Report on the Evaluation of the Engineering Science Program at Queensborough Community College May 2011 Dr. Arthur Corradetti
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Queensborough Community College of CUNY
Dean Corradetti,
Please find below a summary of my review of the Engineering science program at
Queensborough Community College (QCC) developed during my campus visit of May 9
– 11, 2011 and attendant recommendations.
Respectfully,
Robert Packer, M.S., CISSP, ITIL
Evaluator, Engineering Science Program
Summary of Program
The design of the Engineering Science curriculum is, in essence, the design of a 2-year
core general scientific degree program with significant elements of the liberal arts to
round out the student’s education. The only elements of engineering education within
the program are six credits selected by the student from organic chemistry, computer
science, electrical engineering, geology, mathematics or design drafting, hopefully with
the advice of an academic advisor and as offered by the relevant departments.
It can be said with little chance of contradiction that the faculty and staff at QCC are the
equal to those at most senior colleges and certainly equal or superior to that of any
Community College in the country. There are over 30 full-time faculty and numerous
adjunct faculty supporting the Engineering Science degree program.
With respect to the faculty directly supporting the scientific and professional elements of
the Engineering Science program; members of the Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry,
Electrical & Computer Engineering Technology and Mechanical Engineering
Technology & Design Drafting; their experience, advanced credentials, grant
participation and publications should be the envy of any faculty and provide ample
evidence of the quality of the relevant faculty.
Each of the academic departments associated with the core elements of the
Engineering Science curriculum has incorporated modern pedagogical tools into their
methods of instruction. These include such tools as SMART Boards, the Blackboard
Report on the Evaluation of the Engineering Science Program at Queensborough Community College May 2011 system, computer-aided instructional tools and MS PowerPoint in addition to traditional
methods of instruction.
The academic departments have adopted the use of rubrics to help establish a clear set
of criteria and standards that are linked to learning objectives for each of the courses.
This establishes a consistent set of criteria for grading the student’s efforts in the
classes. A sampling of student work, made available for inspection during the evaluation
in conjunction with student and faulty interviews helped to establish substantive
evidence of effective student learning.
It should be noted that the department chairpersons and department liaisons were
extremely cooperative with the evaluation team and very anxious to do whatever they
and their faculties could to improve the program and entice more students to enter
Engineering Science at QCC and remain to attainment of the Associate’s degree.
In total agreement with the general observations made by my colleagues evaluating the
programs in Environmental Health and Health Sciences and Liberal Arts and Sciences,
the academic support programs and departments are superior to those at virtually all of
the peer institutions in the NY metropolitan area. From the Freshman Academies (most
relevant to this program, the STEM Academy) to academic advisement to counseling to
tutoring services to the Library and Academic Computing Departments, students have
the opportunity to avail themselves of an incredible array of support services which help
ensure academic success.
The academic computing facilities at QCC, both within departments, the library and
within the Academic Computing Center provide an extraordinary array of computers and
software, supporting all disciplines, which the students are able to access independently
and with assistance over a wide range of days and hours throughout the semester and
during those periods of study leading to final exams.
Not only does the campus library hold over 150, 000 volumes but also provides online
subscriptions to a variety of relevant databases and publications hat support both
faculty research and student studies, many relevant to the engineering and scientific
disciplines.
The Campus Writing Center and Campus Learning Center provide comprehensive
services supporting those students requiring remediation (in addition to that provided
through the Basic Educational Skills Department) as well as those fully engaged in the
Engineering Science program. Additionally, the Mathematics Department Math Lab is
well staffed and prepared to assist these students needing supplemental support in core
math courses. Upon inspection, all these supporting areas appeared to be working at
capacity to support student needs.
Report on the Evaluation of the Engineering Science Program at Queensborough Community College May 2011 Based upon my review of the self-study, there can be little argument with its major
conclusions. The self-study appeared to be comprehensive in nature and was thorough
in its review of enrollment statistics, program trends, individual courses and the overall
curriculum to the extent that data were available.
The report’s comparison of this curriculum to those offered at other area colleges both
inside and outside of CUNY falls somewhat short of a comprehensive list of peer
institutions that host Associate’s degree programs in Engineering Science that both
compete for student population and receive transfer students from the QCC program
and accept transfer credit. I believe that it would be appropriate to also consider the
programs at Nassau Community College, Suffolk Community College, Borough of
Manhattan Community College, Bronx Community College, Hostos Community College
and Westchester Community College as points of comparison both from a structural
program perspective as well as a rate of successful transfer/program completion at
typical receiving institutions. While there is a gap in the comprehensiveness of the
comparison, based on an ad-hoc comparison I performed with the programs at the other
named institutions I would support the conclusion that a flexible set of requirements
based on the intended major discipline should be enacted.
