On 4/7/2009 I spent the day at the University of Oklahoma, my fourteenth sabbatical visit. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Kyran (Kim) Mish I met six faculty currently teaching aspects of the AE program and others as well. As on my previous trips everyone was welcoming and helpful, making my visit both productive and enjoyable.
What did I learn?
About the University of Oklahoma program
- The program is simultaneously long established and brand new.
- It has a long history at UofO
- About six years ago it had lost focus and was threatened with loss of accreditation
- UofO made the decision to reconstitute the program at the same time that they were bringing in new structures faculty
- At the same time they decided to redefine the curriculum
- It is small, currently about 40 students total, but growing
- It is located within the "School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science" a healthy engineering program.
- University of Oklahoma is a strong research university, which allows the AE program to make use of the the research facilities.
- The spiritual "home" of the program is a physically remote structural research building. This facility has produced a strong sense of community in the faculty and at least the first group of students in the revived program.
Teaching Methods and Curriculum
- Because the new faculty were brought in as members of the department's revitalized structures group the current focus of the program is primarily structural engineering.
- MEP is regarded as important to the overall education of Architectural Engineers
- A new faculty member in Mechanical Engineering will have an HVAC emphasis. That faculty member is expected to enhance this aspect of the AE program.
- The AE program participates in the department's capstone design sequence, of which they are very proud.
- The first term covers a variety of topics not covered elsewhere in the curriculum
- The second term is team-oriented, addressing the complete design of a building
- External reviewers, often departmental graduates, participate in the design reviews and grading
- Students participated extensively in developing the revised curriculum when the program was reconstituted.
- Students are extensively exposed to hands-on experience through laboratory work [4/15/2009 addition per TK]
AE Content Issues
- As noted above the redefinition of the AE program has occupied almost all their time.
- The addition of the HVAC faculty member will address the largest unresolved issue that they were facing.
Students
- I met with several students and observed several capstone design presentations. They seemed proud of their program and their role in shaping its future.
- As might be expected there isn't any significant employment data available.
Observations
- The program in its current form is so young that any observations would be premature beyond my strong sense of their enthusiasm and intent to bring the program up to the level of the rest of the university.
