Olin College, Needham, MA

Trish Schmidt and I are in Boston attending the Campus Technology convention. Yesterday we we went out to Needham, MA, to spend some time on the campus of Olin College of Engineering. We were fortunate to be able to meet with Rick Miller, president, and Mike Moody, VPAA, and a host of faculty and staff. This small (300 student) private college touts itself as "reinventing engineering education"--and I must agree. Their curriculum is "project" based in theory and mostly in practice (there are a number of faculty who lecture, although they know they must be innovative). President Rick Miller told us the fascinating story of the genesis of this institution and it quickly became clear that because of a very large amount of resources (mostly money) the leadership was able to take the time and care necessary to actually develop it programs and courses from the ground up. There is lots more to report on this school--watch future blogs!