The first graduating class of UWindsor’s Master of Engineering Management program is pictured with UWindsor faculty during the university's 2018 Fall Convocation Ceremony.
The landscape of the Canadian job market has changed and engineers like Jennifer Côté are preparing themselves for today’s competitive work environment by expanding their expertise.
Côté is one of 19 working professionals who took advantage of the University of Windsor’s weekend Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program and graduated in its inaugural class this fall. As a senior manager of corporate planning at ValiantTMS in Windsor and mother of three, the program was an ideal fit for Côté, who says each MEM course is tailored to real-life working situations that arise in the workplace.
“The students are all working professionals with backgrounds in engineering, which simulates real working conditions and allows for more dynamic learning through group discussion and brainstorming,” says Côté. “Because many of us come from diverse industries, we see similar and different issues arising in real-life situations – it makes for a great learning experience.”
In 2016, the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Engineering and Odette School of Business partnered to launch Ontario’s first weekend MEM degree. The two-year program allows working professionals to enhance their technical expertise with business and managerial skills without interrupting their careers.
Kevin Curridor says it was beneficial to work on his studies in parallel with work and apply what he was learning in class to his job at a specialized logistics company with more than 100 facilities worldwide. Curridor took advantage of his time in the program to audit and improve company cost models, which he says were “a huge success and received well amongst executives,” and also helped expand his role at Syncreon to a global level. He especially liked the program’s entrepreneurial focus and hopes to launch his own company one day.
His classmates Easa Ahmadzai and Samer Toukan turned their class business plan into a reality. Ahmadzai and Toukan say their MEM courses in finance, accounting, entrepreneurship and marketing helped them found Archery Mayhem— a combat archery game based in Windsor similar to dodgeball but instead uses bows and soft foam-tipped arrows.
Despite already being involved in management at HRYCAY Consulting Engineering Inc., Justine Arbor says the program has helped her with the management of her team and “in navigating my organization as a whole.”
“Principles of innovative design have assisted me in developing more efficient solutions to project issues, while financial management principles have been useful in establishing budgets and project metrics.”
Professionals who take part in the program must have a minimum of two years of work experience in an engineering related field and an undergraduate degree in engineering or a related discipline. The inaugural class has an average of seven years of work experience.
The MEM program has attracted students from a variety of engineering disciplines, including mechanical, industrial, computer, electrical, civil, aerospace and even a kinesiology graduate who works as a human-factors engineer. Professionals from out of town are taking advantage of the curriculum offered every second weekend on Friday evenings, 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
“We can tell this is a much-needed program,” said MEM program coordinator and professor Ali AbdulHussein. “This is what today's market demands. You're not just sitting behind a computer and designing a product or programming software; you need to understand the human factor of the project that you're running. You also need to be able to communicate with engineers of different backgrounds and people in the sales and marketing department.”
AbdulHussein says most of the courses in the MEM program are group focused and centered around presentation and communication skills. In addition to core competencies in applied finance, administration, market research, engineering design and product management, students in UWindsor’s MEM program can focus their degree in manufacturing strategy; operations management; project management; supply chain management; or entrepreneurship and innovation.
For more information about the University of Windsor’s MEM program, please visit uwindsor.ca/mem.