September 2, 2004

CEFO Minutes

E. Braun, President J. Carter, President Elect D. Binkley, Secretary B. Sherlock, Parliamentarian

MINUTES

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FACULTY ORGANIZATION (CEFO)
Thursday, September 2, 2004, 12:30 PM
Cameron Applied Research Center, Room 101

Regular Meeting – Opening of 2004 – 2005 Academic Year The following individuals signed the attendance sheet: COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING: R. Johnson, C. Blat, K. Elmore, M. Hermann, E. Haro, L. Sharpe, R. Smelser, L. Thurman, P. Tolley, T. Rufty CAMERON A.R.C.: COMPUTING & ENGINEERING LABS: CIVIL ENGINEERING: D. Young, J. Anderson, D. Boyajian, J. Bowen, J. Daniels, J. Gergely, J. Graham, E. Hauser, H. Hilger, R. Janardhanam, M. Kane, V. Ogunro, E. Scott ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING: L. Casperson, D. Binkley, R. Coleman, J. Conrad, K. Daneshvar, M. Hasan, I. Howitt, J. Hudak, Y. Kakad, S. Mahaffey, M. Miri, A. Nasipuri, A. Ravindran, L. Sheppard, E. Stokes, F. Tranjan, J. Xie ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY: A. Brizendine, F. Ahmad, A. Barry, E. Braun, N. Byars, J. Carter, B. Gehrig, J. Kimble, S. Kuyath, D. Murphy, C. Orozco, R. Priebe, D. Ramers, D. Sharer, B. Sherlock, G. Watkins, J. Woodall MECHANICAL ENGR & ENGR SCIENCE: J. Raja, C. Allman, H. Cherukuri, R. Coger, M. Davies, G. Elliot, H. Estrada, J. Hill, R. Hocken, K. Lloyd, G. Micklow, J. Miller, E. Morse, B. Mullany, E. Munday, L. Nance, J. Raquet, Stuart Smith, S. G. Teng, R. Wilhelm, B. Woody, T. Xu GUESTS: Keith Surgenor (engineering career advisor, university career center)

Documented attendance: 80
Documented attendance of voting faculty: 60 (75% of voting faculty)
Total Voting Faculty: 80
Quorum of voting faculty: 40

