Society perspectives on the ABET/CSAB integration

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB) have announced the integration of their accreditation services in October 1998. By combining their efforts, both groups believe thai theywill better serve the computing profession, the public, industry, and institutions of higher learning. Both the ABET and the CSAB are recognized as bona fide accreditation institutions in their respective fields. The integration promises to strengthen the computing and engineering communities, foster greater commonality among accredited computing programs, and improve the quality of computing education. The integration should be complete by the summer of 2000. But howwill the pendingintegration affect previously accredited programs? What will the new structure look like? What is CSAB´s role in the integration? Whatwill happen to the CSAC of the CSAB? Whatwill happen to the EAC of the ABET? How are the ACMand the IEEE Computer Society involved in the new integration? Who will be responsible for selecting the evaluators of computing programs? What about software engineering, information systems, and information technology programs? How will the new structure benefit liberal arts programs? The panel members will address these and many other questions.