Butler is in the process of introducing an engineering program following the discontinuation of the Engineering Dual Degree program. Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Carvell.
AUBREY MATASOVSKY | STAFF REPORTER | amatasovsky@butler.edu
Butler University is launching a new engineering program set to welcome students in mechanical, chemical and bioengineering majors in the fall of 2026. The new program replaces the Engineering Dual Degree Program (EDDP), which allowed students to graduate with a degree from Butler and an engineering degree from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).
As a result of the IUPUI split into Indiana University Indianapolis and Purdue University Indianapolis, the EDDP stopped accepting new students, ending a twenty-five-year agreement between IUPUI and Butler. Current students are now being instructed under a “teach out” method, allowing them to complete the five-year program.
Jay Howard, Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, spoke about the creation of the program. Including working with Joe Impagliazzo, a consultant who has worked with the engineering accreditation agency ABET.
“He [said] you can ‘Butlerize’ the engineering program,” said Howard. “You can make it very student-friendly, where faculty are invested in student success.”
Butler’s smaller class sizes are central to the student-friendly approach when compared to Purdue.
“It’s a whole different feel between Butler and an institution that’s so large the classes have 170 students in them,” Howard said. “I think that’s what [Impagliazzo] was getting at when he talked about ‘Butlerizing’ [the] engineering program.”
Jeffrey Carvell, founding Chair of the Department of Engineering, explained that the university’s unique liberal arts approach is also expected to make an impact on the curriculum.
“Traditionally, engineering uses what is known as a knowledge-based program,” Carvell said. “That’s your traditional theoretical knowledge where an instructor comes to class, they give lectures, they give homework and exams and that’s it. Instead of [that model], [Butler’s program is] going to take that knowledge and use it as a tool to do other things.”
The in-depth learning methods are also joined by additional education in engineering ethics.
“It’s [about] broad engineering ethics as a whole,” Carvell said. “If you, as an engineer, see something being designed wrong, but a company is taking the cheaper path, when do you become [the] whistleblower? When can you do things like that?”
The combination of in-depth and comprehensive teaching methods, smaller class sizes and emphasis on ethics education is what the Butler administration hopes will create graduates with specialized skills to better serve the Indianapolis area.
“I like the [idea that] an engineer does [what they do] for the betterment of society,” Carvell said. “We do this as a way to help other people, to help everybody else.”
Charlie Schuman, a senior engineering and economics major enrolled in the EDDP, expressed excitement at the possibilities a Butler-specific program presents.
“It’s definitely a huge undertaking,” Schuman said. “I hope [administration] pulls it off. There’s already a good number of engineering schools in Indiana, so having another one would be pretty exciting.”
