TTU SME Student Chapter Recognized for National Excellence

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (September 20, 2002) – U.S. News & World Report has ranked Tennessee Tech University among the Top Public Universities in the South for the second year in a row.

The ranking, which was announced this week in the magazine's America's Best Colleges issue and its 2003 College Guide, is TTU's fourth overall top-ranking appearance by U.S. News in recent years. Last year U.S. News ranked TTU among the Top Public Universities in the South and in the top tier of its Best Universities – Master's (regional) category for the South.

The rankings are separated into four main categories — Best National Universities – Doctoral, Best Universities – Master’s, Best Liberal Arts Colleges – Bachelor’s, and Best Comprehensive Colleges – Bachelor’s. TTU is included in the Best Universities – Master’s category because it draws most of its students from the Southern region and it offers a full range of undergraduate and master’s degrees, but only three Ph.D.-level programs.

The ranking information is available in the magazine and guideCOOKEVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 9, 2002) -- The Society of Manufacturing Engineers awarded Tennessee Tech University’s student chapter the organization’s 2002 Outstanding Chapter Award for Overall Excellence out of 450 chapters nationwide.

A $750 award was given to the chapter for its accomplishments.

According to SME, their awards recognize student chapters "who have exemplified outstanding recruitment and retention practices, hosted innovative professional development series or held highly technical programming meetings."

SME praised Tennessee Tech’s chapter on its commitment to membership recruitment; the club has grown to almost 60 members.

"Development of an innovative web site, as well as inventive technical programming, guest speakers and community involvement helped this student chapter really stand out," according to the SME.

Included in the long list of activities held by the club were a lecture on "Filter Design and Analysis" and a fund-raising project where students donated old books to be sold to fellow students. The club also judged science projects at Sycamore Elementary School and toured manufacturing plants for Corvette, Toshiba and Nesco.

Tommy Goodrum, SME’s Director and International Executive Committee Member, visited the campus in February and examined the chapter’s progress.

The club has also gone paperless. Students who wish to join the organization or just reapply for the following year may apply over the club’s web site (www.tntech.edu/sme/). A resource section, entitled the "Web-book of a Manufacturing Engineer," gives a comprehensive list of web sites to put information a few mouse clicks away.

SME is the world’s leading professional society for manufacturing industries. The organization has 60,000 members in 70 countries and hundreds of chapters worldwide.

--Karen Lykins

This information posted 9 September 2002

book on newsstands now or on the web at USNews.com. TTU's listing among the Top Public Universities in the South is only accessible on the U.S. News web site with a paid subscription fee.

TTU is the state's only technological university. The school's enrollment reached an all-time high this fall, with headcount numbers increasing almost three percent to 8,890 students.

--Monica Greppin

This information posted 20 September 2002