April 23, 1996

CEFO Minutes

(J. Carter, Secretary)

M I N U T E S

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FACULTY ORGANIZATION Tuesday, April 23, 1996 @ 12:30 PM Friday Building – Room 16
CEFO President, Dr. Rick Lejk opened the meeting at 12:36 PM. The following individuals signed the attendance sheet:

COLLEGE OF ENGR: R. Snyder, S. Middleton, N. Schul, P. Tolley. COMPUTER SCIENCE: M. Allen, K. Chen, B. Chu, G. Epstein, R. Lejk, T. Mostafavi, J. Quinn, G. Revesz, H. Razavi, J. Robinson, R. Shaw, K. Subramanian, B. Wilkinson. ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY: J. Bowen, E. Braun, J. Carter, J. Chaffin, D. Liou C. Liu, J. Patten, R. Priebe, W. Shelnutt, P. Wang. CIVIL ENGINEERING: D. Bayer, J. Graham, R. Janardhanam, E. King, J. Wu, D. Young. MECHANICAL ENGR & ENGR SCIENCE: R. Coger, P. DeHoff, R. Dubler, H. Estrada, Y. Hari, J. Hill, R. Hocken, R. Johnson, R. Kim, G. Mohanty, S. Patterson, J. Raja, Stuart Smith, R. Wilhelm. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING: S. Bobbio, T. Dahlberg, K. Daneshvar, A. Edwards, M. Hasan, Y. Kakad, V. Lukic, R. Makki, G. Metze, M. Miri, M. Sleva, F. Tranjan, T. Weldon, D. Zhou. ENGR RES & IND DEVMT: J. Roblin. COMPUTING SVCS & LABS: J. Grant. GUESTS: Provost Dubois, Johnny Barnes, Mike Hicks. Total documented attendance: 66, quorum attained.

I. Minutes of the March, 1996 meeting. The minutes of the 03/26/96 meeting were approved as submitted.

II. Recognition of Bill Chu, by Joe Quinn. Bill Chu was recognized for developing an “Exemplary Industry-University-Government Partnership.” For six years, Dr. Bill Chu has been involved in developing an extraordinary working relationship with IBM. Over the past three years, his efforts have led to increasingly impressive accomplishments. Two years ago, the flexible manufacturing line that he helped develop at IBM provided the lead-in for an article entitled, “The Digital Factory,” which appeared in the November 14, 1994 issue of Fortune magazine. Last year, IBM was awarded an NIST/ATP grant to support manufacturing systems integration. This project was funded at over $3 million. Last Summer Bill led a team which developed another continuing proposal which has been funded for $22.8 million.
NIST clearly believes that these projects are vital to the health of the national manufacturing enterprise as is evidenced by that organization’s back-to-back awards. In recognition of these accomplishments and efforts, IBM has chosen to express its appreciation to Bill through a cash award of $8,000. The award was presented by Johnny Barnes, Program Director for Enterprise Systems Integration at IBM. The Department of Computer Science wishes to join IBM in recognizing Bill’s outstanding efforts.

III. Presentation by NSPE Student Chapter, Mike Hicks. The student chapter of NSPE presented a plaque to be placed in the Smith Building trophy case which recognizes the following faculty and staff members for their work in assisting students in the preparation for the EIT examination: J. Graham, D. Bayer, G. Mohanty, P. Tolley, P. DeHoff, R. Dubler, R. Johnson.

IV. An Interchange, Provost Dr. P. Dubois. Dr. Dubois announced that he will attend some department meetings in the Fall. He is getting ready for the legislature.

The highest priority is the proposal to raise faculty salaries by 7%. We do not know what we will get since last year 7% was requested, and only 2% was approved. Discussions of tax reductions strategies will impact this issue.

The General Assembly sponsored an equity funding study of the state-funded institutions. UNC Charlotte came out underfunded in comparison with other institutions. We were the most underfunded next to UNC Greensboro. This is a highly political issue. There is resistance from research and minority institutions which are overfunded.

Building projects. Bids on library construction are due in mid May, with construction to start tis Summer. There will be changes to library services, so pay attention to schedule changes for yourselves and for students. The first four floors and library administration must be moved out.

Space will be relocated from Kennedy and the Cameron Center to the benefit of the college.

During the next six months expect major changes in the ground rules which affect funding Summer sessions and distance learning programs.

A project is currently underway to monitor teaching workloads in order to “reward excellence in teaching.” This should not impact the college in a major way. Major developments will be taking place concerning methods for establishing a transfer “core” curriculum, satisfying all of the lower division general education requirements for a four-year program.

RPT Confidentiality. This is an important issue. It is imperative that confidentiality be maintained concerning reappointment, promotion and tenure (RPT) issues. The College of Engineering is not doing a bad job. The worst cases of confidentiality breach are currently outside the college.

V. CEAPCC, Horatio Estrada. Curriculum proposals were considered from CE, ME, EE and ET. Actions included:

Engineering Technology. EGET3071. Approved proposal with modifications, including change of the course number to EGET3271. Motion to accept proposal passed.
Mechanical Engineering. Reduction in credit hours, new course, descriptions of other courses. Opportunity was provided for faculty review prior to this meeting. Motion to accept proposal passed.
Civil Engineering. Twenty-nine courses were considered including content changes and renumbering. Motion to accept proposal passed.
Engineering Technology. Two courses were considered. Motion to accept proposal passed.

VI. College Elections, Rick Lejk.

Ballots will be distributed. Current nominations include:

President Elect: Yogi Kakad(EE), Taghi Mostafavi(CSCI), Barry Wilkinson,(CSCI)

Secretary: Jack Carter(ET)

Parliamentarian: Dave Bayer

FAPS Committee: Ed Braun, ET

FCG Committee: Steve Bobbio(EE), Paul DeHoff(MEES), John Patten(ET)

FCCC/Chair CEAPCC: Medhi Miri(EE), Hassan Razavi(CS)

College P&T Committee: Bill Shelnutt(ET), Ellis King(CE), George Revez(CSCI), Richard Greene(EE), Steve Patterson(MEES)

The meeting was adjourned at 1:52 PM.

Submit corrections/additions here: ( jcarter@uncc.edu)

Secretary’s Addition: Yogi Kakad was elected President Elect, Hassan Razavi was elected to chair the CEAPCC. Paul DeHoff was elected to the FGC. All other nominations listed above were elected.