March 27, 2012
Baltimore, MD – The ABET Board of Directors elected Monte L. Phillips as its 2012-13 President-Elect and Craig N. Musselman as its next Treasurer. Both Phillips and Musselman will be installed during the fall 2012 ABET Board of Directors Meeting in October.
2012-13 President-Elect Monte L. Phillips, Ph.D., P.E., has been involved with accreditation for more than 30 years as a faculty member in civil engineering programs and as an ABET volunteer. Currently, he is completing his seventh year as the Representative Director from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) on the ABET Board of Directors. He is a member of the Strategic Planning Task Force and the Global Council and previously served on the ABET Finance Committee, Ad Hoc Outreach Task Group, and Nominating Committee. In addition, he chaired the ABET Admissions Committee that considers societies for ABET membership.
Phillips is an Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of North Dakota as well as a design consultant and forensic engineer. He has been a member of numerous NCEES task forces and committees involved with enhancing the educational standards for the professional practice of engineering and, in 2005, received the NCEES Distinguished Service Award. Phillips is an active member of the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), serving as its national president in 1994-95, and has chaired the North Dakota Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Also, he is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and a Fellow and Past President of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers. He has chaired and serves on the National Board of Governors of the Order of the Engineer.
"ABET faces interesting and exciting opportunities and challenges as it strives to positively impact technical education globally while maintaining and enhancing its strong and vibrant accreditation activities in the United States," Phillips remarked at the recent Board of Directors meeting. "I am excited and will work tirelessly in advancing ABET as the gold standard in the accreditation of applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology programs."
Craig N. Musselman, P.E., will begin a two-year term as ABET Treasurer in the fall of 2012. Musselman has served as the Representative Director from the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) on the ABET Board of Directors for nearly four years, and been a member of the ABET Finance Committee for two years. He has 37 years of experience in planning, design, and construction administration of public works projects and is the Founder, President, and General Manager of CMA Engineers, Inc., a 25-person consulting civil and environmental engineering firm based in Portsmouth, NH.
In addition to Phillips and Musselman, the following individuals will serve as officers on the ABET Board of Directors during the 2012-13 term:
- Karan Watson, Ph.D., P.E., will become 2012-13 ABET President. Watson has been involved with ABET accreditation for more than 20 years and is currently ABET President- Elect. Previously, she represented the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) on the ABET Board of Directors for six years. At present, Watson is the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Texas A&M University.
- Jeffrey J. Siirola, Ph.D., was re-elected to a second one-year term as ABET Secretary. Previously, he was the President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) for 2005 and served as one of the society's representatives on the ABET Board of Directors. Siirola recently retired from his position as a Technology Fellow at Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tenn.
- 2011-12 ABET President Larry A. Kaye, Ph.D., P.E., will become Past President. Kaye is a fellow of ABET and of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), which he represented on the ABET Board of Directors for six years. Kaye spent much of his career in various technical, managerial, staff, and executive positions at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company.
In addition, two individuals will act as Board Representatives to the Executive Committee for the 2012-13 term:
- Lawrence G. Jones, Ph.D., was elected to a second two-year term as a Board Representative to the Executive Committee. Currently, he is a Representative Director from CSAB, Inc., on the ABET Board of Directors, as well as a Board Representative to the Executive Committee. He was inducted as an ABET Fellow in 2009. Jones leads the Product Line Practice Initiative at the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University.
- Mary Leigh Wolfe, Ph.D., will serve the second year of her two-year term as a Board Representative to the Executive Committee. Wolfe will hold this position while simultaneously continuing her three-year term as the Representative Director from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) on the ABET Board of Directors. She was inducted as an ABET Fellow in 2009. Wolfe is Professor and Head of the Department of Biological Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech.
The 2012-13 leadership will be installed during the fall 2012 ABET Board of Directors meeting, which will be held in Baltimore on Saturday, October 27, 2012.
About ABET
ABET, the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology, is a federation of 31 professional and technical societies representing these fields. Among the most respected accreditation organizations in the U.S., ABET has provided leadership and quality assurance in higher education for more than 75 years.
ABET currently accredits over 3,100 programs at more than 600 colleges and universities worldwide. More than 2,000 dedicated volunteers participate annually in ABET activities. ABET also provides leadership internationally through workshops, memoranda of understanding, and mutual recognition agreements, such as the Washington Accord. ABET is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.