Factors Affecting the Longevity of the Department of Industrial Technology and Education at Utah State University 1985-2005: A Case Study

A qualitative case study method was used to discover the factors involved with the longevity of the Technology Education program at Utah State University. The problem was that while there were studies reporting the many Technology Education programs that have been closed there had been no studies on individual programs that have remained open. This study also contains a consolidation of relative information on the program. The primary data was obtained from interviews with the professors involved with the program during the timeframe of the study. The data obtained from the interviews was evaluated and set into themes. The factors were derived from the themes. The many factors presented in this study are evidence of the need to do this holistic study of the problem. The findings from this study provide a basis for study of other successful Technology Education programs.