ABET

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2008

Baltimore, MD – ABET, Inc., the recognized accrediting body for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, installed its new slate of officers on November 1, 2008, at the semiannual meeting of its Board of Directors, held in Louisville, Kentucky. The following individuals will serve as the officers of the ABET Board of Directors for the 2008-2009 term:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2008

Baltimore, MD – The ABET Board of Directors has approved a motion to rename its President's Award for Diversity to honor of one of its late Public Members, Dr. Claire L. Felbinger. This motion was passed at the Board's fall meeting, held in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, November 1, 2008.

Dr. Claire Felbinger, a former Chair of the Master of Public Administration Program at American University, served as a Public Member of the ABET Board of Directors from 1998 to 2004. Public Members, now called Public Directors, are not affiliated with applied science, computing, engineering, or technology through either training or practice. They are voting members of the ABET Board and may serve up to two consecutive three-year terms.

During Felbinger's six years as a Public Member, she was very active in ABET activities, serving as a liaison to the Engineering Accreditation Commission, a member of the Finance Committee, a member of the ad hoc Strategic Planning and Succession Planning Committees, and Chair of the Public Member Committee. Felbinger was also ABET's representative on the National Academy of Engineering's Committee on Diversity.

The Public Member Committee, under Felbinger's leadership, was the first to bring ABET's diversity issue formally to the attention of the Board. The committee's work led to initiatives such as issuing a formal policy statement on diversity, collecting and publishing diversity statistics about the organization's volunteer pool, and creating an award for individuals, institutions, and organizations that achieve or facilitate diversity in the technological segments of our society, the ABET President’s Award for Diversity.

The first President's Awards for Diversity were conferred in 2005, both as an extension of ABET's commitment to fostering diversity in the disciplines it accredits and as recognition of the outstanding efforts that some entities are making in this realm. In 2006, the ABET Board of Directors institutionalized the President's Award for Diversity so that it would be presented annually to recognize U.S.-based educational units, individuals, associations, and firms for extraordinary success in achieving diversity and inclusiveness or for facilitating diversity and inclusiveness in the technological segments of our society. Details about the award and a list of past recipients are available at http://www.abet.org/diversity.shtml.

Felbinger passed away suddenly in her home on May 28, 2008. The award that she helped to establish has been renamed the Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity in her memory.

Richard C. Seagrave Receives ABET's Highest Honor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2008

Baltimore, MD – ABET, Inc., the recognized accrediting body for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, is pleased to announce that Richard C. Seagrave, Ph.D., has been honored with the Linton E. Grinter Distinguished Service Award, the organization's highest honor.

The Grinter Award was presented during the 2008 ABET Annual Meeting, Charting Tomorrow, held October 30-31 in Louisville, Kentucky. ABET Board of Directors selected Seagrave to receive this honor "for his outstanding, sustained, distinguished, and innovative leadership of first the Engineering Accreditation Commission and then the ABET Board of Directors at a time of radical change in ABET; his committed and diplomatic style assured an orderly transition to a performance, quality assurance-based method of accreditation."

Seagrave is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Iowa State University and is completing his 29th year as an ABET volunteer. After serving as an American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) program evaluator for 10 years, he was on the Engineering Accreditation Commission for 10 years, including the chair position in 1996. He became a member of the ABET Board of Directors, representing AIChE, in 1999 and was Secretary for two years before becoming ABET President. Seagrave is a Fellow of AIChE and of ABET.

Linton E. Grinter received the first Distinguished Service Award from ABET's predecessor, the Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD), in 1972. Grinter showed an outstanding record of leadership within the engineering community and ECPD, and the Board Executive Committee that year not only gave the new award to Grinter but decided to call it the Linton E. Grinter Distinguished Service Award. Among Grinter's legacy are three reports that have had major effects on engineering education: (1) the 1945 Manual of Graduate Study in Engineering; (2) the groundbreaking 1955 Report of the Committee on Evaluation of Engineering Education, now known as "The Grinter Report" - a major work in the development of engineering curricula that outlines specific objectives for both the technical and humanities areas of study necessary for future engineers; and (3) the 1972 Report on Engineering Technology Education. Grinter's powerful insight into the future of the engineering profession inspired and impacted not only the ECPD of yesteryear, but the ABET of today.

