Welcome and Introductions

New members were introduced: Scott Palo (ADR/AES), Balaji Rajagopalan (CEAE), Bob Erickson (ECEE), Clayton Lewis (ME/CS)

Brief Items and Announcements:

  • Bioengineering and Energy Minors: The Energy Minor is launching this fall, and the Bioengineering Minor is expected to soon follow.
  • Construction Updates: The Idea Forge is expected to open in a few weeks, the new classrooms in the Biotech Building are expected to open later this semester, and SEEC offices will be done in May 2015 while SEEC labs will be done in about January 2016
  • Catalyze CU-Boulder: It was piloted this summer with great success, having 35 teams compete for 4 slots (expanded to 6)
  • Faculty Orientation went well, with over 20 attendees both days
  • College Faculty/Staff Meeting on Sept 4 will be held at 3 pm in the DLC

Grand Endeavor in Space

The campus leadership is expected to announce later this fall plans for a campus-wide initiative for CU to be the premier university in space research and education.

Engineering Fundraising Update

The BEST team raised about $8.5 million in new gifts and pledges for the college last year, the second-best of the past 12 years. Searches are underway to fill open positions, and we would like to place development liaisons in departmental offices.

Engineering Advisory Council Meeting 10/24/2014

The primary agenda item will be departmental participation in the strategic plan for growth. Each chair will be asked to present a short report on progress and plans, and then we anticipate holding a panel for questions and answers. Rob’s office will provide standard data and slide templates. Some issues that might be touched on include new programs, industry involvement, challenges, and rankings.

Graduate Tuition Payments in Final Semester

Rob noted a new campus policy or practice in which a graduate student must be on an assistantship for at least 12 weeks in order to receive tuition remission for that semester. This practice presents a very substantial problem, as many students defend their thesis or dissertation partway through a semester and would not be eligible for tuition remission, and yet the rules of the Graduate School require registration for credit during the semester in which the defense takes place. Dan pointed out additional problems, such as appointments being disallowed on grants that have renewal dates during the semester, and budgets not being allowed to include prorated tuition for a semester that only partially overlaps with the budget period in the proposal. Scott said that Tricia Rankin is working on these issues. Rob and Scott will carry our concerns to the campus leadership.

Other Items

Rob reported that the departmental budgets are nearly ready and should be distributed within the week (done – thanks to Rory for quick work). They include some minor increases overall, but some decreases due to lower indirect cost generation and recovery this past year. JoAnn said that she will soon send out requests for annual faculty and staff award nominations, which will be due in early November. Dan asked that the admissions strategy to control enrollments be revisited, as ChBE has been oversubscribed. Mary thanked the chairs for their help during freshman orientation and welcome, noting we have over 900 new freshman and over 125 new transfer students.