News ReleaseFor Immediate Release
Contact: Joe Hunter 781-292-2255[email protected]
New Engineering College Launches Two-Year Effort to Re-Invent Engineering Education; Students Will Be Important Partners in Broad-Based Project
(Needham, Mass., August 18, 2000) -- As part of a far-reaching mandate to provide a new model for engineering education, the new Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering today announced "Invention 2000," an unprecedented two-year effort to fundamentally rethink the way engineers are taught and the way colleges function. Input from a select group of student "partners" will be a significant part of the process.
Beginning this fall, Olin will launch an intensive examination of nearly every aspect of college life, including curriculum, student life, operations, admission, and governance. The goal is to identify innovative educational practices from around the globe and adapt them to the developing programs at Olin College, while adding new ideas for reform. The project will conclude in fall 2002, in time for the first year of the new college's regular baccalaureate program. Current campus construction schedules will be unaffected by the project.
"As a completely new and independently funded institution, Olin College has the rare opportunity to incorporate best practices into the design of all features, programs, and policies without having to abandon traditions, bad habits, or legacy systems," said Olin College President Richard K. Miller. "Invention 2000 is our detailed plan to take full advantage of this opportunity, with a special mission to develop a new culture of permanent innovation and change. We have a clean slate to thoroughly rethink undergraduate engineering education and all aspects of college operations."
The effort will involve the college administration, faculty, trustees, educational consultants, corporate partners, and a group of carefully chosen students. Under the plan, the college will recruit 25-30 students, who will come to campus in fall 2001 and become partners in evaluating the effectiveness of new methods in engineering education. This pioneering group will form the core the following year of Olin's first freshman class of about 100 students.
In addition to becoming members of the Invention 2000 team, the "Olin Partners", as the college is calling its first students, will take a special program that will include community service, internships and an academic component. Working closely with the founding faculty and other members of the team, the students will have an unusual opportunity to provide direct input on curricular issues, student life and other areas. Each student will receive a scholarship -- valued at approximately $165,000 -- covering the "partner" year (2001-02) and the four succeeding years of the regular program.
"The Olin Partners will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help create a new engineering college," said President Miller. "In the process, they will become student leaders and play a major role in determining our campus culture."
The college plans a broad inquiry in Invention 2000, carried out in successive phases. In phase one ("Discovery"), the Invention 2000 team will look at innovative engineering programs and reform ideas around the world. In phase two ("Invention") the team will apply these best practices along with their own creative ideas to develop a new conceptual model unique to Olin College.
In phase three ("Development") they will fully develop the details of the conceptual model, including new textbook material and laboratory experiments necessary to deliver the education to Olin students in fall 2002. Finally, in phase four ("Testing"), they will evaluate the effectiveness of the new curriculum.
"There is an urgent need for fundamental reform of engineering education," said William Wulf, president of the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, D.C. "Invention 2000 is unparalleled in terms of its scope and breadth. It is the sort of initiative that can create a new kind of engineering college capable of educating the next generation of technology leaders."
The effort will be guided by the reform recommendations made over the last decade by the National Science Foundation and the engineering community, which have called for radical changes in engineering education. Their recommendations include more emphasis on teamwork, project based learning and entrepreneurial thinking. These concepts will play a prominent role in Olin's curriculum, which will be updated regularly to keep pace with technological change and new discoveries.
Olin College was founded in 1997 through a commitment of more than $300 million from the F. W. Olin Foundation of New York, which has a long-standing interest in improving science and engineering education. After years of generous building grants to existing institutions, the foundation decided the best way to jump-start engineering education reform was to create a new institution from scratch.
"Our goal in creating Olin College is not to start just another engineering college, but a model for others," said Lawrence W. Milas, president of the foundation and chairman of Olin College's Board of Trustees. "What we seek to create is a singular institution that will always be at the cutting edge of engineering education and has a permanent culture of innovation. Invention 2000 is an indispensable step toward that goal."
The college is currently constructing a high-tech campus on a 70-acre site in Needham, Mass., adjacent to, but independent from, Babson College, with which it will maintain collaborative programs in entrepreneurship and business management. So that Olin can enroll the most talented students without regard to financial ability, every admitted student will receive a full, four-year scholarship covering tuition and room charges, funded by the foundation.
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