The Y Output


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A View From the
Corner Chair

My recent appointment as Department Chair comes at a time that I feel is an exciting period in BYU history. At the risk of sounding too philosophical (are engineers even allowed to indulge in philosophical musing?), I have a feeling similar to what one might feel while watching a tall skyscraper emerge from a well-built foundation. The justification for the effort and expense of the foundation finally becomes apparent, and the beams rising into the sky create anticipation and excitement. I keep dreaming of academic beams rising from the Chemical Engineering Department into the Provo skyline.

The foundation at Brigham Young University and, particularly in the Chemical Engineering Department , is sturdy and well-built. As Dr. Richard Rowley concludes his service as Department Chair and replacement is sought for President Rex Lee, both changes make us very aware that the department and the university have benefited from excellent leadership, and we've made significant progress. The department has developed a strong undergraduate program. Furthermore, our students receive valuable preparation from other technical departments and from their general education and religion courses as well. Complementing our department undergraduate program is a solid and developing graduate program, with

 important creative work and scholarship emanating from our research programs. Our graduates at all levels are very well received in the professional industry and in the best graduate programs in the country. The success of those graduates is a tribute to their personal abilities and to the education they received.

Even with the progress we've made, something keeps reminding us that we can't stop with the foundation; we are building something much greater. We are no more destined to just be a university than our founding institution is destined to just be a church. Our leaders have talked about an educational Mt. Everest, and we keep wondering what they see. This past year, the entire university has been involved in a self-study. That effort was enormous, and at times, we weren't sure that we were asking (or answering) the most important questions about ourselves. But I've sensed, both in the department and among colleagues around the university, that the self-study process has opened some new questions: How can we increase learning? How can we better serve our students? Are we using our unique strengths and resources to their fullest capacity?

I really believe that these questions (and the way we answer them) will launch us into a period of unprecedented progress. We have already begun to consider many ideas for improving our teaching and scholarship. Our goal is to prepare our students even more effectively and in more ways than ever before.