooperative learning and teaming.

In each of these final two areas, our work has made a lasting impression on every campus in the Coalition. Even if the Foundation Coalition were to disappear tomorrow, there are faculty on each and every campus who have been changed and who will never teach or interact with colleagues in the same way again.

While we're proud of our accomplishments and thrilled with the efforts that have been put forth, this is no time to rest on our laurels. This is only the beginning. We've come a long way, but we've still got a long way to go. I think maybe Tom Patterson, President and CEO of TXEN, Inc. and a member of our National Advisory Board, said it best when he said, "We've never been as good as we are today, but we had better never be this bad again." The Foundation Coalition is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities awaiting us in the future.

Karen Frair

Project Director NSF Foundation Coalition