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A History of the ASEE Multidisciplinary Engineering Division: The First Decade (2000-2010)

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The ASEE Multidisciplinary Engineering Division can be traced back to a single member‟s initiative in late December 2000. From that initiative, the MULTI Division membership has grown to its rank as the fifth largest ASEE Division in 2010. At this ten-year mark, it seems appropriate to document this decade of development of the ASEE MULTI Division, as it is now known. This paper reviews the MULTI Division‟s development over its first decade with a record of the highlights of each year of that first decade and the steps that led from that initiative to recognition as an ASEE “constituent committee” in 2005 and then the Multidisciplinary Engineering Division in 2006. This initiative also contributed significantly to ASEE‟s current role in the ABET EAC accreditation process. MULTI is now the fifth largest division of ASEE.

Year 2001 and the ASEE Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, NM

The initiative that eventually led to the MULTI Division can be traced back to a widely distributed email contact in late 2000 and followed by a series of subsequent messages in early 2001 by an ASEE member, Dr. Joan Gosink, at that time a Colorado School of Mines professor and director of their Division of Engineering. She proposed that it would be valuable to have "those interested and/or involved in 'non-traditional engineering' programs" meet to share and discuss common problems,” and that an ASEE conference was a natural base for such an exchange.

Based on a very enthusiastic response to those initial communications, and with help from some other engineering educators (notably Dr. Edwin C. Jones, Iowa State University), a special meeting was organized and was held through the cooperation and sponsorship of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Division. Session 2332 Forum for Non-traditional Engineering Programs was held on June 26 at the 2001 ASEE Annual Conference for "those interested and/or involved in 'non-traditional engineering' programs."

With extensive promotion and Dr. Gosink's leadership, the attendance was good, with a recorded attendance of “30-31,” representing nearly as many different institutions. Dr. Gosink moderated the discussion and Dr. Edwin Jones, Iowa State University, served as secretary pro tem. The discussion was lively, with considerable debate over the appropriate thrust and the leadership of the group. As its initial leadership, the group selected a steering committee comprising Dr. Gosink (chair), Dr. Dayne Aldridge, Mercer University, and Dr. Harry Cook, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne, with Dr. Jones serving temporarily as secretary.

The informal notes by Dr. Jones from that meeting reported the following:

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Farison, J. (2010, June), A History Of The Asee Multidisciplinary Engineering Division: The First Decade (2000 2010) Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16182