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Reflections on a Century of Co-op

ASEE Conference for Industry & Education Collaboration January 25, 2006 San Antonio, Tx. Bryan Dansberry, Assistant Professor Steve Gilby, Assistant Professor Division of Professional Practice University of Cincinnati. University of Cincinnati P.O. Box 210115 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0115

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Reflections on a Century of Co-op

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  1. ASEE Conference for Industry & Education Collaboration January 25, 2006 San Antonio, Tx Bryan Dansberry, Assistant Professor Steve Gilby, Assistant Professor Division of Professional Practice University of Cincinnati University of Cincinnati P.O. Box 210115 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0115 E-mail: bryan.dansberry@uc.edu or stephen.gilby@uc.edu Reflections on a Century of Co-op

  2. Todays Historical Topics 1906 –1919 The Birth of Co-op 1920’s Breaking Down Barriers 1930’s & 40’s Adapting to Circumstances 1950’s & 60’s Proving the Concept 1970’s & 80’s The Uncle Sam (Savilla) Era 1990’s & 00’s Contraction with Expansion

  3. What you’ll see in the next hour:A mix of facts and perspectives • A Basic History Lesson • Timeline • Facts • Anecdotes • Student Perspectives of Co-op: • Flash Movies • “Cool Co-op” entries • Quotes • Employer Perspectives: • Value Analysis • Our Analysis Plugging steam (and money) leaks UC’s Andy Eding led a refinery-wide steam-leak audit and repair project. Subsequent audits documented improvements in two areas of the refinery. Estimated savings: $1,200,000 per year

  4. Background • Co-op Student • Co-op Supervisors • Co-op Faculty (2002 - ????) Transonic Dynamics Tunnel NASA-Langley

  5. Herman Schneider • 1872 – Born in Pennsylvania • German & Dutch Descent • “combination of English Quaker and German Scientist.” • 1894 – Graduated Lehigh in Engineering /Architecture • Held positions in an architectural office in Maryland and building railroad bridges in Oregon • 1899 – Civil Engineering Instructor at Lehigh • 1903 – Accepted Chair of Civil Engineering at Cincinnati

  6. Origins of the Cooperative Idea • “Major changes in higher education require both innovative ideas and strong dedicated leadership.” • Idea originated in his investigation of actual working conditions of engineering practice. • State of the art in education: Classroom teaching + practice shops • Bethlehem Steel – Bessemer steelmaking furnace • Replace school shops with industrial companies • “Education in a democracy should be based on brains and backbone not social & financial status”

  7. Rejection and Acceptance Lehigh • Lehigh Faculty reject the plan • Cooperation between college and industry “impractical” • Practicing Engineers love the plan • Theoretical training meant little after graduation Cincinnati • 1902 - First paper (syllabus) of Cooperative Plan • 1904 – First presented to UC President Dabney • 1905 – 5 to 4 vote of board authorizes 1 year trial program President Charles Dabney

  8. The Experiment First Plan • Six year program • Work Summers • Weekly alternation of school and work • Saturday morning meetings with Dean Schneider • Enlisted Thomas Manley to help recruit companies • 12 agreed to participate for 9 months • Machine tool, foundries, and valve manufacturers From the original class of 27, co-op's popularity grew. Even though the University of Cincinnati did not advertise it's co-op program, 400 students applied for 70 positions in the second year of cooperative education. In 1908 there were over 2,000 applicants

  9. “Rah Rah” Boys First Students • 28 men selected for the program • Purely for financial reasons • After working that summer only a few remained • Schneider recruited more • 12 ME, 12 EE, and 3 ChE students • “shop-mates” George Binns

  10. “Boilermaker” Boys • Co-ops were the center of attention in the first year • “..a new type of student, more serious and alert due to the influence of responsibility at work” Co-op football team

  11. The Cincinnati Plan Engineering Enrollment at UC • In year two the cooperative program had 400 applicants - higher qualifications • Co-op spread to Civil, Chemical, and Metallurgical Engineering • Program reduced to 5-years by alternating school/work every 2-weeks year-round - due to out-of-town positions • Flexibility to change majors and type of company added • Program became the popular choice rapidly.

  12. Movie Break • Greg Koch • Debbie Filabrandt

  13. The Cincinnati Plan Post-War Innovation • 1920 - Cooperative Course in Commerce added • 1920 - Women admitted to co-op in Commerce and Chemical Engineering • 1922 - Architecture program • 1929 - Aeronautical Engineering From left in back are Ruby Schoen, Charlotte Atherton, Ruth McFarlan and Margaret Maynard. Seated in front, from left, Kathryn Gillis, Helen Norris and Myrtle Hay.

