Graduate degree programs in engineering management were created to meet a need. Many engineers employed in business, industry, and government acquire significant management responsibility within ten years of graduation. Undergraduate engineering programs have very little room for courses related to engineering management and even less room for general management courses. Engineers in management positions often find themselves at a disadvantage to non-engineering colleagues with more formal education in relevant management areas. The Master of Science in Engineering Management (MSEM) gives practicing or prospective engineers the opportunity to improve their formal training in the areas of general management and engineering management while also developing additional breadth or depth in their technical specialty. This paper chronicles the development of a MSEM program at the University of Minnesota. The program began as a concept over nine years ago and is now on the verge of becoming a reality. The development of the program is described and parallels are drawn to the concurrent growth and evolution of engineering management as a field. The philosophy behind the curriculum of the new program is explained, and the actual review and approval process is documented. Finally, an update of the current status of the proposed program is given and plans for the future are described. The program will be offered by the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Minnesota Duluth, and it will be the first engineering management degree program of any kind in the University of Minnesota system.
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