Steven Lincoln from our Communications group was reading the 25th anniversary history of the College of Technology and shared with me this quote from our first dean, Charles Lawshe. To quote:
” . . . universities, particularly land-grant universities, must continually modify and adapt their curricula and their educational delivery structures, sometimes producing faculty instability and the need for academic reorganization.”
This quote aligns almost perfectly with the current initiative in the College of Technology to transform its curriculum. It also relates to my January 18th Faculty Staff Forum presentation in which I described something called the Technology S-curve.
The Technology S-curve is a visual representation of the waxing and waining nature of technology as it moves from one wave of innovation to another. As a College of Technology we need to be in sync with these technological waves so that our research and curriculum are reflective of the early stages of emerging significant technological inovations. Unfortunately, as leaders in our respective fields of technology we must constantly be willing to update and change. This is not easy but that is the fortunate side of being in technology, we always get to play with the latest toys and gadgets and apply them to important problems to improve the human conditions. Embracing change is a defining attribute of a technologist. By changing our curriculum we change the world.
