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THE ORGANIZATION OF A SCHOOL OF

ENGINEERING.

BY ARTHUR H. FORD,

Professor of Electrical Engineering, Georgia School of Technology.

While looking over the catalogues of several engineering schools recently, the writer was struck by the fact that they are organized on almost as many plans as there are schools; which is not to be wondered at when we consider that there is no organic connection between the schools and that they have been influenced by various surroundings; from those of a classical college in a rural community to those of an engineering school standing by itself in a manufacturing city. The present rapid growth of the enrollment of engineering schools, in many cases exceeding the growth of their incomes, makes this an opportune time to discuss the question of organization; as that which was satisfactory for fifty students and a half dozen instructors is no longer adequate when the enrollment has grown to five hundred with the corresponding increase in the number of instructors. While the larger school is more difficult to organize so as to secure the proper coordination, it is apt to be more efficient on account of the fact that each instructor has fewer subjects to teach.

The purpose of the school of engineering may be stated as the training of the student in the application of the forces and materials of nature to the requirements of man. At some future date this school will rank with many schools of law, medicine and theology

as a purely graduate school requiring the possession of a bachelor's degree for admission; but at present the engineering courses in a university must be put on a par with the college courses leading to the bachelor's degree. The task is then to take the student from the high school and in four years (which is too short a time) give him a thorough training in physics, chemistry and mathematics, and show how these sciences are applied in the solution of engineering problems. If time can be found the student should study economics, history and language also; the first of these being of great importance on account of its bearing on labor problems and the economic importance of engineering works. In order that the discussion may have a definite basis let us assume that a school of engineering in which courses in civil, mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering are given, and having an attendance of five hundred students, is to be organized as part of a university. A school of this size is selected because it permits a reasonable division of subjects among the teaching force without having a disproportionately large faculty; and one which is part of a university on account of the advantages of having much of the preliminary instruction given outside of the school of engineering.

A study of the subjects taught in various schools shows that they may be divided into three groups: pure science, engineering studies and broadening studies, which will be grouped into departments according to the following plan: (1) All instruction in any subject to be given in one department; (2) fundamental subjects which are required by students in more than one course to be given in a separate department; (3) pure science,

language, etc., to be given in the corresponding departments of other schools in the university.

The first point is of especial importance in those subjects where part of the work is done in the laboratory; for one of the difficult points in teaching such a subject is the coordination of the book work with that of the laboratory. This is next to impossible of accomplishment where the laboratory work connected with several subjects is in a separate department, as in many institutions having a department of experimental engineering. In addition to the difficulty just mentioned there is the waste of laboratory time taken for explanations which might be made much easier while the subject is being discussed in the class-room.

The second point makes it more easy to avoid the tendency to narrow the teaching of a subject (such as analytic mechanics) to that part required for application to a particular subject (such as machine design) when the two are taught in the same department. This tendency is sure to exist to a slight extent no matter how hard the instructor may try to avoid it. When this limitation of a subject exists the student often finds himself handicapped by lack of knowledge when he encounters a problem which was not contemplated by the teacher of the subject.

The third point encourages that association of students who are engaged in entirely different lines of thought, which is one of the great benefits of a university training on account of the breadth of view which it gives. There is the additional advantage that the instruction is more apt to be up to date if given in a department which is engaged in giving other than elementary instruction.

As every engineer must know something of his neighbor's field there is a necessity for two kinds of courses: first, extended courses dealing with the theory, operation and design of machines and structures; and second, brief courses dealing with their operating characteristics. The first of these is intended for the specialist in any line, while the second is for specialists in related lines and has for its object the giving of sufficient information to enable the engineer to select apparatus and machinery with intelligence, or know when to call another specialist into consultation.

On the basis just given the following departments of instruction will be required, the subjects taught in each being given after the name of the department:

Courses in the School of Engineering:

Heat engineering-steam engines, gas engines, air engines, heating and ventilating.

Electrical engineering-dynamo electric machinery, electric distribution of energy, electric power stations, telephone and telegraph.

Chemical engineering-industrial chemistry, electro chemistry, metallurgy.

Civil engineering-surveying, roads and pavements, railway location and operation, water supply and sewerage systems.

Machine and structural design-kinematics of machinery, machine design, bridge and building design, masonry design.

Mechanics-analytic mechanics, mechanics of materials, hydraulics.

Drawing-freehand and instrumental drawing, descriptive geometry.

Mechanical practice-wood work, metal work, shop organization and management.

Courses in other Schools:

Physics-general, thermo dynamics, electro dynamics.

Chemistry-general.

Mathematics.

Geology.

Astronomy.

Language.

History.

Economics.

Law of Contracts.

The subjects under each department heading are not intended to include all the subjects which may be taught in that department but only the principal ones. In general closely related subjects have been placed in the same department so as to increase the teaching efficiency.

The department of heat engineering is a departure from the precedent of American schools, but such a department exists in fact, if not in name, and it exists both in fact and name in one or more European schools. In it, it is the intention to place all subjects relating to the transmission of heat and its conversion into mechanical energy or the opposite.

The department of electrical engineering should include all subjects relating to the transmission of electrical energy and the mutual transformations of electrical and mechanical energy, whether for the primary purpose of transmitting power or intelligence.

The department of chemical engineering should include the industrial applications of chemistry in the production of compounds or the transformation of chem

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