Southern University has been actively engaged in the assessment of student academic achievement since 1998, when the Office of Planning, Assessment and Institutional Research, PAIR, was charged to develop mechanisms for evaluation and assessment of the University's undergraduate and graduate programs and research units. At about the same time, the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges (SACS) Commission on Institutions of Higher Education began to place special emphasis on the assessment of student academic achievement as part of its accreditation process. In concurrence with and in response to that emphasis, the Chancellor charged a standing faculty committee with oversight of the student outcomes assessment efforts of the campus.

Since then, the PAIR Office has worked to help academic units develop assessment plans for their majors and to develop assessment measures for the broader, overarching, campus-wide learning goals that are expected of all Southern University students.

While campus leadership and support is necessary, only through faculty involvement can institutions devise effective and efficient program-based assessment plans that will produce results beneficial for all academic units. With assessment planning located primarily at the unit level, faculty can exercise their responsibility to devise appropriate methods to measure student learning. Ownership of assessment planning is given to faculty and enables them to determine the methods and instruments that are most applicable to their educational objectives and missions. Also, each academic unit is best suited to determine how assessment results can be used to ascertain curricular strengths and weaknesses and to improve programs.

In fall of 1999, a committee was formed by the Dean of the College of Engineering (CoE) at Southern University, and a college-wide assessment coordinator was named to chair the committee. This committee was charged with the task of studying a comprehensive outcomes assessment program for the CoE. In light of the discussions made by many accrediting agencies, including ABET, regarding the requirement for an outcomes assessment program, the college presented the preliminary results of its program to the Engineering Council of Visitors (ECoV) in the Spring of 2001. The program was reviewed and subsequently approved by the ECoV. Consequently, each program in the CoE was directed to adopt the overall outcomes assessment approach and tailored it according to their mission.

This booklet introduces an outcomes assessment model utilizing the ABET requirements for electrical engineering programs. The implementation procedures are outlined in the College of Engineering Outcomes Assessment Handbook.

Southern University was established by Louisiana State Legislative Act 87 in 1880 to serve as an institution of higher learning, educating persons of color and granting degrees pertaining to the arts and letters.  The College of Engineering was established in 1956 as one of the nine colleges operating at Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge Louisiana. The Department of Electrical Engineering offers a four-year-program leading to a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering.  The program is designed to prepare students with an understanding of how to apply laws of basic science, while simultaneously stimulating the development of creative thinking, professional attitude, and economic judgment.  The flexibility and interdisciplinary aspects of the program, as depicted in the elective concentration, are intended to meet the needs of those students whose future interests may lie in the pursuit of graduate studies in electrical engineering, or in one or more interfaces between engineering and the sciences.  There is a total of 135 hours in the electrical engineering curriculum.

The current undergraduate enrollment is about 370 students, who are mostly of African American descent and who are predominately Louisiana natives.  There are 10 full-time faculty members consisting of two professors, four associate professors, and four assistant professors.  The department offers a well-balanced program in Electrical Engineering with emphasis in control and systems, communications, computers, and electronics.  Course offerings are aimed at providing a rigorous engineering education for students who may seek employment in the field of engineering or in related interdisciplinary fields where both technical and non-technical knowledge play a significant role in career growth and success. Applications of modern techniques in computers and computer-aided design are encouraged in Electrical Engineering courses. 

The department has seventeen instructional and research laboratories that are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, instrumentation, and computing facilities.  Electrical Engineering faculty are currently engaged in 7 educational and basic engineering research projects funded at over 350,000 dollars through grants from state government, federal agencies, and industry.

Faculty research areas include: (1) Electronic Materials, Sensors, Nanoparticles and Nanostructures, (2) Polymer applications, (3) Semiconductor Device Physics, Processing & Process Modeling,  (4) Device Measurement, Characterization, and Reliability, (4) Bioelectronics, (5) Microelectronics, (6) Control Systems, (7) Data Analysis and Modeling, (8) Electric Power Systems, (9) Computer Networks, (10) Digital Signal Processing. (11) Communications Signals and Systems, (12) Broadband Telecommunications Network Design and Optimization, and (13) Stochastic Modeling.

