July 5, 2023 • 21 mins
Text us with feedback, questions, and guest suggestions.
Dr. Charles Davis is the president elect of the Florida Engineering Society. Your host of the Florida Engineering Society, Engineering Florida Podcast, Sam Yates, recently sat down with Dr. Davis to learn more about him and his latest book Systematic Guide to Leadership Selection Using Total Quality Management Techniques.
Dr. Davis also discusses different types of leadership and what makes a true leader. His comments are enlightening.
And what about the future for Engineering students post COVID? We'll explore that topic as well on this episode of the Florida Engineering Society Engineering Florida Podcast.
The Florida Engineering Society, Engineering Florida podcast, is produced by Yates & Associates, Public Relations & Marketing. Contact Sam Yates, Sam@Yatespro.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sam Yates (00:00):
Today's Engineers are ingenious professionals.
(00:04):
Engineers invent, design, verifyand qualify, engineers are the
professionals who make our livesand businesses prosperous and
safe. The Florida EngineeringSociety is proud to put our
Engineering professionals in thespotlight so that they may
educate, share information andintroduce you to the world of
(00:25):
engineering that is thriving inFlorida. Here's your host of the
Engineering Florida podcast, SamYates, with today's guest.
Hello, everyone, and welcome toanother episode of the Florida
Engineering Society,Engineering, Florida podcast.
You know, we've had some prettyamazing guests over the past few
(00:46):
weeks, and I have never ceasedto be amazed at when I have a
particular guest that that comesin and just wowed me. And that
is what has happened with myguest today, Dr. Charles Davis
and why he has amazed me andgiven me that wow factor is
something to do with his book.
And I've got to give that littlebit of a tease, because I want
(01:06):
to talk about that book. It'sit's got the elements that you
would not believe when it comesto choosing leadership. And I'm
going to get into that. But Dr.
Davis, welcome to the programtoday.
Dr. Charles Davis (01:21):
Welcome.
Thank you.
Sam Yates (01:23):
You know, I always like to start our programs by
getting a bit of backgroundabout our guests. So please tell
us about yourself.
Dr. Charles Davis (01:31):
So, I am Charles Davis. I am originally
from New Orleans, Louisiana, asthey say in Orleans, New
Orleans, and I have been inOrlando since while 8687.
Sometime around that time. Iactually came here for work. And
(01:55):
believe it or not the job that Iapplied to which was an industry
at the time, I worked for aboutsix months, and that particular
job. And then I got transferredto their corporate office, which
was out of Lawrence, Kansas. SoI stayed in Lawrence, Kansas for
about a year, about a year and ahalf, got accustomed to snow
(02:19):
when driving in snow. And beingfrom the South that was a little
bit different from me. But thenI eventually came back to
Orlando, Florida, and I've beenin Orlando, Florida ever since.
Well, in Orlando, I had alreadycompleted an undergraduate
degree. So I decided I'd goback, same company that I was
(02:39):
working with, had a continuingeducation program. So I went
back and got another degree inDesign Engineering Technology,
love school so much continuedand got my master's in
industrial engineering with aconcentration in engineering
management. And love school somuch. 25 years later, completed
(02:59):
my PhD in industrialengineering. And that would
happen actually during theCOVID, to pandemic, so it was
somewhat of a challenge. But Igot through it and I persevered.
Sam Yates (03:13):
You know, I sometimes have to pause, we do an audio
version of our podcast and fromtime to time we have a video
version. For those of you whoare going to be listening just
to the audio version. When Itake a pause, it's usually to
point something out. And Dr.
Dave was what I noticed, whenyou talked about the years that
you spent in school, andlearning the many things that
(03:38):
you have learned, there was asmile on your face. So when you
say you love it, you know, Ireally believe that deep down in
your heart, it is a passion foryou.
Dr. Charles Davis (03:50):
You're correct. I do have a passion for
lifelong learning. And I alsofeel that the talents and the
knowledge that I've received isone reason why I'm actually
teaching now paying it forwardto students. So not only is it a
passion to continue ineducation, but also to pay it
(04:12):
forward to the young minds oftoday.
Sam Yates (04:15):
And where do you teach now?