1. Call to Order and Approval of Past Minutes (Ed Braun) CEFO president Ed Braun called the meeting to order at 12:40 PM following refreshments including an ABET accreditation celebration cake. Minutes of the April 6, 2004 Special Meeting – Joint BSEE program with Western Carolina University were approved. These and all CEFO meeting minutes are available at http://www.coe.uncc.edu/faculty_staff/CEFO. 2. Nomination and Election of Mechanical Engineering Representative for College Review Committee and Representative and Alternate for University Research Grants Committee (Ed Braun) All faculty were notified of the election vacancies by August 31, 2004 email from CEFO secretary David Binkley. Bob Wilhelm, ME’s elected representative to the college review committee, is unable to serve since he is on ME’s review committee. Stuart Smith and Charles Lee were nominated for the college review committee. The faculty agreed to suspend rules for a written ballot. By show of hands, Stuart was elected as ME’s representative to the college review committee for the 2004/2005 academic year. CEFO secretary David Binkley reported that following the spring 2004 faculty elections the university asked all colleges to elect an additional representative and alternate to the university research grants committee. Ari Mukerjee and Jim Bowen were nominated. By show of hands, Ari was elected representative and Jim elected as alternate. They will serve a 2004/2005 – 2005/2006 term of two years. 3. Re-vote on the Faculty of the William States Lee College of Engineering Constitution (Ed Braun) All faculty were notified of the re-vote on the constitution through August 31, 2004 email from CEFO secretary David Binkley. This email included a link to the constitution for faculty review. As described in the email, the approval included removing the listing of university committees (these are not controlled by the college), footnoting the date of faculty approval, and not listing college committee chair section methods (these structurally belong in separate committee bylaws). The constitution was reviewed in depth at the February 10, 2004 CEFO meeting. CEFO president Ed Braun brought the constitution to the faculty for a re-vote. While the constitution was unanimously approved at the February 10, 2004 CEFO meeting, it did not receive the required 2/3 vote. Following a motion for approval, the constitution was unanimously approved by the faculty. The constitution was approved by 75% of the (voting) faculty – 60 documented attendees out of a total of 80. 4. Dean’s Welcome and Introduction of New People (Bob Johnson) Dean Bob Johnson welcomed everyone to the new 2004/2005 academic year. Bob introduced Franklin Green and Richard Graley who have joined the college’s engineering shops. Additionally, Bob mentioned Linda Thurman is now faculty associate for student success. Bob introduced Lee Casperson as the new chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Lee comes from Portland State University and was at UCLA earlier. He received his doctorate from Cal. Tech. 5. Mechanical Engineering – Introduction of New People and Update (Jay Raja) Mechanical engineering chair Jay Raja introduced Gloria Elliot, Brigid Mullany, and Terry Xu as new faculty members. Jay introduced Beth Woody, lecturer, Cheryl Allman, office assistant, and Frank Skinner who assists in teaching and industrial outreach. Jay reported an enrollment of approximately 600: 470 UG, 45 MS, and 42 Ph.D candidates. 17 faculty supervise Ph.D students. Jay reported research areas in precision engineering, bioengineering, and computational analysis. This includes the existing Center for Precision Metrology and institute/centers in the approval process. These include the Institute for Biomedical Engineering and a Center for Undergraduate Motor Sports. Jay also introduced Brian Dutterer and David Vizard as new staff members in the motor sports program. David has written extensively for motor sports magazines. The new building for mechanical engineering, located on the Charlotte Research Institute, is expected to be ready in June 2005. 6. Engineering Technology – Update (Tony Brizendine) Engineering technology chair Tony Brizendine reported that approximately 50 students are in the first freshman ET class (the beginning of ET’s new four-year program). Tony reported transfer students are up with an increase in enrollment of around 100 students. 7. Civil Engineering – Introduction of New People and Update (David Young) Civil engineering chair David Young reported that everyone is feeling good about CE’s, ECE’s, and ME’s successful six-year ABET accreditations following last fall’s visit. David reported an enrollment of about 350 students, including15 students in the new interdisciplinary Ph.D program. David reported environmental, geotechnical, structural, and transportation research areas for CE. Additionally, he mentioned CE’s participation in the Global Institute for Energy and Environmental Studies directed by CE faculty member Hilary Inyang. CE will also be a participant in the anticipated Institute for Construction Science. 8. Electrical and Computer Engineering – Introduction of New People and Update (Lee Casperson) Electrical and computer engineering chair Lee Casperson introduced Marty Emmert (computer engineering) and Linda Xie (communications) as new faculty members. Marty has returned to UNCC after being at Wright State University for two years. Lee reported ECE student enrollment at about 500 with 190 UG electrical, 160 UG computer, and 110 graduate students. Enrollment growth has been about 10% per year, mostly due to computer engineering. Current enrollment has dropped about 10% due to a drop in computer engineering enrollment. Lee mentioned ECE’s participation in the joint BSEE program with Western Carolina University (WCU). Here, UNCC will deliver some synchronous classes to WCU. Ultimately, it is expected WCU will develop their own stand-alone program. (See the April 6, 2004 CEFO meeting notes at http://www.coe.uncc.edu/faculty_staff/CEFO for more details about the WCU joint program.) Lee mentioned ECE’s exchange program with the Kyungpook National University of Korea. This university has the largest engineering program in Korea and is ranked highly. Mehdi Miri will coordinate the exchange program and teach four weeks in Korea this coming summer. ECE expects to hire a computer engineering and an optoelectronics faculty member from positions not filled last year. Additionally, ECE will be searching for at least one position following Howard Philips’ retirement. ECE anticipates hiring a faculty associate to coordinate the WCU joint program. 9. Associate Dean’s Report (Ron Smelser) Associate dean Ron Smelser reported Wanda Buck has joined the dean’s office in academic affairs. Ron reported that the college SPART committee is meeting following last year’s successful ABET visit. The goal is to streamline ABET processes for the future. Ron continues to act as interim director for the college’s MOSAIC computing services operation. MOSAIC is widely recognized as a premier computing enterprise within the college. Email, however, is handled at the university level. 10. MAPS and Freshman Learning Communities Report (Cathy Blat) Assistant dean of student success, Patty Tolley, introduced faculty associate Cathy Blat. Cathy reported 300 students are participating in the college’s MAPS tutoring program. Cathy reported 30% of the college’s freshman students are living together in Freshman Learning Communities. First year retention is 88% for those students in the program versus about 60% for those not in the program. Currently, there is a waiting list of students wishing to join the program. Bob Johnson reported the college cost is approximately $250 per student served. 11. University Career Center Report (Keith Surgenor) Keith Surgenor introduced himself as a new member of the university career center. Keith will be supporting our engineering students in career advancement and placement. Keith was a former COOP student at the University of Tennessee. He had a full career in industry in human resources and marketing positions prior to joining UNCC. 12. Student Professional Development Report (Linda Thurman) Linda Thurman, faculty associate for student professional development, reported on student hiring prospects. She listed companies actively hiring our students and presented a survey of starting engineering salaries. 13. New P&T Policies (Ed Braun) Ed Braun received a motion and approval to review the new P&T policies on behalf of the college faculty. The goal is to update the college P&T documents and bring these into compliance. Bob Johnson mentioned that the new P&T policies are UNC system wide. These policies maximize faculty member protection since negative outcomes at the departmental and/or college levels now proceed to the Provost’s office for review. As before, the Provost makes the final approval decision. However, now, the Provost can overturn lower-level negative decisions. 14. Dean’s Remarks (Bob Johnson) Dean Bob Johnson congratulated everyone on the electrical engineering, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and civil engineering six-year ABET accreditations. Bob mentioned ET is up next fall (fall of 2005) for its THC accreditation. Bob mentioned college enrollment is up about 14%. CE’s new interdisciplinary Ph.D. program is in place. Two centers are awaiting university level approval: the Institute for Biomedical Systems and a center for Undergraduate Motor Sports. A construction institute is in the planning process. At this point, bus service is not planned to transport students and faculty between the main campus and the Charlotte Research Institute. Since ME faculty and members of the Center for Precision Metrology and the Center for Optoelectronics and Optical Science will be located on the research institute campus, there is concern about transportation. New buildings are expected to come on line in calendar 2005. New positions are anticipated this year for all departments. Under our new Provost, the strategic planning process will be more rigorous, requiring approvals for changes. The college’s budget is operating at about the same level as last year. Finally, Bob mentioned that raises are being awarded from a 6% pool, 4% from the state and 2% from the campus. Under NC law, raises are merit based. Bob will check the status of faculty raise letters. These have traditionally been prepared out of the Provost’s office. 15. Adjournment (Ed Braun) After motions and approval, Ed Braun adjourned the meeting at 2 PM. Everyone was invited to enjoy refreshments outside CARC 101.

Please submit additions or corrections to David Binkley, CEFO Secretary at dmbinkle@uncc.edu.