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,. Session 3247

LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE OF OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY GRADUATES

William D. Stanley, Alok K. Verma Old Dominion University

Abstract

The long-term career patterns of Old Dominion University’s engineering technology baccalaureate graduates have been studied extensively. Results from approximately 400 alumni have been analyzed. The results of the analysis are presented and conclusions are drawn from the trends. The results indicate that the career progress of engineering technology graduates over a nearly twenty-year period is substantial and that they are performing effectively in a variety of career patterns. Introduction

Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, Virginia awarded its first Bachelor of Science degrees in Engineering Technology in 1973, and accreditation by the Engineers Council for Professional Development (ECPD) was received in 1976. Accreditation was later transferred to the Technology Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (TAC-ABET) following reorganization of the accrediting agency. The programs in Civil Engineering Technology (CET), Electrical Engineering Technology (EET), and Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) have maintained continuous accreditation since 1976.

In preparation for an ABET visit in the fall of 1993, the department recently undertook an extensive study of the career patterns, occupational progress, and professional development of its graduates over the period since the first degrees were awarded. The survey form used for collecting data is provided in Appendix A of this report. The graduate had the option of remaining anonymous or of providing his or her name.

The forms were mailed to over one-thousand alumni for whom addresses were available encompassing the entire period from 1973 through 1992. Approximately 400 alumni forms were received by the department, and about 98°/0 of the alumni chose to identify themselves. By scanning through the names of the alumni, there seemed to be just as many former “below-average” students as “above-average” students. We, therefore, believe that the returns represent a reasonable cross-section of the alumni population. With the exception of a few years for a few programs, which will be delineated in the analysis that follows, the number of returns per class was typically 15 or more. Thus, this constitutes a population sample sufficiently large to draw some general conclusions.

In the sections that follow, a number of general patterns established from the data will be studied. The order is not necessarily the same as on the forms, and in some cases, the data may represent a slightly different format than given in the forms. The pertinent question on the form will be repeated at the top of the each table.

In some of the studies, graduates are categorized according to the number of years since graduation, rounded to the nearest integer number of years. At the time of the survey, the largest integer number was 19 years, so the independent variable in those cases varies from 1 to 19.

?jiiiij 1996 ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings ‘.,+,yyil:

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Stanley, W. D., & Verma, A. (1996, June), Long Term Performance Of Old Dominion University Engineering Technology Graduates Paper presented at 1996 Annual Conference, Washington, District of Columbia. 10.18260/1-2--6168