Faculty Inclusive Excellence Team

Bev Louie reported on FIET, which includes Will Medlin, Ron Pak, Kurt Maute, Peter Mathys, YC Lee, Jill Dupre, and Ken Anderson. It is seeking to remove perceived biases in reviewing female applicants and to write attractive drafts of advertisements. Marketing of faculty openings should also include personal channels. Rob noted that we have not been very successful in diverse hires in the past few years and that we should all work on turning that around.

Brief Announcements and Items

  • General Engineering Plus name change approved (to Engineering Plus)
  • Enrollment tracking for new degree programs: The Provost’s office is watching enrollments in new degree programs, as it will be difficult to justify other new degrees if recent ones are not successful
  • CU-CMU partnership program is doing well, and the possibility of adding a civil engineering degree and perhaps later a computer engineering degree is being explored; the former will be easier
  • Annual reports for ABET are due this month and are behind in some cases; it is important to keep on top of them each year to show continuous assessment and improvement
  • Hiring of department-based advancement staff is proceeding, with two recent offers made
  • Engineering career services includes three employees of Career Services focused on Engineering, though there has been recent turnover; we are partnering with this team to explore an Industry 101 course to be offered to sophomores starting Fall 2016; Keith noted that CEAE is having a career fair tomorrow with 40 companies, and that faculty invitations of companies are key
  • College-wide minors are advancing, with the energy engineering minor and the biomedical engineering minor having information sessions and applications this month; future minors under consideration include engineering management, engineering for developing communities, and international engineering; the Leeds School of Business has also asked if ATLAS might establish a technology minor for non-majors

Undergraduate Admissions Update and Departmental POCs

It appears that we have about 900 new engineering freshman, slightly down from 909 last year. Details are expected next week, but we are anticipating about 31% women and 19% underrepresented minorities – both record highs by considerable margins. There national market is very competitive for top students, and Amanda Parker has asked for a point of contact (faculty or staff member) in each department who can help coordinate recruiting events. The time commitment is about one hour per week, though variable with one of the larger commitments being the visit by prospective Boettcher Scholars. The chairs asked for feedback on what has gone well in the past with visiting students.

Enrollment Management and Alternative Major Choice

The admissions office has asked if we can take on more students by placing those students in open option who do not get into their choice of an oversubscribed major but whose qualifications are above the bar for our college as a whole. We decided not to do this, as it could lead to the same number of students in the major courses if these students were allowed to transfer unhindered into their original choice, or to a variety of problems we experienced before if constraints were placed on internal transfers. Instead, it was suggested that these students be allowed to make a second choice for their major (not including open option or other oversubscribed majors), for which they may gain affinity (especially if they could not change majors right away).

Long-term Growth Planning,Facilities and Organizational Structure

Our overall enrollments will be over 6000 students this fall, so more than half way toward our plan of doubling from 4000 to 8000 students by the end of the decade. We have been adding space and new degrees, but not new departments. There does not appear to be a desire to add a new department, though now would be a good time as we repurpose the former chemical engineering/environmental sustainability wing. As existing departments grow, new organizational structures within departments will be needed to for effective communications and operations.

In attendance

Rob Davis, JoAnn Zelasko, Doug Smith, Mary Steiner, Scott Palo, Keith Molenaar, Dave Klaus, Will Medlin, Balaji Rajagopalan, Jim Martin, Mike Hannigan, Mark Gross, Bev Louis (beginning only)