Approved by Committee on Licensure on November 11, 2024
Approved by the Public Policy and Practice Committee on December 4, 2024
Adopted by the Board of Direction on July 10, 2025
Policy
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) considers civil engineering faculty members to be an integral part of the civil engineering profession and encourages all of them to become licensed professional engineers.
Further, EAC/ABET and ETAC/ABET accreditation criteria for civil engineering and civil engineering technology programs, respectively, should require that faculty members teaching courses, whose content is primarily design, be qualified in the subject matter by 1) virtue of professional licensure, or 2) by education and design experience, or 3) teaching the course under the direct supervision of a licensed faculty member. The EAC/ABET and ETAC/ABET accreditation criteria should require that faculty prepare their students graduates to understand the importance of professional licensure.
Issue
EAC/ABET accreditation requires faculty teaching courses whose content is primarily designed to be licensed professional engineers or engineers with appropriate experience., performance evaluation systems for faculty members at some universities do not encourage faculty licensure. The criteria for faculty in ETAC/ABET programs is silent on this issue.
Rather, some only consider a faculty member’s teaching, scholarship, and service in the periodic performance evaluations, promotion, and/or tenure review processes. Consequently, faculty members have little incentive to obtain or maintain professional licensure.
Rationale
ASCE supports the licensure of all civil engineers including those in engineering education. Engineering design courses should be taught by licensed professionals in accordance with ABET criteria. Teaching under the direct supervision of a licensed professional engineer allows entry level faculty without design experience the opportunity to gain experience and enables them to teach courses whose content is primarily design. Also, for those faculty members who wish to provide direct engineering services to the public, professional engineering licensure is a requirement.
Every civil engineering educator serves as a professional role model throughout a student’s academic career. ASCE highly values the contributions civil engineering faculty make to society through the education of engineering students. By the example they set, licensed educators communicate the importance of licensure to students.
ASCE Policy Statement 559
First Approved 2019