Recipients of the Linton E. Grinter Distinguished Service Award, such as Richard Seagrave, are those ABET volunteers who follow in Grinter's footsteps and surpass even the highest service expectations of the organization. A complete list of individuals who have received the Grinter Award is available at the following website: http://www.abet.org/grinters.shtml.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2008

Baltimore, MD – ABET, Inc., the recognized accrediting body for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, has named five recipients of the Fellow of ABET Award for 2008:

The 2008 Fellow Awards were presented to the recipients at Charting Tomorrow, the 2008 ABET Annual Meeting, held in Louisville, Kentucky, October 30-31. The ABET Fellow Award is presented annually to recognize those individuals who have given sustained quality service to the ABET-related professions, in general, and to education within the ABET disciplines, in particular, through the activities of ABET.

A complete list of individuals who have been named a Fellow of ABET is available at the following website: http://www.abet.org/fellows.shtml.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2008

Baltimore, MD – L.S. "Skip" Fletcher, the 2007-2008 President of ABET, Inc., the recognized accrediting body for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, conferred four President's Awards for Diversity at the ABET Commission Summit, held in conjunction with Charting Tomorrow, the 2008 ABET Annual Meeting, in Louisville, Kentucky, October 30-31.

The ABET President's Award for Diversity is presented to recognize U.S.-based educational units, individuals, associations, and firms for extraordinary success in achieving diversity and inclusiveness or for facilitating diversity and inclusiveness in the technological segments of our society. This year's recipients are the following:

To learn more about the honorees and their outstanding efforts, visit www.abet.org/diversity.shtml.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 26, 2008

Baltimore, MD – The Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education (CASEE), an operating center of the National Academy of Engineering, recently designated ABET's Institute for the Development of Excellence in Assessment Leadership as a CASEE Dissemination Channel.

CASEE Dissemination Channels are seminars, workshops, colloquies, and other events that serve to educate the engineering community about either a) rigorous approaches to the conduct and evaluation of education research, or b) the findings which result from such research including pilot and large-scale implementation activities. CASEE Dissemination Channels are trusted information resources that adhere to high quality standards in the identification, selection, preparation, and transmission of knowledge.

ABET's Institute for the Development of Excellence in Assessment Leadership, or IDEAL, provides a 4½-day professional development opportunity for those responsible for leading their faculty in the development and implementation of a program assessment plan to improve student learning and document program effectiveness. The Institute engages participants - who are primarily faculty from applied science, computing, engineering, or technology programs and administrators from institutions housing such programs - in working with colleagues to develop new knowledge and skills that will enable them to be effective assessment leaders. When participants leave the Institute, they have completed an implementation plan they will be able use at their home institution, are designated as IDEAL Scholars, and receive a year of follow-on support with IDEAL Leader and ABET Associate Executive Director of Professional Services, Gloria Rogers, Ph.D., as they implement their assessment plans.

As a CASEE Dissemination Channel, IDEAL will be highlighted in CASEE outreach materials, including its website, brochures, speaking engagements, and the like, during the term of its Dissemination Channel affiliation. This type of publicity translates into the Institute’s access to thousands of technical educators throughout the United States and abroad. In addition, the Institute may display the CASEE Dissemination logo on its materials, communicating to all within the engineering community that CASEE has given IDEAL its "seal of approval."

Status as a CASEE Dissemination Channel is granted on a two-year basis, and IDEAL has been granted this status through September 25, 2010. More information about IDEAL is available at www.abet.org/ideal.shtml.

ABET, Inc., the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, is a federation of 29 professional and technical societies representing these fields. Among the most respected accreditation organizations in the U.S., ABET has provided leadership and quality assurance in higher education for more than 75 years. ABET currently accredits some 2,800 programs at more than 600 colleges and universities nationwide. Over 1,500 dedicated volunteers participate annually in ABET activities. ABET also provides leadership internationally through workshops, consultancies, memoranda of understanding, and mutual recognition agreements, such as the Washington Accord. ABET is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.