Developing a Method to Integrate the Faith Perspective of a University into the Engineering Curriculum

About Developing a Method to Integrate the Faith Perspective of a University into the Engineering Curriculum

Abstract

In results from an ongoing research effort focused at discerning methods to engage engineering student’s awareness of vocation, it has become evident that engineering education is primarily taught from a secular perspective even at faith-based institutions. The research results also indicate very little differences between the engineering ethics courses taught at faith-based institutions and their secular peers. It therefore appears that the students’ faith development and perspectives are being relegated solely to the theology and philosophy departments with little or no correlation being drawn between spirituality and their future profession as engineers. The research results have revealed several methods that can be incorporated within an engineering program to help bridge the gap between the engineering curriculum and the faith basis of the university. Included in this research effort are an engineering faculty survey and an engineering student survey aimed at discerning what methods have been most useful in motivating students to investigate the correlation between their own faith, their university’s faith basis and their future profession as an engineer. Survey results include responses from faculty at both secular and faith-based universities and from students at the University of Dayton. This paper will draw conclusions from the survey results and define a preliminary plan on how the Catholic and Marianist faith of the University of Dayton can be incorporated throughout the entire curriculum within the Engineering Technology Department. In addition to presenting the developed integration plan, the perceived benefits and desired outcomes of performing this integration will also be highlighted. The methods employed throughout this plan include: disseminating ethical discussions, case studies, and design analysis throughout the curriculum including Catholic Social Thought; having the students develop a vision statement during their freshman engineering seminar; and enriching the students’ learning experience through dedicated service learning projects within their required engineering courses. Issues arising from the initiation of this plan will also be discussed.