I believe engineers over the years have been divorced from guiding the community in the directions in which we should go. In other words, they have been good servants of their employers, of their societies in which they worked, but they have not acted as leaders. My experience at Cal State Fullerton has demonstrated that there has been a profound change in the mentality of the engineers. Our original students were engineering students, but were not involved in the community outside of engineering.

As time went on, our students became more practiced, more involved and demonstrated leadership. With the more political activities, came more resources. Engineers realized that by being more involved, they could get more support for their activities. I think we are moving in the right direction. It is my hope that before long, we will see an engineering student as president of Associated Students. Across the nation, more and more engineers are getting involved in public life. We are yet to match the legal profession, but I think we are moving in the right direction.

I believe our engineering programs provide a very healthy balance of sound theory and enough engineering applications that students can immediately upon graduation - or after a very short time - become effective practitioners of the profession. In other words, the transition time is going to be a minimum.

Our programs are state-of-the-art. Our faculty has practical and research experience, and plenty of involvement with engineering activities funded by the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and others. Faculty members bring contemporary engineering issues into both the under- graduate and graduate programs. More than half of our faculty members are registered professional engineers. They have the seal of approval from the state to practice in the engineering profession. Our equipment is versatile and modern.

We are engaged in various creative programs in which we apply for grants to enrich the laboratory experience for our students. We have an excellent machine shop and we're providing both mechanical engineering and many other engineering students with the ability to build whatever they need with respect to their classes and projects.