Dr. Charles Davis (04:17):
So I'm currently teaching at Valencia
College. I have this comingfall, believe it or not, I will
be teaching 20 years. Wow. Istarted back in 2003. And so I
did part time applied to theschool while working still in
industry. Because I just Iwanted to say, you know I could
(04:40):
do this too, right? So I startedteaching, build the Construction
Technology Program. And thenfrom there, it kind of grew into
teaching some pre engineeringcourses. And then eventually,
Valencia ended up getting abachelor's in Electrical
Computer engineering, technologyand 2011 And so I that's what
(05:02):
I've been teaching in theirbachelor's program. And again,
going back to that whole lovingof math loving school, I went
back and got my 18 hours ofadditional math courses. So I
teach Matt, in addition to myengineering classes that I
teach. Just a little bit ofgreat news. I applied to Embry
(05:25):
Riddle about a year ago and theyreached out to me and made an
offer to me. So I start onAugust 14, as associate
professor will be teaching,teaching at Embry Riddle
Aeronautical University. And I'mvery excited about my new
adventure with them.
Sam Yates (05:46):
Congratulations on that. I'm not sure that I have
shared with you but one of myfavorite pieces of background is
aviation technology andaerospace. So would you say
Embry Riddle, that is somethingnear and dear to my heart did
not attend that school. But Iknow quite a few people who are
graduates of it, and quite a fewpeople that have taken their
(06:08):
knowledge base from EmbryRiddle, and have in a couple of
cases, take it into space. Soquite a bit of congratulations
to you.
Dr Charles Davis (06:17):
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Sam Yates (06:19):
Now somewhere in all of this, Dr. Davis has also
managed to carve out enough timeto write a book and the book, if
I can look at my notes here.
It's a systematic, or asystematic guide to leadership,
or leadership selection usingtotal quality management
techniques. When I read it inbits and pieces and link it all
(06:42):
together, it makes perfect senseto me, because there is a
formula, I can see what I lookat certain qualities of
leadership. But what went intothat book, and how did you come
up with that concept.
Dr. Charles Davis (06:59):
So both myself and my advisor who was
part of my PhD program, and twoof my classmates, we decided to
collaborate together and myportion of my PhD, my two
classmates, their portions oftheir PhD, and then my advisor
who was just an amazing person,Dr. Rebello, we decided that we
(07:21):
wanted to put together somethingthat dealt with leadership, but
then also dealt with qualitymanagement. And we initially, in
my, in my dissertation, I dealtmore with like undergraduate
students, but what we say wewant to do was we want to cast
this net net out to not juststudents, but also to industry.
(07:42):
So to be able to use this samebook, and to be able to apply it
to industry, and people whoeither retooling in leadership,
or have never been inleadership, and then also apply
in quality management as itrelates to it as well.
Sam Yates (07:58):
Now, I guess the big question there is, are we at a
point in many, many industries,no matter what industry, you
take a look at that somethingnew and different by way of
management, especially comingout of COVID is needed?
Dr. Charles Davis (08:16):
Yeah, I think we have to look at management a
little bit different because ofcoming out of COVID. Especially,
we were kind of locked up for awhile indoors. So most people
who were managing actual peoplewere managing them from home.
And even still today, somepeople are still working remote,
(08:40):
it's kind of become a thing ofthe future. So we kind of have
to look at management in a waythat we could still manage, but
we could manage remotely aswell, and still be able to use
these tools. I think studentsthat are coming out of school
today. Along with the technicalskills, the hard skills, the
(09:01):
soft skills are the things thatwould be without supply as well.
So either to go on toleadership, or apply any type of
quality, especially in a workenvironment. They have to make
sure that it can be done notonly face to face, but it can
also be done remote as well.
Sam Yates (09:17):
And I think that ties in with something that a lot of
people who keep an eye on trueleaders, management leaders,
they always say managers do morethan manage. They lead they
inspire true statement.
