On Wednesday, 30 October 2013, the Civil and Environmental Engineering Feedback Session was co-hosted by the Student Senate Civil Engineering Representative, Rajeet Das, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Approximately 25 students came to Colton Hall Room 416 to give feedback on the department and make suggestions on how to improve it. Pizza was served, and a wireless mouse and a copy of Grand Theft Auto 5 were raffled.
Among many things brought up were a few prominent discussion topics. Firstly, the department spent almost half a million dollars on renovating their second floor lab to fit 100 students. The students were very happy and impressed with their new computer lab, but they still had a few suggestions for it. Students wanted more desk space both on the computer tables as well as the addition of large empty tables. There should also be a scanner set up soon. The students were also interested in seeing a list of which professors were proficient in certain software available on the computers so that they could contact them for help if necessary. Another important topic brought up was that the department should focus on making its classes geared towards the FE Exam, which students take in their senior year. In addition to that, in their lab courses, students believe that the lab equipment as well as the lab experiment procedures must be updated as they take a long time to complete and sometimes do not even work.
The full report from the feedback session will be available in the Student Senate minutes for the week of November 4th. Each of the issues listed in that report will be discussed with department chair, Dr. Taha Marhaba, during the upcoming weeks. The next feedback session will be held in the Spring Semester.
Rajeet Das
