April 2, 2012
Baltimore, MD – ABET announced that Patricia D. Daniels, Ph.D., P.E., has joined the organization's professional staff as an additional Adjunct Accreditation Director for Engineering, effective April 2, 2012. She will work as an extension of the ABET Accreditation Department leadership, assisting in the management of the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC).
Daniels is an Affiliate Professor in Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington and was previously a Professor and Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Associate Dean of Science and Engineering at Seattle University. She became an ABET program evaluator in 1988, was a member of the EAC from 1996 to 2005, and chaired the commission for the 2003-04 accreditation cycle. In 2006, she was inducted as an ABET Fellow for her contributions to the EAC and for encouraging diversity in the ABET volunteer pool. At the 2010 ABET Annual Conference, Daniels was recognized as a Distinguished Volunteer for serving as a program evaluator or team chair on more than 25 evaluation visits.
"Pat Daniels has been a down-to-earth yet consistently inspirational leader since I met her in the early 1990s," said ABET Managing Director for Accreditation Joseph L. Sussman, Ph.D. "Pat works overtime injecting high-powered common sense into the practice of program evaluation. We are thrilled to have her join the staff supporting the volunteers who perform engineering program accreditation reviews throughout the world."
As Adjunct Accreditation Director for Engineering, Daniels' responsibilities will include the following:
- Editing the draft and final statements that ABET visit teams produce following program reviews.
- Serving as a liaison among ABET volunteers and the ABET professional staff.
- Encouraging process improvements and uniformity regarding accreditation criteria, policies, procedures, and training.
- Representing ABET to its constituencies, including programs and institutions, ABET volunteers, ABET Member Societies, employers of accredited-program graduates, and the general public.
Daniels is a Fellow of IEEE and an award-winning educator who has chaired the Electrical and Computer Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a registered professional engineer in the California. She holds a bachelor's degree and a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Daniels will join M. Dayne Aldridge, Sc.D., P.E., who has held the position of ABET Adjunct Accreditation Director for Engineering since 2001.
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.