NIU’s College of Engineering received a big boost Tuesday when it announced its recent accreditation approval by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Engineering Technology (ABET).

The coveted ABET accreditation, essential to the survival of the program, was by itself not earth-shattering news. It was the sheer speed with which the accreditation came about that uniquely broke ground for NIU’s fledgling program.

Department Chair Parviz Pavar was especially pleased with the relative quickness of NIU’s accreditation. “In just five years our program has accomplished what the University of Illinois required 15 years to complete,” he said.

“Not receiving accreditation could have been disasterous for our program, so we verified our maturation through newsletters and continuous internal checks,” Pavar said.

He said that the direction of the program was channeled toward accreditation since its inception. “There was no major surge prior to the ABET review other than administrative organizing and paperwork,” he said.

Romualdas Kasuba, NIU Dean of Engineering and Engineering Technology, concurred with Pavar’s sentiments.

“I can’t emphasize enough the absolute thoroughness of the ABET process. Interviews with faculty, course file reviews and various student reports were all taken into account,” Kasuba said.

Both Kasuba and Pavar spoke highly of the focus of NIU’s engineering program. “We try to maintain the greatest possible balance between teaching academics and research,” Kasuba said. “At many engineering institutions the focus of the staff is heavily diverted into research and educational aspects of the program becomes neglected,” he said.

The college, which began operations in 1985, was the result of an ever-increasing demand issued by public and private sectors for an engineering program in the northern tier of Illinois.

Located in Sycamore, the college employs 46 full-time faculty members to serve the needs of its 1,100 undergraduate and graduate students.

The implications of the recent accreditation entail an overall boost in prestige on a national scale. “We’ve always had a good reputation regionally, but now the whole nation will know,” Kasuba said.

NIU’s engineering future encompasses a series of facility improvements including lobbying for a new building. With legislative approval, a new engineering building would also carry a supplemental equipment budget of approximately $6 million.

“Two-thirds of our present equipment has come through donations from the private sector, and we are continually looking to improve our resources,” Kasuba said.

Currently, NIU offers engineering programs in four separate departments, which include electrical, industrial, mechanical, and technological. Kasuba said expanding the program to include civil engineering was not being considered at this time.

“Trends in areas of engineering study are very cyclical,” he said. “We feel the programs we have meet sufficient needs in northern Illinois.”