Our students are highly sought after by companies in all of the above fields, which recruit twice a year on campus.  Statistically, more industries list electrical engineering as a field of choice for campus recruiting than any other discipline. About twenty percent of EE graduates choose to continue with graduate studies immediately after graduation,. Electrical engineering faculty actively encourage graduates to continue their education at the graduate level by inviting  university representatives from the big ten schools for information sessions and personal interviews.  Our students are exposed to an assorted and stimulating mix of elective courses, active student and professional societies, and design and research activities with the help of a national laboratory in Baton Rouge, the J. Bennett Johnston Sr. Center for Advanced Micro Structures and Devices, CAMD.  Southern University's College of Engineering and Department of Electrical Engineering as a whole has undergone significant changes and has progressed in facilities and space over the past two years.  We have moved to a new engineering building named P. B. S. Pinchback Hall, and our Council of Visitors and Industrial Advisory Board are actively lending their support in various needs of the program.

The mission of Southern University is to be a "People's Institution serving the State, the Nation, and the World." The University's goal is to prepare students to compete globally in their respective professions and to engage in advanced study in graduate and professional schools.

The vision for the College is to be a premier values-based institution, committed to excellence in preparing students for success in the engineering and technology professions, through research, experience-based instruction, and community service, under the directions of a highly qualified and customer-oriented faculty and staff.

The mission of the College is to provide its students with a high-quality education, which will enable them to successfully compete within all dimensions of the engineering and technology professions, while making significant contributions to society. The program's vision, mission, and goals are consistent with the mission and goals of the University and the College and conforms in their focus on teaching, research, and public service.

The Electrical Engineering Department is to be a premier values-based program, committed to excellence in preparing students for success in the Electrical engineering profession, through research, experienced-based instruction, and community service, under the direction of a highly qualified and customer-oriented faculty and staff.

The Mission of the Department is to prepare students to compete globally in their profession, and to achieve excellence in undergraduate and graduate education, research, and public service.

The program educational goal is to provide an educational experience that inspires students to reach for the highest levels of intellectual attainment and personal growth throughout their lives.

The significant constituencies of the EE program are:

• The students of the program
• Faculty members serving the program
• The companies which employ these students
• The alumni of the program

The program is evaluated through consultation with these various constituencies and also with the EE Departmental Council and the Engineering Council of Visitors; the results of those evaluations are used to formulate revisions to the program.

In the year 2000, the College of Engineering at Southern University and A&M College, formulated and discussed the educational objectives in its strategic planning sessions with industrial partners (Raytheon Corporation, Lucent Technologies, Boeing Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Inc., and Intel).  As a part of the strategic planning efforts, each program unit developed a set of Program Educational Objectives. The Electrical Engineering faculty developed the following characteristics of our graduates:

Undergraduate electrical engineering students at Southern University will be given an excellent engineering education that is comparable in scope with ABET-accredited programs in other public institutions and that will prepare them for a career in electrical engineering.

Southern University B.S.E.E. graduates shall have effective communication skills, enhanced design skills, and the ability to formulate and solve problems using modern and conventional engineering tools.

The Program Educational Objectives (PEO) were derived and is consistent with the mission of the University, the College, and the Department. These objectives broadly represent the expected career related accomplishments of graduates during the first few years after graduation.  The aim of the Electrical Engineering program is to produce graduates who meet the following program educational objectives:

PEO1:    To train students thoroughly in methods of analysis, including the mathematical and computational skills appropriate for electrical engineers to use when solving problems.

PEO2:    To develop the skills pertinent to the design process, including the student's ability to formulate problems, to think creatively, to communicate effectively, to synthesize information, and to work collaboratively.

PEO3:    To teach students to use current experimental and data analysis techniques for engineering applications.

PEO4:    To prepare for successful careers & life-long learning.

PEO5:    To instill in our students an understanding of their professional and ethical responsibilities with a   knowledge and understanding of contemporary issues.

Students who qualify for an Electrical Engineering degree from Southern University and A&M College will have attained the following:

PO-1: The ability to apply knowledge of math, science, and engineering to the practice of Electrical Engineering;

PO-2: The ability to demonstrate a proficiency in the design of Electrical Systems using data gathered through experimentation, modeling, simulation, or realization;

PO-3: The ability to identify, formulate, and solve problems using modern computer-based engineering   tools;

PO-4: The ability to function in inter-disciplinary teams in a professional way while demonstrating  professional and ethical responsibilities;

PO-5: The ability to engage in life-long learning and to develop an understanding of the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context with the knowledge and understanding of contemporary issues;

PO-6: The ability to communicate effectively in graphical, oral, and written formats.