Calls to increase the number of STEM graduates on a global scale have created pressure on universities to graduate higher numbers of quality engineers. In response, many engineering and mathematics departments have begun to develop variations of calculus courses specifically for engineering majors. Using a mixed methods research design, we investigated similar curricular changes in calculus that were designed to support engineering students at two large research-intensive universities in the United States. The curricular change at one university was sustained over time while the other was not, which focused our study on understanding what accounted for the curricular sustainment or termination. A finding from our study illustrates that stakeholders' perceptions of the engineering calculus course impacted the success (or failure) of the variation over time.