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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1977)
Page 8 THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1977 Engineers progress to executives Engineers at Texas A&M now have an opportunity to step out of a background role in teaching and re search and train for leadership pos itions in business and industry since the development of the Doctors of Engineering Degree program. “In a society dominated by engi neering and science, there should be some engineering leadership,” says Dr. Richard E. Thomas, as sociate dean of engineering at Texas A&M. Engineering companies are basi cally not run by engineers, says Thomas. He feels there should be a balance of leadership in the business sector between lawyers, account ants and engineers. The program, which began in 1974, combines engineering, busi ness and other related courses in the curriculum. It was developed to train beginnng engineers to become vice presidents and presidents of companies. The program aims to develop people who are technologi cally competent, and who under stand business practices along with being sensitive to the needs of soci ety . “Somehow we’ve got to supply leadership to the great batch of av erage Americans out there to help them understand and use technol ogy, Thomas said. “We cannot educate a fully functioning engineer in four years like we used to, ” Thomas said. The products of industry are now more complex, and the technological de mands are greater. “Until the advent of this degree, all you could get was a Ph.D.,” Thomas said. The emphasis was placed on technical careers in re search and teaching. Engineers who wanted to go into industry and do well had to learn the business end by osmosis. They succeeded in spite of their education, not because of it, he said. “We would like to have an engi neer who anticipates societal reac tions to what he’s doing. Many times this requires more than tech nical knowledge. Being able to caress the computer or manipulate equations is not enough, Thomas said. In addition to including business courses in the engineering cur riculum, students in the program at tend a professional development seminar once a week “aimed at fill ing some of the gaps in their formal education” Thomas said. Some of the subjects at the seminar have been newspaper writing, how to buy a house, and what if is like to do business overseas. The seven year program is known as the two plus four plus one pro gram. The first two years are as a freshmen and sophomore, the next four include the junior and senior years and two years of graduate work, and the last year is spent out on internship, Thomas said. “We would like to have students enter the program as juniors,” Thomas said. By starting out at this level, they get a much more inte grated program because their junior and senior years they attend the seminars instead of taking an elec tive, he said. “The objective is to get them to think of themselves as professionals and as doctoral students,” Thomas said. Most of the students in the program now have master’s or bachelor’s degrees, he said. “It’s still a fairly small program. We re trying to make it grow, but with prudence ” Thomas said. Eight engineers have graduated from the program. There are 20 students in the program on campus now, and three presently working on intern ships. “The internship is a very vital portion of the program,” Thomas said. For one year the students work on actual engineering problems, comparable to a medical doctor in ternship. No dissertation is written, but the students come back the semester after their internship and write a report on it. “Industry believes in the program and wants to help us shape it’” Thomas said. Members of an indus trial representatives committee come in at their own expense to ad vise and counsel the program. In dustrial companies also cooperate in the internship program. The average starting salary for graduates of the program is in the vicinity of $23,000, Thomas said. “Twenty years from now the pro fessional will be the guy or gal who has the Doctor of Engineering de gree.” The people with a bachelor’s or master’s degree will be support people, Thomas said. Bill Stevens, an Agricultural En gineer in the program for two and a half years, said he wanted to get in the administrative end of engineer- ing- “This way I’ll be getting almost an equivalent in course work of a mas ters of business administration, plus equivalent coursework as Ph.D. types are receiving,” Stevens said. “I wasn’t as interested in research as I was in being an engineering manager,” said Steve Kibbee, a mechanical engineer in the pro gram. He feels the program is a broad overview of both business and engineering. “It’s the greatest engineering project I’ve ever been involved in,” said Thomas. He feels the program will continue to keep A&M one of the leading schools of engineering and calls the participants the “cream of the crop. ”. MOTHERS! GERBER BABY FOOD 6,*96 STRAINED FOOD ( JUICE Q-TIPS 400 DOUBLE TIPPED SAFETY SWABS REG. 1.19 89 POLO SHIRTS INFANTS & TODDLERS 79' I 19 REG. 1.49 REG. 2.29 CANDLE LITE SCENTED CANDLES IN OLD FASHION JARS 99 REG. 1.17 JOHNSON’S DAYTIME 24 DISPOSABLE DIAPERS _ 99 REG. 2.25 GIBSON’S WED. THU. FBI. SAT. OCTOE nri i A SALE THAT YOU SIWHHVET HANKSCRAFT BY GERBER VAPORIZER HUMIDIFIER NO. 5592 GAL. CAP. REG. 6.88 5 49 FRUIT OF THE LOOM BIRDSEYE DIAPERS PKG. OF 12 3 99 27x27 WEST BEND ELECTRIC GRIDDLE 175 SO. IN. OF GRILLING AREA 19 97 LIMITED QUANTITIES SORRY NO RAINCHECKS GOOD VALUE SALAD DRESSING QT. SIZE REG. 89- 50 ULTRA BRIGHT TOOTHPASTE 6 0Z. LAWH CROQUET SET 24 97 WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT QUAN. KRAFT MACARONI & CHEESE T'/2 oz. 5 s $ 1 CUTEX POLISH REMOVER 3 : $1 R 4 0Z. WATER PIK ORAL HYGIENE SET 1 088 JnHREG. 22.9 .97 GLADIOLA BISCUIT MIX REG. 19' MAKE BISCUITS, WAFFLES,PANCAKES 13 HOXZEMA SKIN CREAM 10 0Z. REG. 1.89 1 47 FALL DRY FLOWER ARRAHGEMEHT 4 97 THESE COUPONS GOOD WEDNESDAY ONLY COUPON THESE COUPONS GOOD THURSDAY ONLY HEINZ KETCHUP REG. 89' B16 32 OZ. “TNE SLOW KETCHUP” EARTH BORN CREAM RIHSE AND CONDITIONER 12 OZ. REG. 1.49 1 19 NEW SHIPMENT OF 8x10 PICTURES TO BRIGHTEN YOUR WALL! 1 67 CONTADINi TOMATO SAUCE BIG 16. OZ. SIZE REG. SI- WHITE RAIN NON AEROSO HAIR SPRI I OZ. REG. US 99 c RUBBERMAID DISH DRAINER YELLOW, BROW GOLD, WRITE 1 88 REG. 2.23 DURA-MAT _ FULL SIZE CARPET SQUARES BEDSPREAD 50 (50 PI MON NO-IRON MACHINE WASHII I 4.2S TH