The Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Program at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET. The accreditation process requires programs to meet criteria and outcomes indicative of a robust and supportive academic environment where graduates are adequately prepared to meet employer needs post-graduation. Changes to the long-standing ABET Criteria were approved in 2018, and all general reviews conducted in the 2019 -2020

more »

... ion cycle, and beyond, will be evaluated against these new criteria. In anticipation of a 2019 ABET general review, the program's transition to the new ABET Criteria is described. This includes program interpretation of the updated ABET Criteria, with a specific focus on Criterion 3, Student Outcomes, and newly revised ABET language and definitions. Additional impacts to the assessment framework as a result of a new (institutional) core curriculum are also discussed. Concurrently, evidence-based changes were applied to the assessment framework to achieve greater fidelity in the artifacts provided as evidence of student performance. A student performance vector was implemented to categorize the quality of student work as Excellent, Adequate, Marginal or Unsatisfactory (EAMU Vector). The implementation and application of the EAMU vector is described and data collected from the 2018-2019 academic year is presented to show both an increase in the fidelity of the assessment data and the creation of meaningful student performance data trends over time. The ABET accreditation visit found no shortcomings in Criterion 3 -Student Outcomes. For this reason, this paper is apropos, as it may reduce challenges for any other mechanics-based programs seeking initial accreditation or those programs seeking to revise their assessment framework in preparation for ABET accreditation.