Professional Development Buffet: From Banquet To À La Carte

Both ABET and industrial advisory boards encourage engineering departments to include instruction in “soft skills” that reflect the broader professional qualities necessary for student success in their careers. These include oral and written communication, ethics and professional behavior, resume and interviewing skills, electronic and professional etiquette, information literacy, and broader knowledge of engineering solutions in a global or societal context. While some departments dedicate one or more instructional credits to accomplish this objective, others may integrate such topics into existing core courses. This paper presents a one-credit model for a junior-level course in professional development in chemical engineering at a large public university. The topical content which has been developed may also be used “À la carte” for incorporating elements into existing engineering courses if there is not room in the curriculum for an integrated course of this type. The complete course content, including the syllabus, subject matter presentations, assignments, and relevant links, is available on a public web site for use by engineering instructors: (www.courses.ncsu.edu/che395). Course evaluations indicate that students assign high values to this required seminar.