program self-study report - Lamar University Electrical Engineering

Finally, we counsel our students with respect to professional licensing (50% of our faculty are registeredacross three states) and encourage them to study for and take the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineeringexam if their career plans indicate that registration would be beneficial to them.2.4.2 Administration of assessment instrumentsResults from each survey are tabulated and kept on record for review by the faculty and the advisoryboard. The faculty are then responsible for updating the procedures for assessing the objectives and forinterpreting the results and implementing changes to the curriculum that are needed based on theassessment results.2.4.3 Results and Analysis of the surveysThe survey instruments are subjective based on observation of performance (employer) and personalassessment (alumni). As such, the most useful results are statements directed towards programimprovements that address specific shortcomings or the perception that specific areas or topics were notadequately addressed in the program.2.4.3.1 Employer survey results.A sample of nine employers were polled to find out how well we are meeting our educational objectives.In this sample we included the following employers of our graduates from the last five years:Chicago Bridge/Tyler, TexasDeep East Texas Electric Cooperative/San Augustine, TexasGerdau-Ameristeel/Vidor, TexasMotiva Enterprises/Port Arthur, TexasExxon-Mobil Beaumont Refinery/Beaumont, TexasUnited Space Alliance/Clearlake, TexasDell, Inc./Austin, TexasM&I Electric/Beaumont, TexasEntergy Texas/Beaumont, TexasAll of the surveys indicated that employers are very satisfied with our graduates and that our program isrobust in terms of meeting our outcomes and objectives. There were two specific comments towardsimprovement:1) Gerdau-Ameristeel indicated that in comparison to graduates from a significantly largeruniversity in Texas, technical performance and background was comparable; however, problemsolving skills were slightly better in the graduates from the larger university.2) Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative suggested that more power-related courses would helpstrengthen our program.In response to the first suggestion, we are going to emphasize more problem-solving skills in ourcurricula, specifically in the seminar and projects course. With respect to the second suggestion, we are inthe process of hiring a new faculty member in the power area—the search was frozen due to budgetEE Program Self-Study Report-2006 15