An IndustryAppreciated Education S TO R Y BY
PA M C OV I N GTO N P H OTO G R A P H Y BY PHIL SHOCKLE Y /
UNIVERSIT Y MARKETING
Faculty members bring decades of real-life experience to engineering technology classrooms The real-world experience of OSU’s engineering technology faculty is a key factor in preparing students for handson engineering careers. More than 90 percent of OSU’s engineering technology faculty members have at least five years of industry experience, says Dana Hobson, interim head of the Division of Engineering Technology. Oklahoma State’s Engineering Technology Division includes four degree programs: construction management technology, electrical engineering technology, fire protection and safety engineering technology, and mechanical engineering technology. With nearly 950 students and 23 faculty positions, the Engineering Technology Division is the second-largest school in OSU’s College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology.
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Most of the engineering technology faculty spent long careers in the industry before teaching at OSU. Antone Kusmanoff, Ph.D., a faculty member in
Electrical Engineering Technology, is one example. He served 20 years in the Air Force as a communications systems officer. After retiring from the Air Force, Kusmanoff earned his doctorate at OSU and took a job at at the Southwest Research Institute working on multiple contracts associated with computer and information systems for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and other government and defense organizations. Kusmanoff worked as a principal systems engineer for major defense industry contractors: E-Systems, Raytheon and L-3 Communications. Altogether, he worked in the industry for 24 years after he retired from the Air Force. Although the two fields overlap, electrical engineering technology is more applied whereas electrical engineering is more theoretical. Kusmanoff says that even though he has a doctorate in electrical engineering, he spent most of his time in the industry doing applied engineering, such as building parts for a new communication system in the Johnson Space Center. continues
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