The Evolution of the Fulton Schools of Engineering - Fall 2021 - Brief History, Current Status, and Looking Forward to The Future

Oct 15, 2026

This paper documents the evolution of Arizona State University’s Fulton Schools of Engineering across organizational structure, large-scale student engagement, and curriculum innovations. Invited to the MIT-Olin Colloquium in April 2019, the authors outline representative ASU achievements in response to special-issue guidelines. The discussion frames persistent engineering education challenges, highlights systems-level human-centered partnership principles, and explains how access missions shape efforts to scale impact over the past fifteen years.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction and ASU Context

Advances in Engineering Education

FSE Organizational Structure

Ira A. Fulton investment and restructuring

| | Ad | vances in Engineering Edu | cation | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | FALL 2021 The Evolution of the Fulton Schools of Engineering: A Brief History, The Current Status, and Looking Forward to The Future ANN F. MCKENNA JAMES COLLOFELLO AND KYLE SQUIRES Arizona State University Tempe, Arizona ABSTRACT As part of being named one of ten emerging leaders in engineering education, Arizona State University (ASU) was invited to participate in the MIT-Olin Colloquium on the Global State of the Art in Engineering Education held in Boston in April 2019. As a group we shared innovations at our respective institutions and identified opportunities to collaborate to continue to advance the state of engineering education. In response to the guidelines for this special issue, this paper provides details on a few representative ASU achievements to date, and identifies opportunities for the continued evolution of the Fulton Schools of Engineering. Key words: higher education, engineering curriculum, institutional change INTRODUCTION AND ASU CONTEXT Engineering education has been in a state of evolution for the past century. If we review the issues mentioned in the Mann report (1918), one of the earliest reports on engineering education, we see recurring themes today as described by several contemporary reports (e. g. National Academy of Engineering 2004, National Science Board 2007, National Academy of Engineering 2013, Graham 2018) . As was the case in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, engineering education continues to confront a shortage of engineers, the demands of industry are shifting requiring engineering schools to adapt to the changing nature of the workforce, engineering curricula are crowded which presents challenges on how to integrate interdisciplinarity perspectives, there are debates on ADVANCES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION The Evolution of the Fulton Schools of Engineering: A Brief History, The Current Status, and Looking Forward to The Future effective pedagogical approaches to teaching engineering, there is a lack of diversity, and more (e.g. Wickenden 1930, Grinter 1955, Walker et al. 1968) . Observing the evolution in engineering education over the past century, it is apparent that core issues have persisted, and while we have made substantive advances, there is much more to do. Within the engineering education community there is growing commitment to understanding how to address issues from a systems-level, human-centered, partnership-based and global perspective. These are guiding principles we have applied within the Fulton Schools of Engineering (FSE) at ASUto develop and implement innovations in engineering education that leverage our place. We leverage our place by embracing the environment within which we reside including the socioeconomic and physical setting of Arizona, and by abiding by the mission of the institution to enhance local impact and social embeddedness. Another aspect of leveraging our place is the ASU charter which states that Arizona State University is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom we exclude, but rather by whom we include and how they succeed, advancing research and discovery of public value, and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves (ASU charter and goals, n. d. ) . Within the context of our place, we have a deliberate focus on the university’s access mission which for our engineering education innovations requires that we approach all activities with a mindset to scale. Motivated by an access mission that drives education at scale, ASU has worked to redefine the nature of a large public research university by taking a transformative approach that is guided by eight design aspirations (ASU design aspirations, n.d.)1. ASU’s mission, charter, and design aspirations serve to create an environment and

FAQs

Why was Arizona State University invited to the MIT-Olin Colloquium in April 2019?

ASU was invited as part of being named one of ten emerging leaders in engineering education to share innovations and identify collaboration opportunities.

What persistent challenges in engineering education does the paper highlight?

The paper notes recurring themes such as engineer shortages, shifting industry demands, crowded curricula, and ongoing debates about interdisciplinarity and diversity.

How did the Ira A. Fulton investment affect the engineering program structure at ASU?

A catalytic investment led to a reimagining of an American engineering program and restructuring into five distinct, interdisciplinary units collectively named the Fulton Schools of Engineering.

Oct 15, 2026

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