The college has added a new department that will explore opportunities in biomedical engineering. New faculty are bringing fresh ideas to the campus, and the college is welcoming a new dean. The college should also take this opportunity to review its relationships with industry, always a general topic of our Industrial Liaison Council meetings. Through the eyes of industry, the College of Engineering can be seen as a supplier on many levels. We look to the college to provide engineers who can fulfill a myriad of roles from designing and developing products, to providing critical quality control systems, to running the company.
Industry relies on the college for continuing education to train the existing workforce further.
Faculty and staff provide specialized resources and new knowledge that can lead to new and better products and services, and even new industries. From a business standpoint, it makes sense for a company to simplify its dealings with suppliers by limiting their numbers to those that can consistently supply quality products and services. Companies need to work with suppliers whose products have the greatest potential for growing their business. Industry is increasingly taking this view of engineering schools. But as this trend continues, developing partnerships with industry will only become more competitive.