On February 6th I spent the day at Tennessee State University, my twelfth sabbatical visit. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Hinton Jones I met five faculty currently teaching the design aspects of the AE program. As on my previous trips everyone was welcoming and helpful, making my visit both productive and enjoyable. (A balmy, almost-spring day after a week of 5-10 degree weather was most welcome too.)
What did I learn?
- The Architectural Engineering program has been long-established at this Historically Black institution
- It was founded in the 1950s
- For many years its identity was closer to architecture than to engineering
- Its department heads have almost all been architects
- It offered a path for black students into the building profession since few architecture programs were open to them in the days of segregation
- This identity is changing - it now sees itself as primarily engineering although that perception is not necessarily understood by the alumni and many employers.
- It's small, but stable
- The faculty consists of three full-time members, with a search under way for a fourth
- The student body is about 100 total and fairly constant at that number.
- The program is undergraduate and teaching-focused
- There is a desire to create a graduate program and to develop research
- Even though Facilities Engineering is part of the name, it's not an active program.
- As at other institutions that I've visited, recruiting a qualified HVAC faculty member is difficult
- There's been an effort over the last four years that hasn't yet been successful
- There is an association with Penn State through visits to their Job Fair
Teaching Methods and Curriculum
- The curriculum emphasizes structures, mechanical and electrical in a single track with some electives offered.
- There is a strong emphasis on making students ready for industry. As examples, this involves:
- Emphasis on drawing preparation and understanding of standard symbols and conventions
- Visits to professional offices in early years
- Use of the NEC book as the text in the electrical course
- The design sequence involves the following courses:
- Sophomore graphics course with some design content
- Two architectural design courses
- One currently in junior year and one in senior year
- In future they will both be in the junior year with space made by elimination of a CADD course.
- A two-semester capstone design course sequence
- The first semester focuses on problem definition
- The semester focuses on concept development and documentation
- Students in this course are individually responsible for a system
- They are encouraged to work in teams of 3-4 students addressing the same building, but still maintaining the individual system responsibility, but some still work individually
AE Content Issues
- Sustainability
- The faculty noted that sustainable concepts are embedded in the curriculum via examples and instructor emphasis
- Most capstone design buildings use LEED certification standards
- Energy conservation is emphasized in the HVAC courses as well as the architectural design studios
- BIM
- Although there wasn't much explicit concern about BIM, Revit Architecture has been adopted as the standard tool in the Architecture studios.
- Bachelor's + 30
- The faculty are in favor of extending the curriculum to five years in accordance with this initiative
- They're in favor because it would give them the opportunity to address material now not included due to time limitations, and also because of university requirements to reduce technical credits in order to increase general education credits.
- AE Profession identity
- The issue of employers and colleagues in other departments not understanding what is Architectural Engineering is a significant problem here.
Students
- Graduates of the program have been employed approximately as follows:
- Construction 50%
- Consulting 15%
- Government 15%
- Other 20%
- These numbers have changed over time with consulting being higher a while ago
- The department is making an effort to expose students to consulting firms and believes that number will go up again in future.
- Student preparation and attrition
- Many students are not well prepared for engineering
- For this reason a year of remedial work is not uncommon
- The time to graduation is therefore 5 to 5-1/2 years for most students
- There is quite a significant attrition rate for students, in large part for the same reasons
- The entering class is about 35 students
- The typical graduating class is about 10 students
Observations
- The students are the beneficiaries of faculty who are all highly experienced and dedicated, with many years of teaching and/or industry experience.
- Replacing them with the next generation is probably going to be a challenge for the university in the next decade.