Dr. Charles Davis (09:37):
With hesitation, I'll say yes. I when
I was putting together my paperfor my dissertation, I always
feel that a true leader as aservant leader. These are people
that basically can lead byexample, but also basically can
(09:58):
have others lead them as well.
and a true leader who manageother folk, if they know that
they can get out in thetrenches, they can get out and
get their hands dirty. They canlearn from the people that work
for them, our true leaders,because they get to respect each
other, and learn from eachother.
Sam Yates (10:22):
These are all aspects of your book. So the big
question, I would like ouraudience to know, how can one go
about getting a copy of yourbook.
Dr. Charles Davis (10:31):
So right now, you could actually go to Amazon,
it came out in December,December 26, to be exact. But
you can get it from Amazon,there's a good price on it.
Initially, it was like, somewhathigh, we'd gone back to the
publisher and kind of tried tofind out a way if you know, the
price can drop a little bit, butI think on Amazon right now, you
(10:53):
can get it somewhere between 20to $50. It's in hardcopy. It's
also an ebook version as well.
So for those folks that actuallylike to listen to it, versus
actually reading, you can findit in both modalities. Switch
back
Sam Yates (11:14):
to Embry Riddle for a moment if you could, what are
some of the big challenges thatyou see moving into that
position? And And how has yourbackground helped prepare you
for those challenges?
Dr. Charles Davis (11:28):
So at Valencia, teaching the pre
engineering classes becausethat's a couple of the classes
that I'm going to be teaching atEmbry Riddle as well. The fact
that I like Embry Riddle alsohave small class sizes. They
have anywhere between 25 to 30students in some of their
(11:49):
engineering courses. And so Iactually when I started teaching
pre engineering at Valencia, Ihad a class of 200. So I know
how to adapt to either large andor small. So if I was to be
challenged by teaching a largerclass, I would not have a
problem with it. I think thebiggest thing for me is in terms
(12:11):
of transition is just that,because the students at Valencia
are even though it's a two yearinstitution, it's a college,
it's a university and they gohand in hand. Teaching the
bachelor students, I'll beteaching the same students at
Embry Riddle, you know, I'llteach the ones that's coming in
as freshmen and they now havesome that are in their junior
(12:31):
and senior year. So I don'tthink it's as much as a change
in a way of the type of student.
It's just a differentenvironment. And it's something
that I look so forward tobecause it's just it's new,
right? It's something that Ithink for me, it's like that
next stage in my life. I've doneindustry, I've taught for 20
(12:54):
years. And now I'm basically atEmbry Riddle, to keep that
chapter going.
Sam Yates (13:01):
And we're going to look forward to seeing what is
written, no pun intended. ButI'm sure there will be something
written in that particularchapter. One of the things that,
that I see as a central theme inall of our guests here on the
Florida Engineering Societypodcast, is that concern for new
(13:23):
engineering students, as anindustry is the Florida
Engineering Society leading theway in attracting quality
engineering students.
Dr. Charles Davis (13:35):
Yeah, from the actual society itself, we
actually have student chaptersat each, each of the
universities and colleges. So wetry to do as we try to make sure
that we network with them,mentor them, communicate with
them, and then also basicallyhave them come out to our annual
conference, which this year isin Marco Island. So being able
(14:00):
to network with them being ableto for them to be with engineers
that are already in theindustry. So they could ask
those important questions like,you know, how do I go about
actually interview? And how do Igo about dressing for success?
How do I go about landing thatperfect job or that near perfect
job? And what are the thingsthat I can do? Even though there
(14:21):
may be these little bumps in theroad? Are there lessons learned
from those? And so those are thethings that I think that the
Florida Engineering Society doesvery well in terms of mentoring,
and making sure that thestudents that are coming out of
both the colleges and theuniversities, that they are able
to communicate and have an opendoor policy with the society and
(14:42):
make sure that we cancommunicate with them. We also
have a couple of eventsthroughout the year where the
students could actually giveback so we have like Mathcounts
what is still Lincoln volunteerand actually work with the
students that are like in middleschool. These kids are actually
so Some were sixth, seventh andeighth grade during college
level mathematics. And so thestudents, the college students
(15:06):
get exposed to that. We alsohave, where they get to do
community services. So we havethem go out with us to like,
give the kids the world and do alot of various different things.
