In the electrical engineering program at Iowa State, you are required to take a 15 credits of

general education classes. I believe that many incoming students don’t understand why this is required

to graduate in this program. As I have moved through my adventure here at ISU, I have come to

understand the importance of these classes. These classes are to expand the students minds in ways

that engineering classes can’t. I will go through some of the classes that I took and how they impacted

my learning.

The first class I want to talk about is Leadership Styles and Strategies in a Diverse Society (LD ST

322). This class showed me a lot about how teams should interact and my own personal strengths.

Although team projects are present in many different engineering classes, LDST 322 took teamwork

aspects to a whole new level and allows me to contribute to every team I am a part of. This is important

for engineering problems, because engineers often work as a team to ensure multiple perspectives on

the problem. This class also connected these skills to problems in the world. One project that resonated

with me was the global power crisis. This class had us relate how our privilege and skill can help us work

toward solving the global power problem.

The next class is Fundamentals of Public Speaking (SP CM 212). This class taught me many

different oral presentation skills. These skills are ones that I have been able to use in professional

settings. One example I can think of this a schematic review that I had over my last internship. I had to

explain my circuit, answer questions, and inform my bosses. This is not an easy task but having the

experience I gained from my public speaking class was irreplaceable.

The next class I will talk about is Introduction to American Government (POL S 215). I think that

this class is very important because of the ethical ramifications in engineering. When designing a

product there are many things to remember. One important thing has to do with ethics ramifications of

the problem. I believe that a basic knowledge of the government can give everyone a better

understanding of how the country works. This knowledge allows engineers to be better informed as
they look at complex problems like self-driving cars. Many states have had to make laws about self-

driving cars in recent years because of the advancements that have been made. There are many ethical

ramifications for this problem and the United States governing body is working to balance the

restrictions faced by the companies and the safety of the citizens.

The last class I want to talk about is Russia Today (RUS 375). This class shows a modern

perspective from people with a much different culture than the one I grew up with. This class looks at

social, economical and cultural topics that are affecting Russia today. This will help my engineering

career because some devices transcend cultural barriers. That is why it is important to recognize other

cultures while designing anything. This class helps remind engineers of this fact by showing a stark

contrast to the modern world they are used to. Once one sees these differences, they are more willing

to see more differing privileges from their own.

In conclusion, I talked about the different General Education classes that I took while I was at

ISU and how each one has had an impact on my engineering methodology moving forward. These

classes have provided great insight into how the world works beyond just the numbers engineers

concentrate on.