Engineering Licensure and the Liberal Arts: A Public Lecture

Join Eddie Schodowski (BSEE '17), P.E., PMP and Professor Callahan in Reiss Auditorium for an extraordinarily unique public lecture that smears the boundaries between engineering, co-op, and the liberal arts.

Extra Credit:
Students in LA-489 Sr. Seminar: Leadership, Ethics, and Contemporary Issues or other classes in the Department of Liberal Arts, please confirm with your professor(s) about earning extra credit for attending.

Topics Include:

1. Technical Skills. Should "technical skills" be the most important subject in your engineering education at Kettering University to achieve your goals?
2. AI. How should your educational priorities change as more and more people become "artificially-intelligent"?
3. Electrification. What lesser-known challenges might you be up against as an engineering professional during the electrification of the automotive industry?
4. Engineering Licensure. What is engineering licensure, and can it help more than just civil engineers in today's industrial context?
5. Action Steps. What steps can you take now as a college student at Kettering University?

"Paradoxically, automation makes liberal education mandatory. The electric age of servomechanisms suddenly releases men from the mechanical and specialist servitude of the preceding machine age. As the machine and the motorcar released the horse and projected it onto the plane of entertainment, so does automation with men." — McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (p. 390).

In order to get the most out of this lecture, we optionally suggest reviewing the materials below:

Recommended Reading:

1. Spinden, Paul M., The Enigma of Engineering's Industrial Exemption to Licensure: The Exception that Swallowed A Profession (2015). Faculty Publications and Presentations. 72.

Supplementary Reading:

1. Anderson, E. (2017). Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It).
2. Seldon, A. (2024, October). Warning from AI is stark: we have two years to save learning. The Times.

Recommended Viewing:

1. Lanthimos, Y. (Director). (2024). The Death of R.M.F. [First segment of the film Kinds of Kindness]. Element Pictures; Film4; Searchlight Pictures; TSG Entertainment. Note: Kinds of Kindness (2024) is available on Hulu. It is admittedly uncomfortable to watch. However, it is highly recommended because, in the words of Wyndham Lewis, "The artist is always engaged in writing a detailed history of the future because he is the only person aware of the nature of the present." Remember that art is metaphorical, not necessarily literal. Its messages can be hidden in symbolism you need to learn to perceive.

Recommended Engineering Homework:

1. Create an NCEES account.
2. Commit to taking the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam during your senior year or after graduation.