So we can give back, you know,to the community. So they get
exposed a lot of stuff, some ofthose things that if they were
just in a classroom, and nothaving that extra curricular,
(15:29):
these are things that I thinkFlorida Engineering Society does
a great job of.
Sam Yates (15:35):
Now, as we talked about Florida Engineering
Society, I completely have notzeroed in on your role and the
past activities as well asfuture activities for the
society. Tell us about that.
Dr. Charles Davis (15:50):
So currently, right now, my my current role
is, I am the Vice President ofFinance. The way that works out
is that you go in progressionfrom Vice President of Finance
to President Elect, which doescome in summer, I will be
(16:10):
basically sworn in as presidentof the LEC. And then in the
2425. Year, I'll be sworn in aspresident for the society.
Sam Yates (16:21):
And again, ladies and gentlemen, you know, I can do
that little pause. So I can saygrinning from ear to ear, you
know, and I can feel thehappiness that that you have in
knowing that President Elect isjust around the corner. So I
want to give you an advancecongratulations on that. Thank
you, colleges and universities.
Now one of the things that Ilike to contemplate is how they
(16:44):
are turning out great leadersare we still meeting that
challenge of of generating greatleaders from our engineering
schools, in particular,
Dr. Charles Davis (17:02):
the program, the rigor of the program, the
curriculum is definitelystructured in a way that we want
to make sure that the studentsare getting the courses that
they need, especially thetechnical side of things. But
then the extracurricular pieceof that. And this is what I
mentioned earlier, students kindof working outside of the
classroom, joining clubs,joining leadership groups where
(17:22):
they could actually get thatexposure. So you actually have
honor societies that they canjoin Phi Theta Kappa, various
different groups out there thatstudents could get exposed to
leadership. The other piece ofit is, is that when students are
either doing internships orcoops, they have the opportunity
to work alongside otherengineers in the street, but
(17:43):
then also may, they may obtainleadership role as well, working
on that internship or Co Op. I'mdefinitely an advocate for those
students that I asked to jointhe clubs at Valencia and I'm
also going to be starting upsome of those clubs at Embry
Riddle as well. Get thosestudents that aspire to be
(18:06):
leaders. So always, always,always looking for those
individuals that want to step upand become leaders? And my
engineering managementcommunications class and also in
my other class, my qualityassurance class? I specifically
asked that question. Thequestion is, do you think people
are either born to be leaders oralong the way trained as
(18:29):
leaders, and you'd be surprisedthe amount of comments and our
debate that I get from that mostof students tend to think that
most people are trying to becomeleaders, and those that are born
to be leaders. It's, it'ssomething I always have to go
back to you there. You know, aprince, a prince becomes a king,
(18:52):
you know, those type of things,right? So it's like destined for
you, but those people that aretrained or trained to become
leaders, again, going back tothat whole thing of servant
leader.
Sam Yates (19:03):
Now, you know, after hearing that, I'm going to have
to pose the question to you thatyou ask the students born leader
or gained along the way,
Dr. Charles Davis (19:14):
gained along the way. And I gained along the
way I I always felt like what myfamily that and they would
always tell me that I was therock of the family. In the
middle. I'm the middle child.
But I also felt like because myfather passed away when I was
young, that at some point, Ineeded to kind of step up and
(19:34):
become that leader of mysiblings and my mom. So along
the way, gain that leadership,but then also basically
centering myself around otherpeople that I aspired that were
leaders that I saw in them.
Sam Yates (19:52):
Well, I have to say thank you for being on the
program today. Dr. Charles Davisengine Dear author, and leader,
it has been my pleasure to haveyou on the program and one
question that I must ask, Willyou come back for another
(20:12):
program in the future? Mostdefinitely. And I asked that
question because there are somany other topics that we can
touch upon you and I have hadoffline conversations on some of
them. And I thought it mostappropriate not to get into all
of those areas. Because, like wesay in the business, we'd like
(20:34):
to leave you with something tostay tuned to listen for. So Dr.
Davidson, thank you for beinghere with us on the program
today. Thank you, sir. Iappreciate it. That's going to
wrap up this edition of theFlorida engineering society's
podcast called engineeringFlorida. I'm your host, Sam
Yates. Until our next episode,have a great day, everybody.
