Strategies for Creating and Sustaining A Departmental Culture: Turning Theory Into Action

STRATEGIES FOR CREATING AND SUSTAINING A DEPARTMENTAL CULTURE:

TURNING THEORY INTO ACTION

In this invited paper we build upon work which was originally published in the 2010 ASEE Conference Proceedings. Each engineering department has a unique departmental culture based on its history, faculty makeup, geography, and a myriad of other factors. While some departments have a long history with a well-established culture and traditions, other departments that have been recently formed are faced with the challenge of creating a culture from scratch. The success of a department in creating and sustaining a desirable culture can have a significant impact on recruiting, retention, and general satisfaction of its undergraduate students.  This paper reviews the engineering literature and describes different models and activities which departments have successfully used in this area, including freshman courses,   professional   societies,   departmental   traditions,   professional   development courses,  and  intentional  interactions  between  faculty  and  students.  These types of activities also serve to shape students' expectations about what it means to enter the engineering profession and help new student identify themselves as engineers.

In this paper we discuss some strategies to consider when attempting to create or modify a departmental culture from three perspectives:

•             Faculty perspective

•             Department Chair's perspective

•             College of Engineering perspective