  14. The Co-ep Story • In 1920, no schools admitted women into preparatory programs for engineering. Herman Schneider and UC changed all that thanks to a young Cincinnatian named Ruth McFarlan and her aunt, Anna McFarlan. You see, the aunt was acquainted with Schneider’s secretary and asked the secretary, Anna Teasdale, to approach Dean Schneider on behalf of young Ruth who wanted to study engineering. In Fall Quarter 1920, seven young women – “co-eps” and even “co-eppettes” as they were called – entered the co-op program as either chemical engineering or commercial engineering (business) students. • According to Mary Blood who entered the program in 1921, she and her fellow "co-eps" packed Crisco during early mornings at a Procter & Gamble factory. They also hauled lumber and became handy with crowbars too.

  15. The Spread of Co-op First Wave • 1909 – Polytechnic School of the YMCA Evening Institute (Northeastern University) • 1910 – University of Pittsburgh • 1911 – University of Detroit • 1912 – Georgia Institute of Technology • 1912 – Rochester Institute of Technology • 1914 - University of Akron

  16. The Spread of Co-op Second Wave • 1917 – Massachusetts Institute of Technology • 1919 – Drexel University • 1919 – University of Evansville • 1919 – Marquette University • 1921 – Antioch College • 1923 – Cleveland State University • 1924 – General Motors Institute (Kettering University)

  17. The Roaring ’20’s • Number of Co-op programs tripled • 10 to 36 • Co-op expanded into Business • UC (1920) & Northeastern (1927) • Evansville added co-op program in Teachers College (1926) • Loma Linda College had co-op for medical students Union Terminal Cincinnati, OH

  18. The Roaring ’20’s • Number of Co-op programs tripled • 10 to 36 • Co-op expanded into Business • UC (1920) & Northeastern (1927) • Evansville added co-op program in Teachers College (1926) • Loma Linda College had co-op for medical students

  19. The Roaring ’20’s • Riverside Junior College • Pioneer in 2-yr co-op programs • Pioneer in expanding outside of engineering: • architecture, business, nursing, library work, and police science • Antioch College • First purely liberal arts institution • “Cincinati Plan” became the “Antioch Plan” • Philosophy differed: “character building vs skill building” • Might call it “Service Learning” today Co-op was so closely associated with its founding school and city that the 1934 edition of Webster’s Dictionary defined co-op as the Cincinnati Plan.

  20. Surviving Hard Times (The ’30’s) • Co-op placement plummets (95% to 45%) • Guidelines and Programs created to handle unplaced students • Research assistants • Report Writing (Travel Quarters) • Make-work jobs on campus “Often advisors would load their car with students………”

  21. Surviving Hard Times (The ‘30’s) • Still, co-op unemployment remained lower than the general population • Co-op did expand thru the decade • 36 to 49 schools • 9,550 to 11,559 students • By 1940 things were looking up

  22. War & Peace (The ‘40’s) • Many co-op programs were suspended • Faced with empty campuses women were presented opportunities never before available

  23. Movie Break: Part Deux • Vanessa Roland • Matt Oscar

  24. The Post-war Boom (’46 – ’56) Growth in Co-op • G.I. Bill drives a boom in enrollment • Co-op programs return to their pre-war high’s • 50 programs by the 50th anniversary

  25. Cooperative Education & the Impending Educational Crisis • Charles Kettering • Edison Foundation • 1957 – Dayton Conference • Co-op offers an economical way to accommodate increasing enrollment and should be expanded in all areas • Documented evidence of co-op’s value lacking

  26. Co-op’s Silver Anniversary • Second 50 years of co-op characterized by rapid growth • The source of this growth? • Federal dollars

  27. The Wilson Report • 1961 - Work-Study College Programs: Appraisal & REort of the Study of Cooperative Education • James Wilson (Rochester Institute of Technology) • Edward Lyons (University of Detroit) • Ralph Tyler (University of Chicago) • Co-op should be expanded in all areas

  28. Show Me The Money • Two Organizations founded: - National Commission for Cooperative Education - 1962 - Cooperative Education Association (Now CEIA) - 1963 • NCCE mission: - “double the number of co-op programs and raise number of co-op students to 75,000 in 10 years” • 1965 Higher Education Act • First language for funding for co-op • 1968 – HEA modified to fund existing programs • 1970 – 74 institutions are granted $1.5 Million. • 1973 – 355 institutions received $10.75 Million

  29. Feeding Frenzy • 1976 – language defining of cooperative education was loosened • From 1976 – 1996 $275 Million was awarded • As many as 1/3 of Higher Education Institutions reported having a co-op program • By the 1990’s guidelines were so loose a program with almost any work component could eligible for federal dollars • This lead to “fierce” discussions of the definition of co-op