(20:55):
Thanks for listening to anotherinformative episode of the
engineering Florida podcast. Ourgoal is to help educate and
inform everyone who listens toour podcast about our members
and topics of interest to theFlorida Engineering Society. On
behalf of the FloridaEngineering Society, and the
(21:17):
Engineering Florida podcast,have a great day everybody
Today's Engineers are ingenious professionals.
(00:04):
Engineers invent, design, verifyand qualify, engineers are the
professionals who make our livesand businesses prosperous and
safe. The Florida EngineeringSociety is proud to put our
Engineering professionals in thespotlight so that they may
educate, share information andintroduce you to the world of
(00:25):
engineering that is thriving inFlorida. Here's your host of the
Engineering Florida podcast, SamYates, with today's guest.
Hello, everyone, and welcome toanother episode of the Florida
Engineering Society,Engineering, Florida podcast.
You know, we've had some prettyamazing guests over the past few
(00:46):
weeks, and I have never ceasedto be amazed at when I have a
particular guest that that comesin and just wowed me. And that
is what has happened with myguest today, Dr. Charles Davis
and why he has amazed me andgiven me that wow factor is
something to do with his book.
And I've got to give that littlebit of a tease, because I want
(01:06):
to talk about that book. It'sit's got the elements that you
would not believe when it comesto choosing leadership. And I'm
going to get into that. But Dr.
Davis, welcome to the programtoday.
Dr. Charles Davis (01:21):
Welcome.
Thank you.
Sam Yates (01:23):
You know, I always like to start our programs by
getting a bit of backgroundabout our guests. So please tell
us about yourself.
Dr. Charles Davis (01:31):
So, I am Charles Davis. I am originally
from New Orleans, Louisiana, asthey say in Orleans, New
Orleans, and I have been inOrlando since while 8687.
Sometime around that time. Iactually came here for work. And
(01:55):
believe it or not the job that Iapplied to which was an industry
at the time, I worked for aboutsix months, and that particular
job. And then I got transferredto their corporate office, which
was out of Lawrence, Kansas. SoI stayed in Lawrence, Kansas for
about a year, about a year and ahalf, got accustomed to snow
(02:19):
when driving in snow. And beingfrom the South that was a little
bit different from me. But thenI eventually came back to
Orlando, Florida, and I've beenin Orlando, Florida ever since.
Well, in Orlando, I had alreadycompleted an undergraduate
degree. So I decided I'd goback, same company that I was
(02:39):
working with, had a continuingeducation program. So I went
back and got another degree inDesign Engineering Technology,
love school so much continuedand got my master's in
industrial engineering with aconcentration in engineering
management. And love school somuch. 25 years later, completed
(02:59):
my PhD in industrialengineering. And that would
happen actually during theCOVID, to pandemic, so it was
somewhat of a challenge. But Igot through it and I persevered.
Sam Yates (03:13):
You know, I sometimes have to pause, we do an audio
version of our podcast and fromtime to time we have a video
version. For those of you whoare going to be listening just
to the audio version. When Itake a pause, it's usually to
point something out. And Dr.
Dave was what I noticed, whenyou talked about the years that
you spent in school, andlearning the many things that
(03:38):
you have learned, there was asmile on your face. So when you
say you love it, you know, Ireally believe that deep down in
your heart, it is a passion foryou.
Dr. Charles Davis (03:50):
You're correct. I do have a passion for
lifelong learning. And I alsofeel that the talents and the
knowledge that I've received isone reason why I'm actually
teaching now paying it forwardto students. So not only is it a
passion to continue ineducation, but also to pay it
(04:12):
forward to the young minds oftoday.
Sam Yates (04:15):
And where do you teach now?
