Ann F. McKenna is the Vice Dean of Strategic Advancement for the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, and is a professor of engineering in the Polytechnic School, one of the six Fulton Schools.
McKenna’s research focuses on entrepreneurial thinking in the context of engineering faculty mentorship and curricular innovations, design teaching and learning, the role of adaptive expertise in design and innovation, and the impact and diffusion of education innovations.
She was named one of the nine 2019 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Fellows for demonstrating outstanding contributions to engineering education. McKenna has been an ASEE member since 1996.
McKenna is PI on the NSF-funded ASU Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (RED) project that focuses on instilling an additive innovation and risk-taking mindset among faculty to transform engineering teaching practices. She is also PI on the Kern Family Foundation project that is conceptualizing and implementing a national-focused effort on applying an entrepreneurial mindset approach to faculty mentorship. She was a co-investigator and instructor for the first I-Corps for Learning project, which fosters an entrepreneurial mindset in the education community to design and implement novel and effective teaching strategies, technologies and curriculum materials.
McKenna has twice been the recipient of the ASEE best overall paper award (1998 and 2011), as well as the recipient of the outstanding paper award from the IEEE/ASEE Frontiers in Education (FIE) conference (1997). Her work in the area of design education has been nationally recognized by receiving the best paper award for three consecutive years, 2009, 2010, and 2011 in the Design in Engineering Education Division of ASEE. She has also received the best research paper (2018) and best teaching paper (2017) in the Entrepreneurship and Engineering Innovation Division of ASEE. McKenna works across the disciplinary lines of engineering, education and design and has published in diverse disciplinary venues including Science, the Journal of Engineering Education, IEEE Computer, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, and Teaching in Higher Education.
McKenna recently served as a senior associate editor for the Journal of Engineering Education (2012-2015), the leading research journal in the field of engineering education. She served a two-year term (2011-2013) as a director of the Educational Research and Methods (ERM) Division of ASEE. She was a member of the Advisory Board for the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium (2011-2013), as well as a panel member for Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's (NSERC) Chairs in Design Engineering (CDE) program (2011-2014).
Prior to joining ASU, she served as a program director at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Undergraduate Education, and was the director of education improvement in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University. McKenna received her bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Drexel University and doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley.
McKenna’s research focuses on understanding the diffusion and impact of educational innovations, the role of adaptive expertise in design and innovation, teaching approaches of engineering faculty, and characterizing the (eco)system of engineering education such as the inputs, outputs, and many variables that are part of, and influence the system.
McKenna is a co-investigator in Education for US All (E4USA), a first-of-its-kind pre-college engineering course pilot program to develop the first standardized course in engineering for U.S. high schools. ASU is one of three universities in the $4 million National Science Foundation project to evaluate the proposed curriculum and student and teacher learning. McKenna says ASU will leverage its strengths in online offerings to increase high schoolers’ access to engineering undergraduate courses. She was a co-investigator and instructor for the first I-Corps for Learning project, which fosters an entrepreneurial mindset in the education community to design and implement novel and effective teaching strategies, technologies and curriculum materials.
Links to Research Project Web Sites:
I-Corps-L
http://www.asee.org/i-corps-l/about
Virtual Communities of Practice
Deep Insights Anytime, Anywhere--DIA2
Product Archaeology
Spring 2021 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2020 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 574 | Eng Sys in Context |
DCI 792 | Research |
EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 799 | Dissertation |
Summer 2020 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 792 | Research |
Spring 2020 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2019 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 574 | Eng Sys in Context |
DCI 792 | Research |
EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 799 | Dissertation |
Summer 2019 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 792 | Research |
Spring 2019 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2018 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 574 | Eng Sys in Context |
DCI 792 | Research |
EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 799 | Dissertation |
Summer 2018 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 792 | Research |
Spring 2018 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 792 | Research |
Fall 2017 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 574 | Eng Sys in Context |
DCI 792 | Research |
EGR 792 | Research |
EGR 799 | Dissertation |
Summer 2017 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 792 | Research |
Spring 2017 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
EGR 535 | Engineer Innovation/Entrepren |
HSE 792 | Research |
EGR 792 | Research |
HSE 799 | Dissertation |
Fall 2016 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
ASU 101-TPS | The ASU Experience |
SMC 792 | Research |
EGR 792 | Research |
DCI 792 | Research |
SMC 799 | Dissertation |
EGR 799 | Dissertation |
Summer 2016 | |
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Course Number | Course Title |
SMC 792 | Research |
McKenna has twice been the recipient of the ASEE best overall paper award (1998 and 2011), as well as the recipient of the outstanding paper award from the IEEE/ASEE Frontiers in Education (FIE) conference (1997). Her work in the area of design education has been nationally recognized by being a best paper finalist for three consecutive years, 2009, 2010, and 2011 in the Design in Engineering Education Division of ASEE (winning the award in 2011). McKenna works across the disciplinary lines of engineering, education and design and has published in diverse disciplinary venues including Science, the Journal of Engineering Education, IEEE Computer, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, and Teaching in Higher Education.
McKenna served as a senior associate editor for the Journal of Engineering Education (2012-2015), the leading research journal in the field of engineering education.
McKenna completed a two-year term (2011-2013) as a director of the Educational Research and Methods (ERM) Division of ASEE. She was a member of the Advisory Board for the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium (2011-2013), as well as a panel member for Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's (NSERC) Chairs in Design Engineering (CDE) program (2011-2014).
Prior to joining ASU, she served as a program director at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Undergraduate Education, and was on the faculty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University. McKenna received her bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Drexel University and doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley.