What about class size at a large university like the University of Memphis?
In the Herff College of Engineering, class sizes average about 20 students. The largest sections may have as many as 35 students but that is the exception rather than the rule. Class sizes like this allow for personal interaction between the instructor and students and provide an outstanding learning environment.

Will graduate students teach my classes?
With nearly 60 faculty members, the College of Engineering doesn’t need to use graduate students to teach classes. However, sometimes graduate students serve as lab assistants, but even in those cases there is a faculty member who oversees and is responsible for the lab.

Who teaches the classes?
The College of Engineering has a diverse faculty with outstanding academic and professional credentials. 100 percent of the engineering faculty hold a doctorate (many from prestigious schools such as MIT, Rice, Vanderbilt, Cal Tech, Illinois, Northwestern and Georgia Tech), over 40 percent are licensed as professional engineers (some in several states), and over 80 percent have industrial and professional experience. All faculty members are involved in professional development activities and are committed to providing a quality engineering education.

Which is more important at the College of Engineering-- research or teaching?
Faculty members typically have three responsibilities, teaching, research or scholarship and service to the community and the engineering profession. In the College of Engineering, their first and foremost responsibility is providing quality instruction to our undergraduate and graduate students. As a part of their scholarship, some of our faculty write the textbooks used by our students and by students at other universities. Out students benefit when our faculty bring their experiences with current engineering research and practice to the classroom. Frequently, undergraduates are involved in our cutting-edge research activities that are supported by a variety of State and Federal organizations and many private-sector companies.

What about facilities?
The College of Engineering has nearly 20,000 square feet of classroom space and nearly 50,000 square feet of laboratory space devoted to instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels. A continual process of laboratory improvement maintains the quality of the laboratory experiences. The computational environment is state-of-the-art and contains both wired and wireless access to a campus-wide network, including Internet II. Extensive packages of both general-purpose and discipline-specific software and hardware are available to support your engineering studies.

You may have questions that aren’t addressed here. If so, the best way to get the answers is to visit the College of Engineering, find out about our degree programs and meet our dedicated faculty and staff. To set up a visit, call 901-678-3258.