The ASEE Chemical Engineering Summer School for new faculty - A model for other disciplines to consider

The Chemical Engineering Division (CHED) of the American Society for Engineering Education held the 13 ^th in a series of Chemical Engineering Summer Schools during the summer of 2002 at the University of Colorado. This Summer School, which is currently offered every five years and dates back to 1931, is unique among the various engineering disciplines. It provides extensive educational resources to aid in the development of new faculty who have joined their departments since the previous Summer School. The Summer School was staffed by established faculty members, representatives from governmental agencies, and industrial participants. Each academic department in Chemical Engineering in the US was invited to send at least one new faculty member, preferably hired within the last five years. Support is typically obtained from government, foundations, and industry to defray most of the on-site expenses for participants. In the summer of 2002, some 160 young Chemical Engineering educators and about 50 Summer School faculty gathered in Boulder, Colorado for six days of plenary lectures, presentations, workshops, mentoring activities, poster presentations, and casual socializing among all participants. CD-ROM's and a web site were used to widely disseminate all the instructional materials from the Summer School to the academic community within Chemical Engineering. This paper will provide an overview of the purpose, organization and operation of the Summer School. It is hoped that this paper/presentation will encourage other engineering disciplines to organize similar programs that will significantly contribute to the development of new faculty as they start their academic careers.