Melding engineering into a liberal arts tradition: a unique nine-semester BS/BA electrical engineering program

Abstract

In 1986, the University of San Diego (USD) began an initiative to enhance the science portion of its liberal arts tradition. A new nine-semester program in Electrical Engineering was created as one of the flagship components of that initiative. Founding and building an engineering program, not only within a liberal arts university but also within a College of Arts and Sciences, presented a challenging set of objectives and constraints to the founding Electrical Engineering faculty. In particular, satisfying the extensive general education component at USD while fulfilling the needs of a quality engineering program presented an interesting set of tradeoffs. The resultant program is the only EAC/ABET accredited nine-semester course of study automatically leading to a dual Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts degree in Electrical Engineering. The dual nature of the degree proclaims the breadth of academic experiences required of every student. This paper chronicles the first ten years of Electrical Engineering at USD: the growth from its first classes in 1987 to national recognition.