A glimpse of how senior engineering students understand engineering as a profession

Because senior engineering students have experienced a rigorous curriculum and lived in an academic engineering environment for at least four years, one can assume that they automatically associate engineering with a profession. Furthermore, it may be assumed that senior engineering students can distinguish between those occupations considered a profession and those considered a vocation or a trade. In 1998, Mercer University implemented a freshmen course titled EGR 108: professional practices to teach professional and ethical concepts and skills. Current seniors in Mercer's School of Engineering completed this course as part of their freshmen curriculum. To measure senior students' understanding of professions, Mercer Engineering and Technical Communication professors developed research questions and a survey regarding entering their understanding of professions and ability to distinguish professions from vocations and trade. The measurements taken by this study assume that senior students will identify engineering as a profession but may be less prepared to classify jobs across a broader spectrum as professions or trades. This paper reports the resulting data as a means of qualifying the senior engineering students' understanding of professions and to demonstrate any differences in their perceptions of professions, vocations, and trades. Data will also be used to modify the EGR 108 professional practices course as needed.