BlackboardFAMU-FSU College of Engineering Receives Diversity Award
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - At the ABET Commission Summit, October 28, 2009, in San Antonio, Texas, Dr. Ching-Jen Chen, Dean of the Florida A&M University - Florida State University College of Engineering, accepted the 2009 Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity, one of three 2009 recipients.
ABET Inc. announced the three 2009 Diversity Award winners on October 1, 2009, recognizing the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering for the following achievements:
"In recognition of the creation of a unique engineering program - formed from the partnership between a Research-1 and a historically black university - that has succeeded by being among the top five engineering programs in bachelor's degrees awarded to black students as well as among the top ten in graduate degrees, and for successfully serving more than 40,000 diverse middle and high school students through outreach programs."
The FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, from a meager beginning in 1982, has grown to a widely recognized engineering college with over 2000 students in both undergraduate and graduate programs in seven engineering disciplines. Its commitment to diversity in its mission statement has been achieved by being among the top five in the number of BS degrees awarded to Blacks in the past several years, and among the top ten in graduate degrees. Almost half of its enrollment is from minority groups, and a fifth is women.
The College has recruited a widely diverse faculty from over 20 countries on all continents. More than eighty faculty members are engaged in many areas of leading edge research in addition to their teaching duties, attracting over $20,000,000 annually in research funding. These faculty participate in several nationally recognized research centers, including the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the Center for Advanced Power Systems, and the High Performance Materials Institute. Twenty of them have achieved fellowship rank in their engineering societies, and two are members of the National Academy of Engineering.
ABET Inc. is the recognized accrediting body for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology.
The organization's diversity award is named for the late Dr. Claire L. Felbinger, a Public Member on the ABET Board of Directors and a leader in promoting diversity initiatives for technical fields. The award recognizes educational units, individuals, associations, and firms for extraordinary success in achieving diversity and inclusiveness or for facilitating diversity and inclusiveness in the technological segments of our society.
The Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity began as the President's Award for Diversity in 2005. It was meant both as an extension of ABET's commitment to fostering diversity in the disciplines it accredits and as recognition of the outstanding efforts being made in this realm. The award has been presented annually since that time.
To learn more about the Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity, visit www.abet.org/diversity.shtml.
