Curriculum 2000
Between 1997 and 2000, the College of Engineering redesigned its curricula to address a basic problem: Incoming students spent almost two years in math and science courses before they encountered engineering concepts, teamwork and problem-solving -- they didn't understand how engineering applied to the real world. In many instances, this dissociation was responsible for new students losing interest in engineering before they really knew what it was all about. Curriculum 2000 addressed this problem by better distributing engineering courses across a four-year span. Under the new plan, first-year electives included mathematics, chemistry, physics, humanities and social science. However, Curriculum 2000 also exposed first-year students to technical communication, teamwork and ethics -- all of which came together in a hands-on design project that students completed in the new Engineering 100 course.
