Exceptional engineers possess more than technical acumen, they possess a moral compass that guides their decisions and innovations.
Ohio Northern University’s T.J. Smull College of Engineering has been graduating ethical engineers since the late 1800s. Now, thanks to a $50,000 Capacity-Building grant from the Educating Character Initiative, the College plans to further integrate character-building directly into its undergraduate engineering and computer science programs.
The Educating Character Initiative is a project of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. The Educating Character Initiative is funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. The College of Engineering will utilize the funding for faculty retreats and collaborative discussions centered on character development, as well as mini-grants to support innovative, character-focused course enhancements.
“The public trusts engineers with their safety, their privacy, their lives,” says Ben McPheron, BSEE ’10, Ph.D., assistant dean of the College of Engineering. “That trust demands judgement, honesty, and a commitment to the common good.”
He notes that history is rife with examples of engineers and scientists who lacked the moral wisdom or foundation to discern the impact of their inventions and designs. As a result, they created technologies that caused harm to communities, public health, and the environment.
Since its founding in 1871, ONU has focused on educating the “whole person”—mind, body, and spirit. McPheron is excited to see the ways this grant inspires faculty collaboration and creativity around character development in the modern era.
“The grant is providing us with the time and space to study and discuss character, and then bring that into our classrooms, building toward college-wide initiatives,” he says.
To support this effort, the College of Engineering is also collaborating with ONU philosophy professor, Dr. Robert Hartman. Hartman is the editor of the recently published book, “Improving Character: Moral Virtues, Strategies, and Questions,” which features new essays from 45 leading character scholars. He also teaches the first-year seminar, “Becoming a Better Person,” and will bring valuable interdisciplinary expertise to the engineering initiative.