Undergraduate Admissions

Gannon University’s bachelor’s degree program in software engineering recently was accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET. ABET accreditation demonstrates a program’s commitment to providing its students with a high-quality education.

With the accreditation, retroactive to May 2009, Gannon becomes only the third college or university in Pennsylvania to offer an accredited bachelor’s degree program in software engineering. In addition, Gannon University is one of 19 such accredited programs nationwide.

“The accreditation is a very significant step forward for the program,” said Melanie L. Hatch, Ph.D., dean of Gannon’s College of Engineering and Business. “It is a real credit to our faculty, staff, administrators, and students.”

In addition to hosting a site visit for the program, the University was required to submit to ABET a self-study report. ABET, which formally changed its name from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology to ABET, Inc., conducted a thorough assessment of the program, including curriculum, student transcripts, and faculty credentials.

In its review, ABET noted several institutional strengths for the University in general and for the software engineering program specifically.

In terms of institutional strengths, ABET praised the University’s Core of Discovery, which is designed to prepare students for life following graduation by helping them develop the skills necessary to better serve society and their neighbors. ABET noted two other University-wide strengths:

• The overwhelming success of the University’s Office of Career Development and Employment Services in helping place Gannon students in beneficial internships and rewarding careers.

• The “exciting” potential of the University’s Erie Technology Incubator (ETI). The ETI, 130 West 8th St., is designed to nurture early-stage and start-up advanced technology businesses and entrepreneurs by providing key mentoring and support services.

Gannon’s software engineering program focuses on helping students become employable, accountable professionals. It produces graduates who can develop high-quality software systems, with the technical competency to analyze, design, verify, validate, implement, and maintain software systems. Program graduates develop the leadership and communication skills necessary to become efficient problem solvers contributing to their community, profession, church, and society.

ABET noted several strengths of the software engineering program specifically:

• The opportunity for students to choose from numerous domain concentrations. Software engineering majors are required to choose from a course sequence in areas such as business, education, criminal justice, earth science, chemistry, biology, or mathematical modeling. “Professional software engineers don’t write programs in a vacuum,” Hatch said. “Their work has to be applied in the larger context. For example, an information system has to be tailored specifically to the unique needs of the engineer’s organization, whether it is a school or a Fortune 500 company.”

• A strong, collaborative relationship between the software engineering program and other academic disciplines within the College of Engineering and Business.

• The efforts of the University’s Office of Admissions in recruiting new students.

Software Engineering is one of six programs in Gannon’s School of Engineering and Computer Science accredited by ABET. For more information on the program, visit http://www.gannon.edu/PROGRAMS/UNDER/softengr.asp, or call 814-871-7912.

For general information about software programs at Gannon, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JxVzdZGUXI.