Dr. Walter Buchanan, professor in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution at Texas A&M University, has been selected as a recipient of the 2018 Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Fellow Award. The award will be presented to him in early November at a gala in Baltimore.
“It is a great honor,” Buchanan said. “Only about 150 of these awards have been given out in the past 30 years.”
The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) is a lead accreditor for engineering and engineering technology programs across the globe. Since its founding in 1932, it has partnered with professionals and experts in industry, academia and government to evaluate the quality of top academic programs. The ABET Board of Directors annually recognizes up to five experts that have gone above and beyond in their dedication to the organization and mission.
For more than three decades, Buchanan has done just that.
Starting as a program evaluator in 1987, he has served on the executive board of the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission and several other committees, including the Awards Committee for the 2017 Fellow Award.
Out of all 50 campuses that he visited during his time as an evaluator, including a handful in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, it’s Texas A&M that stands out the most to Buchanan.
“I think we’ve got the best programs for a number of reasons,” he said. “The faculty are more involved in research than a lot of other institutions. I think we have a good schedule of classes that do labs. Great recruitment. It’s really applied engineering. There are more labs and more hands-on stuff going on in labs.”
Buchanan wants to offer special thanks to his nominator and friend Dr. Lawrence J. Wolf, President Emeritus at Oregon Institute of Technology, and to Dr. Reza Langari, professor and J.R. Thompson Department Head Chair of the engineering technology and industrial distribution department, for their ongoing support.