Dr. Charles Davis (04:17):
So I'm currently teaching at Valencia
College. I have this comingfall, believe it or not, I will
be teaching 20 years. Wow. Istarted back in 2003. And so I
did part time applied to theschool while working still in
industry. Because I just Iwanted to say, you know I could
(04:40):
do this too, right? So I startedteaching, build the Construction
Technology Program. And thenfrom there, it kind of grew into
teaching some pre engineeringcourses. And then eventually,
Valencia ended up getting abachelor's in Electrical
Computer engineering, technologyand 2011 And so I that's what
(05:02):
I've been teaching in theirbachelor's program. And again,
going back to that whole lovingof math loving school, I went
back and got my 18 hours ofadditional math courses. So I
teach Matt, in addition to myengineering classes that I
teach. Just a little bit ofgreat news. I applied to Embry
(05:25):
Riddle about a year ago and theyreached out to me and made an
offer to me. So I start onAugust 14, as associate
professor will be teaching,teaching at Embry Riddle
Aeronautical University. And I'mvery excited about my new
adventure with them.
Sam Yates (05:46):
Congratulations on that. I'm not sure that I have
shared with you but one of myfavorite pieces of background is
aviation technology andaerospace. So would you say
Embry Riddle, that is somethingnear and dear to my heart did
not attend that school. But Iknow quite a few people who are
graduates of it, and quite a fewpeople that have taken their
(06:08):
knowledge base from EmbryRiddle, and have in a couple of
cases, take it into space. Soquite a bit of congratulations
to you.
Dr Charles Davis (06:17):
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Sam Yates (06:19):
Now somewhere in all of this, Dr. Davis has also
managed to carve out enough timeto write a book and the book, if
I can look at my notes here.
It's a systematic, or asystematic guide to leadership,
or leadership selection usingtotal quality management
techniques. When I read it inbits and pieces and link it all
(06:42):
together, it makes perfect senseto me, because there is a
formula, I can see what I lookat certain qualities of
leadership. But what went intothat book, and how did you come
up with that concept.
Dr. Charles Davis (06:59):
So both myself and my advisor who was
part of my PhD program, and twoof my classmates, we decided to
collaborate together and myportion of my PhD, my two
classmates, their portions oftheir PhD, and then my advisor
who was just an amazing person,Dr. Rebello, we decided that we
(07:21):
wanted to put together somethingthat dealt with leadership, but
then also dealt with qualitymanagement. And we initially, in
my, in my dissertation, I dealtmore with like undergraduate
students, but what we say wewant to do was we want to cast
this net net out to not juststudents, but also to industry.
(07:42):
So to be able to use this samebook, and to be able to apply it
to industry, and people whoeither retooling in leadership,
or have never been inleadership, and then also apply
in quality management as itrelates to it as well.
Sam Yates (07:58):
Now, I guess the big question there is, are we at a
point in many, many industries,no matter what industry, you
take a look at that somethingnew and different by way of
management, especially comingout of COVID is needed?
Dr. Charles Davis (08:16):
Yeah, I think we have to look at management a
little bit different because ofcoming out of COVID. Especially,
we were kind of locked up for awhile indoors. So most people
who were managing actual peoplewere managing them from home.
And even still today, somepeople are still working remote,
(08:40):
it's kind of become a thing ofthe future. So we kind of have
to look at management in a waythat we could still manage, but
we could manage remotely aswell, and still be able to use
these tools. I think studentsthat are coming out of school
today. Along with the technicalskills, the hard skills, the
(09:01):
soft skills are the things thatwould be without supply as well.
So either to go on toleadership, or apply any type of
quality, especially in a workenvironment. They have to make
sure that it can be done notonly face to face, but it can
also be done remote as well.
Sam Yates (09:17):
And I think that ties in with something that a lot of
people who keep an eye on trueleaders, management leaders,
they always say managers do morethan manage. They lead they
inspire true statement.
Dr. Charles Davis (09:37):
With hesitation, I'll say yes. I when
I was putting together my paperfor my dissertation, I always
feel that a true leader as aservant leader. These are people
that basically can lead byexample, but also basically can
(09:58):
have others lead them as well.
and a true leader who manageother folk, if they know that
they can get out in thetrenches, they can get out and
get their hands dirty. They canlearn from the people that work
for them, our true leaders,because they get to respect each
other, and learn from eachother.
Sam Yates (10:22):
These are all aspects of your book. So the big
question, I would like ouraudience to know, how can one go
about getting a copy of yourbook.
