After completion of his undergraduate civil engineering degree at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth in 1972, Thomas R. Currin honorably served in the United States Army. This was followed by enrollment in graduate school and completion of a Master of Civil Engineering program at North Carolina State University-Raleigh. He then obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in civil engineering specializing in traffic engineering from the University of Connecticut and obtained professional engineering licenses in a number of states including Massachusetts and Georgia. Tom knew he wanted to teach engineering as early as his sophomore year in college. He was so convinced of this that in addition to taking the required engineering courses he successfully completed many courses in secondary education and studied various teaching methodologies and philosophies. Knowing that it would be difficult to teach what one had not done, he embarked on an extremely successful consulting engineering career, which included the analysis and design of numerous transportation projects throughout New England and the east coast. Having achieved his goals in the private sector Tom moved on to academe and preparing the next generation of engineers. While teaching he has served as an evaluator and commissioner of ABET, the primary accreditation agency for engineering in the United States. The author of numerous engineering education publications and presentations since beginning his teaching career 23 years ago, his current focus as Dean of Engineering at Southern Polytechnic State University in Georgia is growing new engineering programs.