Sarah K.A. Pfatteicher Research Professor. Senior Assistant Dean, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Address/E-mail Program Affiliations Education Publications Awards & Honors Courses Summary

Contact Information

116 Agricultural Hall 1450 Linden Drive Madison, WI 53706

Tel: 608/262-3003 E-mail: spfatt@cals.wisc.edu

Program Affiliations

• Civil and Environmental Engineering

• CALS Undergraduate Programs and Services
• College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
• History of Science Department
• Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies
• Women's Studies Program

Education

• AB '88 (Physics and Mathematics) Smith College, Northampton, MA
• MA '90 (History of Science) UW-Madison
• PhD '96 (History of Science) UW-Madison

Publications

• "Lessons Amid the Rubble: An Introduction to Post-Disaster Engineering and Ethics," Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010.
• Clark A. Miller & Sarah K.A. Pfatteicher. “Nanotechnology in Society Education: Cultivating the Mental Habits of Social Engineers and Critical Citizens." Invited chapter co-author. Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education: Issues, Trends and Future Directions, Aldrin Sweeney & Sudipta Seal, eds., American Scientific Publishers, 2008.
• Katherine Sanders, Patrick V. Farrell, & Sarah K.A. Pfatteicher. "Curriculum Innovation Using Job Design Theory." Proceedings of the Human Factors Ergonomics Society 50th Annual Meeting (2006).
• Editorial, “Anticipating Engineering's Ethical Challenges in 2020.” (IEEE) Technology and Society Magazine. Vol. 24, No. 4 (Winter 2005): 4, 43.
• “Building Destruction and Collapse,” in Encyclopedia of Science, Technology and Ethics. New York: Macmillan, 2005.
• “Depending on Character: The ASCE Shapes its First Code of Ethics.” (ASCE) Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 129, No. 1 (January 2003): 21-31.
  * Awarded Best Paper of the Year, JPI, October 2002 — July 2003 issues.
• Sarah K.A. Pfatteicher and Margaret P. Tongue, “What Drives Diversity?” Frontiers in Education 2002 Conference Proceedings (on CD-ROM), November 2002, Paper #1550.
• “Learning from Failure: Terrorism and Ethics in Engineering Education.” Feature Article. IEEE Technology & Society Magazine, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Summer 2002): 8-12, 21.
• “Teaching vs. Preaching: EC2000 and the Engineering Ethics Dilemma.” Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 90, No. 1 (January 2001): 137-42.
• “Challenger Disaster.” Invited essay for The Oxford Companion to U.S. History. Paul S. Boyer, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 110-111.
• “'The Hyatt Horror': Failure and Responsibility in American Engineering,” (ASCE) Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Vol. 14, No. 2 (May 2000): 62-66.
  * Nominated for Outstanding Paper of the Year, JPCI, 2000.
• “Walkways: Tragedy and Transformation in Kansas City,” Proceedings of the 2nd (ASCE) Forensic Engineering Congress, San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 19-23, 2000, 47-55.
• Essay Review of Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences, by Elaine Seymour and Nancy Hewitt; Women in Medical Education: An Anthology of Experience, Delese Wear, ed.; and Gender and Career in Science and Engineering, by Julia Evetts. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 25 (Autumn 1999): 294-297.
• “Henry Coddington Meyer [engineering researcher & publisher].” American National Biography, ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, vol. 5. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 401-402.
• “Rebecca Lee Crumpler, M.D. [first black woman physician in U.S.]” American National Biography, ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, vol. 5. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 823-825.
• Sarah K.A. Pfatteicher, Jennifer Kushner, and Ramona Gunter. “Inclusive Learning Communities: A Report on the Foundation Coalition Inclusive Learning Communities Conference, November 17-18, 1998, Madison, Wisconsin.” Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin College of Engineering (A Foundation Coalition Partner Institution), 1998.
• Sarah K.A. Pfatteicher, Dianne Bowcock, & Jennifer Kushner. “Program Assessment Tool Kit: A Guide to Conducting Interviews & Surveys,” pilot ed. Madison, WI: LEAD Center, 1998.
• Jeffrey S. Russell, Sarah K.A. Pfatteicher, and John R. Meier, “Improved Management of the Engineering Educational Process.” (American Society of Civil Engineers) Journal of Management in Engineering 13 (Nov./Dec. 1997): 37-41.
• Review of The Introspective Engineer and The Existential Pleasures of Engineering, 2nd ed., by Samuel Florman. Technology and Culture 38 (October 1997): 1022-25.

Selected Awards, Honors and Societies

• Sterling Olmsted Award, American Society for Engineering Education
• Senior Member, Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers
• Board of Directors, National Institute for Engineering Ethics
• Officer, American Society for Engineering Education
• Committee on Professional Practice, American Society of Civil Engineering
• Affiliate Member, American Society of Civil Engineering
• Chair's Advisory Council, InterCollegiate Ethics Bowl
• Association for Practical and Professional Ethics
• Society for the History of Technology

Courses

• Inter Ag 155: Freshman Seminar

Summary

Undergraduate curriculum development and policy are the primary focus of Sarah Pfatteicher's diverse duties as senior assistant dean. Her activities emphasize enhancing student learning and retention. She is also Research Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and an active member (and past Steering Committee member) of the Holtz Center for Science and Technology Studies as well as an Honorary Fellow in the Department of History of Science. In these latter roles she conducts research in two overlapping areas, the first having to do with engineering education and the second focused on the history of ethics and professionalism in engineering, particularly related to engineering disaster response.

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