New Centre for Engineering Professional Practice and Engineering Education
The University of Manitoba has launched an exciting new approach to educating engineers so they meet the ever-changing demands of the technologically driven world.
Dr. Douglas Ruth, P.Eng., former Dean and current Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Chair in Design Engineering and Associate Dean (Design Education), has successfully launched the Centre for Professional Practice and Engineering Education. This new centre, headed by Ruth, will address the need for engineers to acquire professional expertise in areas such as law and contracts, economics and project management, and communications and marketing.
Dean Jonathan Beddoes is particularly pleased the centre will focus on helping engineering students understand their future role as a professional in society. “Engineers carry a great deal of social responsibility,” says Beddoes. “The Centre for Professional Practice and Engineering Education will ensure our students are taught the skills necessary not only to understand this but to embrace their roles as professionals and leaders.”
The new centre will be responsible for all non-departmental professional skills training courses such as Engineering Economics, Law, and Technology and Society. In this role, it will bring consistency and focus to the professional skills training that all engineering students must undertake. The Faculty’s Engineer-in-Residence program, the first of its kind in Canada, will continue to grow as part of the centre and continue to be a strong link between the Faculty of Engineering and the industry of engineering.