Embedding leadership in civil engineering education

Leadership is a key element in meeting the needs of the civil engineering p rofession in an era of heightened global competition. Consulting and constr uction executives intent on maintaining a competitive edge are calling upon educators to produce civil engineers capable of leading multidisciplinary teams, combining technical ingenuity with business acumen, and effectively communicating narrow engineering endeavors within a comprehensive social fr amework. Our industry is challenging undergraduate schools to broaden curri cula beyond the intellectual endeavors of design and scientific inquiry to the greater domain of professional leadership. Many agree that formal leade r development must be incorporated into engineering education programs to r espond to the professional demands of practicing engineers; however, the me ans of achieving the objectives within tightly constrained curricula are de bated. This paper explores the changing nature of civil engineering in a gl obally competitive environment, reviews the issues in realigning civil engi neering education, identifies key leadership skills relevant to engineering , and proposes solutions for developing leaders at our undergraduate instit utions.