Methodist University conducted a nationwide search in early 2015 for a founding director of an Engineering program to begin enrolling students in Fall 2016, and Dr. Denise Bauer took notice. At the time, she was an assistant clinical professor at the University of Idaho’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, but she saw a can’t-miss opportunity at MU.
Methodist University conducted a nationwide search in early 2015 for a founding director of an Engineering program to begin enrolling students in Fall 2016, and Dr. Denise Bauer took notice. At the time, she was an assistant clinical professor at the University of Idaho’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, but she saw a can’t-miss opportunity at MU.
“The idea of starting a program and making it my own and putting the ideas that I had everywhere else into this to make it what it is was really attractive,” Bauer said.
Fast forward eight years, and Bauer’s mark on Methodist University is unmistakable. She crafted a bachelor’s program in Engineering with a concentration in Industrial and Systems Engineering that earned approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), the University’s regional accreditor, and last year earned accreditation from the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), a global accreditor of engineering programs.
Bauer’s role has expanded in the past year to include becoming a division director, overseeing both Engineering and Environmental and Occupational Management. She has served as the faculty representative on the President’s Cabinet, and continues to serve in the Faculty Senate, of which she was the first chairperson. She has even organized the summer STEM Camp hosted by Methodist University for the past two years, leading other faculty in creating educational experiences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics for middle school students.
The sustained success of the Engineering program at Methodist University belies the challenges such a program poses for a small, private university. Bauer faces the task of dispelling prospective students’ perceptions that a small school cannot compete with the facilities offered at larger schools.
“I touch on the personal interaction with the students, which has worked,” Bauer said.
A student-centered approach has been the foundation for everything Bauer has done at MU. Her classes are two-way conversations, with the professor and students listening to and learning from each other, and her office door is always open for students who need to talk. Students have praised Bauer as both a teacher and advisor. She was named the Distinguished Professor of the Year in 2020 and won the Jane Weeks Gardiner Academic Advising Award in 2021, both awards being driven by nominations from her students.
Hailey Carlyle ’21, now a distribution engineer with Current Edge Solutions, echoes that sentiment.
“Dr. B was always there for me no matter what kind of help I needed,” said Carlyle, “If I had a problem with coursework or in my personal life, she always knew what to say and how to help. She’s really one of a kind, and if it weren’t for her, I’m not sure where I’d be today.”