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Boeing-University Relations - A Review and Prospects for the Future

John H. McMasters, Narayanan Komerath The Boeing Company / Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract

The Boeing Company has been noteworthy within the aerospace industry for its ambitious university relations program originally conceived in the early 1990s. This program has aimed at not only creating strong company relations with universities important to its business interests, but also to lead broader industry efforts to enhance engineering and related technical and business education programs across the nation. This paper reviews the development of the Boeing program, discusses important lessons learned from the overall effort, and outlines prospects for future developments. Specific program elements are discussed. Key in this has been the Welliver Faculty Summer Fellowship Program which, after a decade of operation, can be considered to have met its initial expectations. Reasons for successes and failures will be discussed and opportunities for future developments will be identified. Alumni of this program have enhanced the relevance of engineering education by incorporating industry perspectives, and industry has benefited from the perspectives and insights brought by the faculty participants. The paper will survey the results from the program and relate them to the needs of the present and future aerospace industry and engineering academe.

Introduction

Consolidation, new technologies and globalization have continued to bring new priorities and rapid change to the aerospace industry. Through these interesting times, the workforce and infrastructure have been aging at an alarming rate. Traditional means of experience-building with needed knowledge retention and transfer have been severely strained, as traditional processes and time-scales for developing products and the associated skills have evolved. Partially anticipating these changes in industry, Boeing took the lead in highlighting the need for change in their supply chain of talent – the university system. This need was articulated and pursued through its ambitious university relations program, originally conceived in the early 1990s. This program has aimed to create strong company relations with universities important to its business interests. It has also led broader industry efforts to enhance engineering and related technical and business education programs across the nation. As new challenges continue to loom, this paper reviews the development of the Boeing program, discusses important lessons learned from the overall effort, and outlines prospects for future developments. The authors’ experience is used to develop both an industry and a university perspective, not to be attributed exclusively to one or the other. In some important particulars, the authors agree; on other topics they may not. In sum, these convergences or divergences of opinion may be considered reasonably representative of the

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ASEE 2005, American Society for Engineering Education.

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McMasters, J. (2005, June), Boeing University Relations A Review And Prospects For The Future Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14328