There were some data gaps, sometimes considerable, in a number of the areas
reviewed by the self-assessment team. These included assessment tools and
standards, content of some elements of previous studies and incomplete or insufficient
statistical samples.
Program Strengths
The overall Engineering Science curriculum provides a solid scientific and mathematical
foundation for further studies in receiving 4-year institutions upon successful graduation
or even early transfer as well as broad-based liberal arts and humanities content. The
quality of instruction and resources provided by the academic departments and support
services are of high caliber (this has been attested to anecdotally by students who have
transferred and by reports to QCC Chairpersons by peers at the 4-year colleges).
Report on the Evaluation of the Engineering Science Program at Queensborough Community College May 2011 Program Weaknesses/Recommendations
The main weaknesses noted in the program relate to its relevance to the programs at
receiving institutions and preparation for transfer to specific engineering programs with
maximum major-area transfer credit and likelihood of successful completion of the 4year programs.
Articulation with 4-year institutions is amongst the biggest weakness of the program.
There is currently only one formal articulation agreement on file and that is with The City
College (CCNY). This agreement is more than 10 years old and has not been managed
or revised in those many years and appears to be minimally functional.
While CCNY is logically the most likely transfer option for QCC Engineering Science
graduates, it is far from the only school to which students transfer. Even within CUNY,
the Engineering Science program at the College of Staten Island should be considered.
Other of the area 4-year schools to which QCC engineering science students have
transferred in the past, such as Stony Brook University, other of the SUNY engineering
programs, The Polytechnic Institute of NYU, Manhattan College, The Cooper Union and
Columbia University must have their program requirements reviewed on a frequent
basis in an attempt to maximize major-area transfer credit (even though they may
receive elective credit) and, as appropriate, have articulation agreements negotiated
and drawn between QCC and those institutions.
Even without formal articulation, unless the QCC Engineering Science program content
is frequently reviewed for course relevance and transfer credit, there is significant
danger that fewer students will be attracted to the program and retained through
graduation. This is supported by the responses given by Engineering Science students
in a section of PH-413 interviewed during this assessment.
Specific comments (as well as personal observations made through my review of the
programs at the aforementioned senior colleges) related to the transfer credit allotted
specifically by both CCNY and Stony Brook University.
Students commented on the lack of enthusiasm to complete the QCC program to
graduation since upon course evaluation, counselors at both CCNY and Stony Brook
were only offering direct major course transfer for two or three (depending on the
institution) calculus classes and not for differential equations or linear algebra (based on
course content compatibility). With the exception of those students transferring into
Chemical engineering, only one chemistry course is a requirement of the program (at
some of the schools) and two physics classes (out of three required by the QCC
program) will count as core courses (the students in this class were transferring to
mechanical, civil and electrical engineering programs).
Report on the Evaluation of the Engineering Science Program at Queensborough Community College May 2011 Several of the students mentioned that they had friends that transferred early to such
schools as La Guardia Community College and were not interested in following the
curricular structure of the QCC programs or chose not to attend QCC at all because of
the inability to receive significant major-area transfer credit or the full articulation of
other school’s programs with CCNY.
Albeit a small sample, the student comments should be considered strongly as the
future of the current program and recruiting efforts are considered.
Additionally, a review of the program requirements and the requirements of a number of
the 4-year schools has shown that a number of the liberal arts and humanities classes
do not meet specific program requirements for transfer (e.g. Composition 2 and Health
Education). A number of the 4-year schools require (and other of the Community
Colleges provide) a technical writing class (which could be offered by the English faculty
at QCC) in lieu of a second composition course.
Should it be deemed appropriate, additional major-area engineering electives could be
offered by the ECET and MT & DD Departments should the curriculum be revised to be
more in-line with other peer institutions. It is this evaluator’s opinion that these types of
changes would make the QCC program more attractive to potential students, most of
whom already take more than the standard 2-years to graduate and are not happy
about having to wait until transfer to sample more than one course in their major and
extend their stays at the upper division schools to which they transfer when their
expectation is that all courses will transfer if the graduate with the A.S. degree.
A final comment relates to the lack of program ownership of the Engineering Science
program. As previously noted, the program content is primarily supported by the
Mathematics and Physics Departments even though the students aspire to engineering
careers. With best of intention (and there is no doubt of this) faculty within those
departments are generally not prepared to provide best career guidance to the students
relative to engineering careers.
QCC has a significant faculty base with both degrees and experience in the various
engineering disciplines as members of both the Electrical & Computer Engineer
Technology and Mechanical Engineering Technology & Design Drafting departments. It
is therefore recommended that formal “ownership” and “sponsorship” of the Engineering
Science program and students be given to these departments as it is apparent that their
career guidance is likely to better inspire and guide the students to successful
engineering careers.