Inspiring and Equipping Students to Become Service-Focused Engineers

Anderson University’s engineering program was founded in 2013 with the mission of “developing highly qualified servant leaders.” That statement can be expanded to core values: We provide a Christ-centered, hands-on education, grounded in the liberal arts that inspires students toward excellence in Engineering. We model resourceful, pioneering, and creative thinking to uniquely mentor students to deal with the challenges of vocation, life, and community. We seek to live God-honoring lives of integrity and share the importance of Christ-like servanthood. In line with the core values of providing a Christ-centered hands-on education and sharing the importance of Christ-like servanthood, a Humanitarian Engineering major and minor were added to the offerings at Anderson University in 2021. Central to this program are two courses that are designed to inspire and equip students to use their gifts in engineering and technology to serve other people. These two courses are intended to be taken in sequence- ENGR 2080: Service Through Engineering and Technology and ENGR 3080: Engineering Design for Service. Since the Humanitarian Engineering major was implemented, the 2023-24 academic year was the first offering of this two-course sequence. This paper details the development of these two courses and lessons learned in implementing them.