Carnegie Mellon University

Eberly Center

Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation

Supervisor Questionnaire to Assess CEE Program Effectiveness

Program: Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Carnegie Institute of Technology
Assessment: Supervisor Questionnaire to Assess CEE Program Effectiveness

Purpose:

One of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology’s criteria for assessing success in meeting program objectives is to examine the accomplishments of our alumni three to five years after graduation, but the program had no data from the supervisors of our alumni. The purpose of this questionnaire is to gather information from work supervisors or graduate advisors on how effectively we prepare our alumni for their professional responsibilities.

Implementation:

A nine-item open-question survey was created to solicit work supervisors and graduate advisors’ opinions on the success of our alumni, focusing on four specific objectives from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology’s guidelines. The department emailed alumni who had graduated five years ago and requested permission to contact their supervisors or advisors. When permission was granted, supervisors and advisors received and responded to the survey via email.

Results:

The survey response rate was about 33%. Survey responses were tabulated and summarized to gauge our program’s effectiveness and contribute to discussions of curriculum revision.

Comments:

Each year, the department plans to survey the supervisors and advisors for alumni who graduated five years previously.

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