September 1, 2005

CEFO Minutes

J. Carter, President D. Binkley, President Elect J. Bowen, Secretary Stuart Smith, Parliamentarian

MINUTES

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FACULTY ORGANIZATION (CEFO)
Thursday, September 1, 2005 12:30 PM
College of Education Building, Room 010
Regular Meeting

The following individuals signed the attendance sheet:

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING: R. Johnson, C. Blat, K. Elmore, M. Hermann, D. Blackmon, K Franco, R. Smelser, J. Stein, P. Tolley, T. Rufty, T. Koch CAMERON A.R.C.: COMPUTING & ENGINEERING LABS: J. Brien CIVIL ENGINEERING: J. Amburgey, J. Anderson, D. Bayer, D. Boyajian, J. Bowen, S. Chen, J. Daniels, J. Gergely, J. Graham, H. Hilger, D. Weggel, K. Warren, D. Young ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING: D. Binkley, L. Casperson, R. Coleman, J. Conrad, K. Daneshvar, M. Hasan, A. Hege, J. Hudak, B. Joshi,Y. Kakad, V. Lukic, S. Mahaffey, M. Miri, A. Nasipuri, F. Tranjan, T. Weldon, A. Willis, J. Xie ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY: A. Barry, A. Brizendine, N. Byars, J. Carter, D. Cottrell, B. Gehrig, J. Kimble, R. Priebe, D. Sharer, S. Wang, G. Watkins, J. Woodall MECHANICAL ENGR & ENGR SCIENCE: R. Coger, G. Elliot, H. Estrada, J. Hill, C. Lee, J. Miller, E. Morse, J. Raja, J. Raquet, Y Sireli, Scott Smith, Stuart Smith, G. Wilson, B. Woody GUESTS: Documented attendance: 69

Documented attendance of voting faculty: 49 (57.6% of voting faculty)

Total Voting Faculty: 85

Quorum of voting faculty: 43

1. Call to Order and Approval of Past Minutes (Jack Carter) CEFO president Jack Carter called the meeting to order at 12:40 PM following refreshments outside Co. Ed. Bldg., Room 010. Minutes of the April 28, 2005 Special Meeting were approved at 12:41 PM. These and all CEFO meeting minutes are available on-line at http://www.coe.uncc.edu/faculty_staff/CEFO. 2. Introduction of new CEFO Officers (Jack Carter) Jack Carter introduced the CEFO officers for the 2005-2006 academic year: Jack Carter, President David Binkley, President-Elect Jim Bowen, Secretary Stuart Smith, Parliamentarian 3. Introduction of new faculty and staff (Unit Chairs) Jack Carter invited each unit chair to introduce new faculty and staff. David Young, chair of the Civil Engineering Department, introduced four newly hired faculty members: Kimberly Warren, Assistant Professor, Geotechnical Area James Amburgey, Assistant Professor, Environmental Area Shenen Chen, Assistant Professor, Structures Area Srinivas Pulugurthu, Assistant Professor, Transportation Area Lee Casperson, chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, introduced four newly hired faculty and staff members: Andrew Willis, Assistant Professor, Computer Engineering Area Bharatkumar Joshi, Assistant Professor, Computer Engineering Area Alan Hege, Faculty Associate, Director – Joint Program Electrical Engineering Pat Winter, Graduate and Research Support Specialist Tony Brizendine, chair of the Electrical Engineering Department, introduced three newly hired faculty and staff members: David Cottrell, Assistant Professor Bethany Woodie, Visiting Assistant Professor Wendy Meier, Business Support Specialist Jay Raja, chair of the Mechanical Engineering and Engineering Science Department, introduced three newly hired faculty members: Quiming Wei, Assistant Professor, Materials Area Gary Wilson, Lecturer Kingshuk Bose, Assistant Professor Patty Tolley, director of the Office of Student Development and Success introduced two newly hired faculty associates: Don Blackmon Thomas Koch Jack Stein was also introduced as the newly hired Assistant Dean and Director of Engineering Computing 4. Election of primary and alternate representatives to Faculty Executive Committee Jack Carter explained that Robert Wilhelm would not be able to serve on the Faculty Executive Committee. A nomination was made and seconded to make the current alternate to the committee, Gary Teng, the primary representative and to elect a new alternate. David Boyajian was nominated to be the new alternate. The motion passed on a voice vote. 5. Presentation of Centra E-Meeting System (Dave Whisler) Dave Whisler of the Engineering Computing Group gave a short presentation on a communication system that can be used to hold virtual “e-meetings” between participants in on-campus buildings and also with off-campus participants. He explained that the system is easy to use, gives live two-way voice and video, has integrated whiteboard and appshare features, and can be reached via a web address. 125 webcams and headsets have been purchased and are available to faculty. More information on the e-meeting system is available at www.coe.uncc.edu/emeeting. The Centra e-meeting server can be reached at emeeting.uncc.edu. Dave Whisler is available to help with getting started on the system. He can be reached at 7-3964, or at dkwhisle@uncc.edu. 6. Challenges facing faculty governance introduced by the distance between departmentes. (Jack Carter) Jack Carter spoke briefly about the new challenges faced by College as a result of the moves of the ECE Dept. into the new Science and Technology Building and the ME Dept. into the Engineering Research Building. He solicited input from the faculty on how the Engineering Faculty Organization might change the way it meets and works in light of these moves. 7. Dean’s Report (Bob Johnson) Bob Johnson then gave an update of several items of interest to Engineering faculty. He reported that enrollment was up by approximately 10%, with relatively larger increases in the ET and ME departments. Current enrollment is approximately 2300, and is on track with longer-range projections of enrollment. He reported that there are three new Research Centers in the College: Center for Biomedical Engineering Systems, directed by Robin Coger NC Motorsports and Automotive Research Center, directed by Jim Cuttino Center for Lean Logistics and Engineered Systems, directed by Gary Teng He reported on the outcomes and consequences of the new University budget. While new recurring funding is available as result of the University’s reclassification, most of this money went to raising faculty salaries. In addition, the University failed to meet enrollment targets last year. As a result, only a small number of new faculty positions will be available across the University. He reported on several other events in the College. All departments are dealing with the lost time associated with moving. ET will continue to have to to deal with the HVAC overhaul in Smith. Some Smith classrooms will be offline for the next two semesters. Ongoing College business process reorginization will provide additional staff in each department for student advising. The University will provide shuttle service for students going to and from the ERB. A large alumni event is planned for April of 2006. The two buildings near Hwy. 29 will be dedicated in March. The Science and Technology Building will be dedicated in November. 6. Adjournment (Jack Carter) Jack Carter adjourned the meeting at 1:35 PM.

Please submit additions or corrections to Jim Bowen, CEFO Secretary at jdbowen@uncc.edu.