Development of the James Madison University Undergraduate Engineering Leadership Program

Abstract

The Department of Engineering (Madison Engineering) at James Madison University has a single baccalaureate engineering degree program that is aimed at engaging students and developing their engineering knowledge, skills, and values through a project-based curriculum. One recent development is the Madison Engineering Leadership (MadE Leadership) program. The engineering leadership idea grew from the first lines of the Harvard Business Review Blog Network June 7, 2010 article entitled “British Petroleum (BP)’s Tony Hayward and the Failure of Leadership Accountability,” by Rosabeth Moss Kanter where it stated, “BP doesn’t need an engineer at the helm. It needs a leader.” This article was published three months after the April 20, 2010 explosion of a British Petroleum offshore oil platform and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. More recently, the General Motors ignition switch issues that were reportedly known back in 2001, yet suppressed for more than a decade, provide another example that leadership principles should be incorporated into engineering programs, especially undergraduate programs. The MadE Leadership program is currently under development. The program has been devised to provide upper-class undergraduate students with opportunities via course content and interaction with first-year students through the linkage to the redesigned first-year course ENGR 101: Engineering Opportunities where the leaders serve as mentors. The mission of MadE Leadership is to help students learn and develop mastery through practicing leadership skills in order to become effective, ethical, and empathetic leaders. The goals of the program are to 1) engage engineering undergraduates with the skills and attitudes that will prepare them to be productive and ethical leaders and 2) integrate undergraduate education with leadership principles and practices. We strive for the program to be a model of what is at the core of Madison Engineering, which is the development of a community of learners that engenders respect, fosters excellence, promotes collaboration, inspires generosity, and encourages life-long learning. In this paper, we present the framework of the program focusing on the structure of the summer workshop (MadE Leadership Mentoring Program) and the introductory course (Engineering Leadership I: Theory and Practice). The MadE Leadership Mentoring Program is a summer workshop that allowed students to conduct individual introspection while developing the core identity of the program and the leader peer group. Engineering Leadership I permitted the exploration into how leadership theory can inform and direct the way leadership is practiced and a platform for feedback during the semester as matters pertain to leading first-year students. The course is constructed to advance our understanding of the many different approaches to leadership and ways to practice it more effectively. The activities within the program are aimed to assist our students in achieving their greatest potential to adapt and to adjust to a diverse and ever changing world.