As dean of Johnson & Wales University’s School of Technology, Francis X. Tweedie is transforming the college into a lab-based, applied-learning curriculum closely aligned with the needs of industry. As part of efforts to increase the school’s enrollment to at least 1,000, from about 600 full-time students today, and address a need for IT professionals, Tweedie holds advisory and board positions at Hope High School, the Beacon Charter School and the Davies Vocational School, and is helping to implement new math, science and technology curricula in those schools.

PBN: People think of Johnson & Wales University primarily as a culinary arts school. Can you explain about the School of Technology and its academic programs?

TWEEDIE: The School of Technology is the smallest college of the four colleges at Johnson & Wales – our day population is just under 600, and we have a continuing-education program that might put it at about 720. We have a B.S. in engineering, a B.S. in engineering design and configuration management, network engineering, software engineering, business information systems analysis, graphics and new media, Web – very diverse.

Our philosophy is similar to culinary in that we do specialized lab training to enhance the students’ ability to apply their skill sets, but we do it on the technology side. … Our whole foundation is based on project management. We’re focused on experiential education – our success comes from our co-ops and our students converting into jobs, and we have a high percentage of students that convert from their co-op to a job offer.

PBN: Can you describe the co-op program?

TWEEDIE: It’s in an area of their study where they apply their skill sets to a company that has needs. … They get graded, they get evaluated, there’s an educational piece. It allows a company to have them for three months or more. … It’s a way of getting to see and evaluate a future employee without it costing them much.

PBN: How do you connect with industry to make sure your students are being trained in the skills that businesses are looking for?

TWEEDIE: For us, technology is a moving target – it changes constantly, and we have to be on top of what the needs are. We have a handful of business partners, and they keep us focused on what their needs are. We’re continually researching the needs out there.

PBN: Can you give an example of lab-based learning at the School of Technology?

TWEEDIE: In September, we established the Alan Shawn Feinstein Technology and Design Center … and the whole focus for this is creating solutions for the nonprofit community. This is a sophomore-level class, and right now we’re doing Textron Chamber of Commerce’s Web site, working with the Faxon Animal Rescue League in Massachusetts … They’re also working on some of our internal marketing projects. … Any nonprofit can come in here and get help.

PBN: Is there a particular challenge that you’re contending with at the School of Technology?

TWEEDIE: What we’re contending with is low enrollment, and that’s because there’s a lack of IT interest – and that’s across the board, it’s not just us.

PBN: That’s unfortunate, because IT graduates go into high-paying jobs with promising career paths. Are high school students intimidated, because they don’t have the skills to go into an IT program?

TWEEDIE: Math and science – across the board, standardized test scores nationally are low. …We try to address the problem of low math scores and low science scores, especially in engineering. Our electronic engineering program is one our oldest programs, and it’s one of our smallest – because of that concern of students coming in not meeting the grade. We introduced our robotic technology program not for just students that can’t handle math, but students that weren’t given a true opportunity to see if they can be good in math and science. … We bring them up through an application – not just, “OK, sit there and work out formulas.”

PBN: Can you partner at the high school level to prepare students better to study science and math in college?

TWEEDIE: We have many partnerships. One of our biggest initiatives is in Hope High School. They converted to a three-academy model, and my goal is to help them with their IT academy. I’ve been very much involved with developing their four years of curriculum and assessment, and really marrying it to the needs of industry. … They’re in their second year of the new curriculum, and they’re doing well. We do free professional development for their teachers, I help them with their rubrics and assessment tools, teach them how project-based learning can benefit, because that’s the skill sets that industry is looking for.

PBN: Is there a level of frustration, or optimism, with the pace at which the state is realigning its math and science curricula in the middle schools and high schools?

TWEEDIE: It’s very frustrating, and the frustration comes from the need for resources. To implement any specialized academy or teaching philosophies there are certain resources you need – computer labs with the right software, professional development money for faculty – and that’s what I’ve been running into. And it’s not just Providence – it’s all over the place. The budgets are being cut at the state [level], so that translates down to less money coming to the districts, less money to be put into education. •

interview: Francis X. Tweedie

POSITION: Dean of the Johnson & Wales University School of Technology.

BACKGROUND: Tweedie has been at Johnson & Wales for 15 years, working his way up from early positions as a tutor, practicum coordinator, adjunct professor and professor of engineering. Prior to taking his current job as dean of the School of Technology in 2004, he served for six years as chairman of the engineering department. From 1999 to 2001, Tweedie was the interim director of the university’s Worcester campus. Before coming to Johnson & Wales, Tweedie worked for 15 years as an engineer for Klockner-Moeller Manufacturing, a German electro-mechanical engineering firm that had a facility in Lincoln, and had recruited Tweedie while he was a sophomore at the University of Rhode Island in the 1970s.

EDUCATION: M.S. in instructional technology, Johnson & Wales University, 1998; B.S. in electronic engineering, Johnson & Wales University, 1995.

RESIDENCE:

Cumberland

AGE: 49