Contact: Bob Ratliff
A national professional organization again is including Mississippi State's engineering and computer science programs on its list of approved curricula.
An evaluation team from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology's Engineering Accreditation Commission visited the university last fall. They reviewed course materials, student projects and assignments, and interviewed students, faculty and administrators.
The 1999 site visit, along with a self-study submitted by the College of Engineering, resulted in the recent ABET reaccredidation notification. Mississippi State's professional engineering programs first gained a national stamp of approval in 1941.
One of the oldest academic units on the 120-year-old campus, the engineering college currently offers bachelor's degrees in nine fields. They include aerospace, biological, chemical, civil, computer, electrical, industrial, and mechanical. Computer science is the only non-engineering program in the college.
Specifically, computer science's reaccreditation notification came from the ABET-affiliated Computer Science Accreditation Commission of the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board. In 1986, MSU computer science was among 22 curricula gaining CSAB accreditation--the first year that status was conferred.
Based in Baltimore, Md., ABET began in 1932 as the Engineers' Council for Professional Development. It now accredits about 2,300 engineering, engineering technology and engineering-related programs at more than 500 U.S. schools.
When the time came last year to again begin the process, the College of Engineering chose to seek reaccredidation under new ABET criteria that won't become mandatory until 2002, Dean Wayne Bennett said.
"We could have sought to continue accreditation under the current rule-based criteria," Bennett said. "Instead, we chose the new standard because its outcome-assessment, continuous-improvement model provides an excellent goal to achieve.
"We felt this new level of achievement would strengthen our efforts to provide one of the best possible engineering education programs to the citizens of Mississippi and the nation," he added.
Bennett said ABET approval includes MSU's cooperative education program, which was established within the engineering college in the 1950s. Among the oldest and largest in the nation, the MSU "co-op" program is open to all majors and currently serves nearly 900 students.
Bennett credited leadership of the department heads and support of the faculty and staff as major factors in achieving this latest testament to the college's success. He also gave special credit to some major university-wide initiatives of MSU President Malcolm Portera.
"Dr. Portera's efforts to improve the library, raise faculty salaries and enhance computing facilities were important factors in the accreditation process," Bennett observed.
Additionally, Bennett cited the importance of alumni donors and private support in contributing to the professional recognition. In the latter category, he specifically mentioned the Jackson-based Hearin Foundation.
"Support from the Hearin Foundation has enabled us to provide many enhancements to the undergraduate experience, including the computer initiative that ensures every engineering freshman has a personal computer," Bennett said.