Book Description

Undergraduate engineering students and their advisors are provided with a handbook to help improve the quality and coherence of the humanities and social sciences (H&SS) component of undergraduate engineering education (fostering more purposeful H&SS course selection). The first of this handbook's three sections has an engineering major and his advisor discussing the value of H&SS coursework and the case for taking it seriously. The second section is a brief set of general guidelines for constructing a sound H&SS component (noting it should do such things as fulfill the institution's and program's requirements, contribute to a general education, and include integrative and capstone experiences). Section three consists of eight sample H&SS clusters that illustrate how the guidelines can be applied by students with different needs, interests, and aspirations. The suggested cluster approach to H&SS course selection was designed by the project advisory committee and a working group of engineering and liberal arts educators from across the country. Suggestions about the H&SS component (as conforming to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology guidelines) are that the H&SS component should be at least 12.5% of the student's total program, be planned to reflect a rationale or fulfill an objective appropriate to the engineering profession, include some courses at an advanced level rather than be limited to a selection of unrelated introductory courses. (SM)