Dr. Charles Davis (10:31):
So right now, you could actually go to Amazon,
it came out in December,December 26, to be exact. But
you can get it from Amazon,there's a good price on it.
Initially, it was like, somewhathigh, we'd gone back to the
publisher and kind of tried tofind out a way if you know, the
price can drop a little bit, butI think on Amazon right now, you
(10:53):
can get it somewhere between 20to $50. It's in hardcopy. It's
also an ebook version as well.
So for those folks that actuallylike to listen to it, versus
actually reading, you can findit in both modalities. Switch
back
Sam Yates (11:14):
to Embry Riddle for a moment if you could, what are
some of the big challenges thatyou see moving into that
position? And And how has yourbackground helped prepare you
for those challenges?
Dr. Charles Davis (11:28):
So at Valencia, teaching the pre
engineering classes becausethat's a couple of the classes
that I'm going to be teaching atEmbry Riddle as well. The fact
that I like Embry Riddle alsohave small class sizes. They
have anywhere between 25 to 30students in some of their
(11:49):
engineering courses. And so Iactually when I started teaching
pre engineering at Valencia, Ihad a class of 200. So I know
how to adapt to either large andor small. So if I was to be
challenged by teaching a largerclass, I would not have a
problem with it. I think thebiggest thing for me is in terms
(12:11):
of transition is just that,because the students at Valencia
are even though it's a two yearinstitution, it's a college,
it's a university and they gohand in hand. Teaching the
bachelor students, I'll beteaching the same students at
Embry Riddle, you know, I'llteach the ones that's coming in
as freshmen and they now havesome that are in their junior
(12:31):
and senior year. So I don'tthink it's as much as a change
in a way of the type of student.
It's just a differentenvironment. And it's something
that I look so forward tobecause it's just it's new,
right? It's something that Ithink for me, it's like that
next stage in my life. I've doneindustry, I've taught for 20
(12:54):
years. And now I'm basically atEmbry Riddle, to keep that
chapter going.
Sam Yates (13:01):
And we're going to look forward to seeing what is
written, no pun intended. ButI'm sure there will be something
written in that particularchapter. One of the things that,
that I see as a central theme inall of our guests here on the
Florida Engineering Societypodcast, is that concern for new
(13:23):
engineering students, as anindustry is the Florida
Engineering Society leading theway in attracting quality
engineering students.
Dr. Charles Davis (13:35):
Yeah, from the actual society itself, we
actually have student chaptersat each, each of the
universities and colleges. So wetry to do as we try to make sure
that we network with them,mentor them, communicate with
them, and then also basicallyhave them come out to our annual
conference, which this year isin Marco Island. So being able
(14:00):
to network with them being ableto for them to be with engineers
that are already in theindustry. So they could ask
those important questions like,you know, how do I go about
actually interview? And how do Igo about dressing for success?
How do I go about landing thatperfect job or that near perfect
job? And what are the thingsthat I can do? Even though there
(14:21):
may be these little bumps in theroad? Are there lessons learned
from those? And so those are thethings that I think that the
Florida Engineering Society doesvery well in terms of mentoring,
and making sure that thestudents that are coming out of
both the colleges and theuniversities, that they are able
to communicate and have an opendoor policy with the society and
(14:42):
make sure that we cancommunicate with them. We also
have a couple of eventsthroughout the year where the
students could actually giveback so we have like Mathcounts
what is still Lincoln volunteerand actually work with the
students that are like in middleschool. These kids are actually
so Some were sixth, seventh andeighth grade during college
level mathematics. And so thestudents, the college students
(15:06):
get exposed to that. We alsohave, where they get to do
community services. So we havethem go out with us to like,
give the kids the world and do alot of various different things.
So we can give back, you know,to the community. So they get
exposed a lot of stuff, some ofthose things that if they were
just in a classroom, and nothaving that extra curricular,
(15:29):
these are things that I thinkFlorida Engineering Society does
a great job of.
Sam Yates (15:35):
Now, as we talked about Florida Engineering
Society, I completely have notzeroed in on your role and the
past activities as well asfuture activities for the
society. Tell us about that.
