Engineering students get a direct line to the dean

The Engineering School is becoming user friendly. On top of meeting Dean Gregory Farrington over dinner at his home and in the hallways of the Towne Building, Engineering students can now communicate with him through a new electronic bulletin board called "Dean's Forum." The board is a new way Farrington and Associate Dean John Keenan have found for students to give them input on issues affecting them. But unlike other methods, it is available to all Engineering students since they all have electronic mail accounts. "All engineering students can access it, so we thought this would be a great way to solicit student opinion," Keenan explained. "Since we have e-mail it's a good way to reach the students," said Joan Lau, vice president of the Engineering Student Activities Council. "It's like a party line." Farrington posts a question to the student body on the new bulletin board and lets them debate it for several weeks. The students send in responses, which generate more student comments. "I think this is helpful for the administrators because it lets them know what we think," said Carmen Diaz, president of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. The first question Farrington asked on September 19 was, "Tell us about your first-year experience. To what extent did we meet your needs and fulfill your expectations?" The question generated a discussion on creating an engineering course for freshman to take, since most students do not take an engineering class until their sophomore year. "I've been participating and reading it," Diaz said, adding that he suggested an "intro course that spans a few different topics," followed by an independent project in a field of interest. Keenan said the creation of an introductory engineering course will definitely be considered by a committee he is forming to evaluate the school's curriculum. Students are currently debating the school's advising system. The discussion is not as candid as Farrington would like it to be because students are reluctant to criticize the current one-on-one advising system. "Students don't want their names associated with their answers," said Farrington, because they do not want to strain their relationships with their advisors. Farrington hopes to appoint a faculty member as a moderator by next week so that students can send him or her comments which will then be posted anonymously. In the future, Farrington plans to ask students which school facility they would most like to see improved and to evaluate the effectiveness of the Writing Across the University program. Although Lau agreed that e-mail was a good way to reach students, she was not very impressed with the Dean's Forum. "It's not that exciting. On the computer we have a number of bulletin boards," Lau said. "I have to say the deans ask pretty lousy questions." But Keenan has been pleased with the student response. "On the first topic we received on the order of 20 messages," Keenan said. "I expect it will increase with time." Farrington was also happy with it because some of the students who have been participating are not involved with the school in other ways.

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