Page 115 - Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11338.html

Designing from a Blank Slate:
The Development of the Initial Olin

College Curriculum

Sherra E. Kerns, Richard K. Miller, and David V. Kerns
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Olin College is an independent institution conceived and primarily
funded by the F.W. Olin Foundation. The college, located in Needham,
Massachusetts, on about 70 acres of land adjacent to Babson College,
was chartered in 1997 by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education
to offer a B.S. in mechanical engineering, electrical and computer engi-
neering, and engineering. Conceived as a residential undergraduate in-
stitution focusing on the education of engineers, Olin College was
charged by the foundation with exploring, testing, and implementing
innovative engineering curricula and addressing what the National Sci-
ence Foundation (NSF) and others have identified as systemic issues
with existing engineering education.
The college is entering its third year of teaching programs for credit;
for the preceding two years the faculty worked full time on inventing
the curriculum. The short-term enrollment target is 300 students; the
campus is designed for an ultimate enrollment of 600 to 650 students.
A fundamental objective of the F.W. Olin Foundation is that Olin Col-
lege offer all of its admitted students a four-year, merit-based tuition
scholarship, not just for the first few years but in perpetuity. Admission
to the college is highly competitive, and a student/faculty ratio of fewer
than 10 to 1 will be maintained (the ratio will be much lower in the
early years).
Although Olin College is completely independent of nearby Babson
College, the two institutions have established a strong collaborative
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