Dr. Charles Davis (15:50):
So currently, right now, my my current role
is, I am the Vice President ofFinance. The way that works out
is that you go in progressionfrom Vice President of Finance
to President Elect, which doescome in summer, I will be
(16:10):
basically sworn in as presidentof the LEC. And then in the
2425. Year, I'll be sworn in aspresident for the society.
Sam Yates (16:21):
And again, ladies and gentlemen, you know, I can do
that little pause. So I can saygrinning from ear to ear, you
know, and I can feel thehappiness that that you have in
knowing that President Elect isjust around the corner. So I
want to give you an advancecongratulations on that. Thank
you, colleges and universities.
Now one of the things that Ilike to contemplate is how they
(16:44):
are turning out great leadersare we still meeting that
challenge of of generating greatleaders from our engineering
schools, in particular,
Dr. Charles Davis (17:02):
the program, the rigor of the program, the
curriculum is definitelystructured in a way that we want
to make sure that the studentsare getting the courses that
they need, especially thetechnical side of things. But
then the extracurricular pieceof that. And this is what I
mentioned earlier, students kindof working outside of the
classroom, joining clubs,joining leadership groups where
(17:22):
they could actually get thatexposure. So you actually have
honor societies that they canjoin Phi Theta Kappa, various
different groups out there thatstudents could get exposed to
leadership. The other piece ofit is, is that when students are
either doing internships orcoops, they have the opportunity
to work alongside otherengineers in the street, but
(17:43):
then also may, they may obtainleadership role as well, working
on that internship or Co Op. I'mdefinitely an advocate for those
students that I asked to jointhe clubs at Valencia and I'm
also going to be starting upsome of those clubs at Embry
Riddle as well. Get thosestudents that aspire to be
(18:06):
leaders. So always, always,always looking for those
individuals that want to step upand become leaders? And my
engineering managementcommunications class and also in
my other class, my qualityassurance class? I specifically
asked that question. Thequestion is, do you think people
are either born to be leaders oralong the way trained as
(18:29):
leaders, and you'd be surprisedthe amount of comments and our
debate that I get from that mostof students tend to think that
most people are trying to becomeleaders, and those that are born
to be leaders. It's, it'ssomething I always have to go
back to you there. You know, aprince, a prince becomes a king,
(18:52):
you know, those type of things,right? So it's like destined for
you, but those people that aretrained or trained to become
leaders, again, going back tothat whole thing of servant
leader.
Sam Yates (19:03):
Now, you know, after hearing that, I'm going to have
to pose the question to you thatyou ask the students born leader
or gained along the way,
Dr. Charles Davis (19:14):
gained along the way. And I gained along the
way I I always felt like what myfamily that and they would
always tell me that I was therock of the family. In the
middle. I'm the middle child.
But I also felt like because myfather passed away when I was
young, that at some point, Ineeded to kind of step up and
(19:34):
become that leader of mysiblings and my mom. So along
the way, gain that leadership,but then also basically
centering myself around otherpeople that I aspired that were
leaders that I saw in them.
Sam Yates (19:52):
Well, I have to say thank you for being on the
program today. Dr. Charles Davisengine Dear author, and leader,
it has been my pleasure to haveyou on the program and one
question that I must ask, Willyou come back for another
(20:12):
program in the future? Mostdefinitely. And I asked that
question because there are somany other topics that we can
touch upon you and I have hadoffline conversations on some of
them. And I thought it mostappropriate not to get into all
of those areas. Because, like wesay in the business, we'd like
(20:34):
to leave you with something tostay tuned to listen for. So Dr.
Davidson, thank you for beinghere with us on the program
today. Thank you, sir. Iappreciate it. That's going to
wrap up this edition of theFlorida engineering society's
podcast called engineeringFlorida. I'm your host, Sam
Yates. Until our next episode,have a great day, everybody.
(20:55):
Thanks for listening to anotherinformative episode of the
engineering Florida podcast. Ourgoal is to help educate and
inform everyone who listens toour podcast about our members
and topics of interest to theFlorida Engineering Society. On
behalf of the FloridaEngineering Society, and the
(21:17):
Engineering Florida podcast,have a great day everybody
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