New dept. to keep students in engineering

The University of Cincinnati's College of Engineering obtained approval to add a new department, the Department of Engineering and Education.

The UC Board of Trustees approved the addition of the department March 29.

The cost of the renovation to Rhodes, where the department is going to be housed, is projected to be $8 million, said Carlo Montemagno, dean of the College of Engineering.

Montemagno plans to raise the money through alumni donations and does not plan to use any university or state funding.

The new department seeks to improve the campus experience for first and second year engineering students and to keep them connected to the college.

"Our students tend to spend their first year predominately in arts and sciences and lose their connection to engineering," Montemagno said. "That causes them to become less motivated in their chosen profession and leads them to leave or change their career objectives."

The design and makeup of the new department came from the collaboration of a committee made up of professors from different departments of the College of Engineering.

"Dean [Mark] Bowers was the head of the committee and there was one person from pretty much every department that was on this committee to look at what we wanted the engineering and education to be like," said Rodney Roseman, chemicals and materials engineering professor.

The need for the new department came from the results of surveys of students and faculty, and what other universities around the country were doing, according to Montemagno.

The new department would have its own faculty that conducts research and interacts with students.

"The faculty who are a part of this new engineering education department, their scholarly pursuit is going to be focused on doing research on improving engineering education," Montemagno said.

There are a number of ways that the new department will improve students' experience, one of which is a change in some of the college's curriculum, according to Montemagno.

In addition to curriculum changes, there is scheduled to take place a total renovation of the eighth floor of Rhodes Hall.

The purpose of the renovation is to make an area that is conducive to group learning, Montemagno said.

"This is going to be a place for them to be, to study, to have access to their professors in a much more intimate environment," Montemagno said.

The renovation of Rhodes Hall also would provide a place where commuter students could interact with other students.

"As everyone knows, a huge population of our students commute or live off campus and so they know as students they have to learn how to study in groups," Roseman said. "A lot of them leave once they get out of class and go home and there is no place for them to really congregate together."

Along with the dedication to group learning, the renovation includes a Starbuck's café-type environment at the entrance.

The profits that are generated from the cafe would be used to help fund undergraduate programs such as amature rocketry competition.

"I envision this to be a gift from my alumni to future alumni," Montemagno said.

Montemagno also said he hopes that by using only donations from alumni, it would allow them to reconnect themselves back to the university.

"It provides a mechanism of reconnecting my alumni to my college," Montemagno said.

Montemagno plans for the renovation of Rhodes to begin in the fall of 2007, and the renovation is projected to last one year.

Montemagno is optimistic about the new program. "It will provide a better environment for them [students] to come to school, to learn and to be successful."