  30. The Morning After • In 1986, Northeastern’s Cooperative Education Center for Research found 1,012 co-op programs • In 1999 less than 450 institutions responded after multiple mailings • Both CEIA and CED have had a reduction in attendance at their annual conferences

  31. Takes a Lickin’ But Keeps on Tickin’ • The explosive growth resulting from the infusion of federal dollars may have been transitory, but co-op is not. • 1994 – ASEE ranks co-op second in it’s list of important innovations of the 20th century. • In 2003 WACE had over 1,100 members representing 43 countries • CEIA, CED, NCCE, and WACE continue to represent and advocate co-op in many forms. • Guidelines of accreditation have been established (ACCE) • Research is ongoing • Curricular reform • Co-op continues to expand and evolve on multiple fronts: • International co-op • Graduate co-op • Research co-op

  32. Movie Break III • Leanne Wagner • Joanna Powers

  33. Perspectives on Co-op: Employer • Employer role is the most important component of co-op learning • Employers fall into 3 categories: • (A) Companies that use co-op as prime recruitment tool • (B) Companies that provide learning experiences, but few hires • (C) Companies that view co-ops as cheap temporary employees • Mandatory Co-op programs generally need all three • Co-op advisors need to find the time and approach to upgrade C-level jobs to “B” or “A”.

  34. Perspectives on Co-op: Employer Benefits • Six major empirical studies have documented benefits of co-op • Benefits cited by these studies include: • Stable & pre-screened pool of intelligent & upwardly mobile manpower • More economical & flexible source of pre-professional manpower • Allows experienced employees to focus on more challenging tasks • Improved quality in the screening and selection of new college hires • Better dissemination of companies employment opportunities among students & faculty • Improved yield from offers and reduced recruiting costs overall • Improvement in promotability • Reduction in orientation and training costs • Reduction in early attrition and turnover

  35. Christopher Hummer Aerospace Engineering, 2008 Wright Patterson Air Force Base “For my work, I was nominated for Engineer of the Quarter at Wright-Patterson, and I will be competing against career engineers for this award.” “I have the ability to predict the behavior of fluidsusing supercomputers.”

  36. Brian Myers Computer Science  2008 Medical Systems “It was unbelievable to see these giant scanners spinning around a couple times per second” I was writing software for CAT Scan Machines, which was amazing…

  37. James Ott Fashion Design, 2006 Designer Ralph Rucci “I will never forget the perk of being able to attend my first New York runway show knowing I had several pieces of my work parading on the models in front of me.” “I cut, assembled, and hand sewed the chiffon / organza flowers”

  38. Jill Collet Biomedical Engineering, 2006 “It was a great chance to meet not only fellow engineering students from the Midwest and beyond, but also in other disciplines supported by the co-op program.” “These are just SOME of my fellow co-ops.

  39. Laura Myer Industrial Design, 2006 Hong Kong Polytechnic University “I soon became very aware of my own customs and sayings, which I had never given much thought to, as they didn't translate in this new world ” “Within one week I went from not knowing where I was going on co-op to being on a plane flying to Hong Kong.”

  40. Kristen KesseMaterials Engineering, 2007 Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America “My work experience has proven to be very motivational in my school work. My grades have rapidly increased since I began co-oping!” “If this [discrepancies in coating] occurs, samples are sent to me at TMMNA to analyze on the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).”

  41. Shelby Shenkelman Operations Management, 2006 Delta Airlines “I have seen the world, met new people, and learned about an amazing industry. ” “I can travel anywhere in the world; and have been to Spain, Mexico, Los Angeles...”

  42. Kyle Francis Chemical Engineering  2006 “BP treated the co-ops to events such as a dinner cruises on Lake Michigan, Cubs games, Second City, and more.” “At Millennium Park before the Cubs vs. Reds Game.”

  43. Andrew Sampson Electrical Engineering, 2006 NASA Kennedy Space Center “you get to see your work launch into outer space, with a 1000 foot fireball trailing behind”

  44. Kyle BlakleyCivil and Environmental Engineering, 2008 “Topics range from storm water management, roadway layout and design, traffic signal and speed warrants, environmental studies…” “One of the many bridge projects completed by our office.”

  45. Ryan StobbsMechanical Engineering, 2007 Nevada Automotive Test Center “The military came to the company wanting to test the durability of a new turret design” “You fireseveral hundred 50 caliber machine gun bullets and drive it through the desert for several hundred miles”

  46. Owen Schelnez Electrical Engineering, 2006 “Besides going to the famous ‘Deutche Museum’ and getting to know Munich, I enjoyed the Carneval festivities” “I had the opportunity to work with some of Europe’s finest engineers.”

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