February 10, 2004
CEFO Minutes
B. Hocken, President E. Braun, President Elect D. Binkley, Secretary S. Kuyath, Parliamentarian
MINUTES
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FACULTY ORGANIZATION (CEFO)
Tuesday, February 10, 2004, 12:30 PM
Cameron Applied Research Center, Room 101
Regular Meeting
The following individuals signed the attendance sheet:
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING: R. Johnson, C. Blat, K. Elmore, E. Haro, S. Meyers, L. Sharpe, R. Smelser, P. Tolley. CAMERON A.R.C.: COMPUTING & ENGINEERING LABS: CIVIL ENGINEERING: J. Daniels, J. Gergely, J. Graham, M. Kane. ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING: F. Tranjan, D. Binkley, J. Conrad, K. Daneshvar, M. Hasan, I. Howitt, J. Hudak, Y. Kakad, M. Miri, A. Nasipuri, H. Phillips, L. Sheppard, E. Stokes, T. Weldon. ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY: A. Brizendine, F. Ahmad, A. Barry, E. Braun, N. Byars, B. Gehrig, J. Kimble, D. Liou, D. Murphy, C. Orozco, R. Priebe, D. Sharer, B. Sherlock, S. Wang. MECHANICAL ENGR & ENGR SCIENCE: J. Raja, H. Cherukuri, R. Coger, M. Davies, H. Estrada, Y. Hari, J. Hill, R. Hocken, E. Morse, E. Ozelkan, J. Raquet, M. Rodgers, Scott Smith, S. Teng. GUESTS:
Documented attendance: 54
Documented attendance of voting faculty: 44
Total Voting Faculy: 79
Quorum of voting faculty: 39
1. Call to Order and Approval of Past Minutes CEFO president Bob Hocken called the meeting to order at 12:35 PM. Minutes of the September 18, 2003 special meeting on the lower division, undergraduate ET curriculum were approved. These and all CEFO meeting minutes are available at http://www.coe.uncc.edu/faculty_staff/CEFO. 2. CEFO Constitution Bob Hocken presented the updated CEFO constitution for discussion. Following discussion, Yogendra Kakad made a motion that the listing of university committees be removed (this list is not controlled or maintained by CEFO) and that the election process (election at large, election by committee members, etc.) for chairs of the standing committees be specified to reflect current practice. The motion carried unanimously. CEFO secretary David Binkley will work with Ed Braun and Barry Sherlock to include wording describing how chairs of CEFO committees are selected – selected by members of the committee or selected by CEFO election. Additionally, a footnote will be included on each page indicating a revision date with faculty approval. Note that revision to the CEFO constitution requires a 2/3 affirmative vote (53 out of 79 voting faculty members). 39 voting faculty members approved the revision at the meeting. CEFO secretary David Binkley will obtain affirmative votes from 14 additional voting faculty members to complete the approval. Ed Braun was recognized for his efforts in updating the CEFO constitution. 3. Organizational Review Project Dean Bob Johnson presented the college’s “Organizational Review Project”. This project reviews office, accounting, and support functions while looking for opportunities to optimize these functions and staff positions for the future. Bob mentioned our college’s support-to-faculty ratios are comparable to those at NC State. Bob presented attendees with a Faculty Survey to collect input on departmental, college, grant, computing, and laboratory support. These surveys were collected. Recommendations from the “Organizational Review Project” are expected by the end of summer 2004. At outline of this project is available at http://www.coe.uncc.edu/faculty_staff/CEFO. 4. Guidelines for Establishing Centers and Institutes Dean Bob Johnson presented “College of Engineering Guidelines for Establishing Centers and Institutes” for discussion. Centers generally have a clearly articulated research mission (centers are not responsible for curriculum), have two or more collaborating entities (internal units, external units, companies, national laboratory divisions, etc.), and have a record of external funding from multiple sources. Bob mentioned that centers usually begin with “c” status within the college with the potential of applying for state recognition as “C” status after three years of development. The guidelines will be edited to clarify the presence of both administrative staff and faculty members. The guidelines are available at http://www.coe.uncc.edu/faculty_staff/CEFO. 5. Joint BSEE degree program with Western Carolina University (WCU) Bob Hocken opened discussion on the joint BSEE degree program between UNCC and Western Carolina University (WCU). Bob Johnson mentioned the joint program was agreed to by the chancellors of UNCC and WCU with support from the NC congressional delegation to foster economic development in the western part of NC. WCU will adopt the UNCC curriculum, so this program entails synchronous delivery of selected courses from UNCC to WCU students. The provost has approved hiring a faculty associate to assist coordinating this program. ECE chair Farid Tranjan described ECE concerns of course quality (addressed by a committee of three faculty members at both UNCC and WCU) and workload (the joint degree program document describes 17 courses that UNCC would potentially deliver). Farid mentioned the actual workload would be much less, starting at one course per semester in fall 2005, rising ultimately to about four courses per semester. Both Farid and Bob mentioned the opportunity for recruiting domestic graduate students that is likely to result from the joint program. Time did not permit further discussion, so Bob Hocken mentioned a special meeting will be called to discuss the joint UNCC, WCU BSEE program. College of Engineering Academic Policy and Curriculum Committee (CEAPCC) comments on the program are available at http://www.coe.uncc.edu/faculty_staff/CEFO. 6. Closing Comments and Adjournment Asis Nasipuri mentioned that new course proposals should not bundle 4000 (strictly undergraduate) with 8000 (strictly Ph.D.) sections in the same course. Such a wide split calls for separate courses. Bob Hocken adjourned the meeting at 1:48 PM.
Please submit additions or corrections to David Binkley, CEFO Secretary at dmbinkle@uncc.edu.