In This Issue . . .
1998 Annual Meeting in Hawaii
Mark Your Calendar and Make Your Reservations
NEEDHA President Bans Neckties
NEEDHA Appointments and Awards
NEEDHA Dinners at ASEE and FIE
ABET Criteria 2000 Issues White Paper
NEEDHA '97 Meeting in Orlando
1998 NEEDHA Program Schedule
NEEDHA Membership Goal
Note from the President
From the Editor
Regional NEEDHA Activities
Board of Directors
NEEDHA Award Nominations are Requested
Scenes from Orlando
NEEDHA Web Site
Future Meeting Sites
NEEDHA returns to Hawaii for the 1998 Annual Meeting, this time to the island of Oahu rather than the "Big Island" where we held the 1992 Meeting. That event was a great success, with 120 attendees and a large number of guests, and the 1998 meeting promises to be just as great from all aspects: location, conference topics, and opportunities to meet old and new friends. NEEDHA's fourteenth annual meeting will be held at the Turtle Bay Hilton, about a one hour drive from the Honolulu airport, on the north coast of Oahu. The resort is in the town of Kahuku if you would like to locate it on your map, near the Polynesian Cultural Center. NEEDHA Vice President Larry Burton is the conference organizer. Each year the Vice President, together with the NEEDHA Board, plan the conference to maximize its value to members. The evaluation and feedback forms from the Orlando conference provided valuable information; thanks for filling them out!
The conference begins on Friday afternoon, March 13, 1998, with a workshop for new department heads. This is a long-running and very popular tradition with NEEDHA. Our newer department heads consistently rate the advice and wisdom passed on by those more experienced in the job as quite valuable. Also, a training session for ABET evaluators will be held all day on Friday. This session will be devoted to Criteria 2000, and is open to all conference attendees; whether or not you are an ABET evaluator. It's a great way to prepare for an upcoming ABET visit. Separate registration and fee payment are needed for this session. Conference attendees and their spouses are invited to the kick-off reception Friday evening.
Saturday morning begins with time for the regional groups to get together over breakfast, and after Bill Brown's welcome, the plenary session is devoted to (what else!) ABET Criteria 2000. We will hear from those involved in the series of experimental visits being held this year, and learn more about assessment techniques as well as ways to use the assessment results for program improvement. Ways to get faculty involved in the whole process will also be described. Saturday concludes with dinner for members and guests.
The annual Awards banquet has been moved from Sunday to Monday evening, to keep Sunday completely free for personal activities and sightseeing.
Monday will be devoted to two broad areas: internationalization of engineering education, and management and operational issues in the department, with breakout sessions on topics ranging from post-tenure faculty reviews to resource management. On Monday afternoon Dave Connor returns to NEEDHA to lead a session on "critical issues" which will involve all the attendees.
Tuesday will begin with the NEEDHA business meeting, and the conference will conclude with the traditional Open Forum. At noon we can pick up our box lunches and head back to the Honolulu airport.
NEEDHA Annual Meeting
Turtle Bay Hilton -- Oahu, Hawaii
March 13-17, 1998
To register for the meeting call the IEC (312-559-3724)
Or use the registration form on the web at
http://www.needha.org
For hotel reservations contact the Turtle Bay Hilton, at 1-808-293-8811
Identify yourself as a NEEDHA attendee to receive discounted room rate;
deadline for reservations is February 13, 1998.
For discount airfares contact United Airlines, 1-800-521-4041
and refer to IEC Account # 518WA.
by Bill Brown
REMEMBER: There are absolutely no NEEDHA functions in Oahu at which a necktie will be appropriate (Neckties are banned from all meeting functions). The sheriff will be watching! I thought I should reinforce what has been said several times before and warn any members who were not at Orlando.
Bill Brown accepts the NEEDHA gavel
from outgoing president Paul Penfield.
Paul Penfield officially passed the NEEDHA gavel to Bill Brown at the Orlando meeting. Bill is head of the department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Arkansas. Having successfully avoided "deanship" and other hazards for the past two years, Bill completed his terms of secretary-treasurer and vice president of NEEDHA before assuming the presidency.
NEEDHA's newest elected officer is Jim Roberts of the University of Kansas. This position progresses to Vice President and then President in successive years. Jim has conducted the annual NEEDHA survey, an important responsibility that has been taken on by Greg Zick of the University of Washington. At Kansas, Jim is active in both education and research. His research work centers on information theory and wireless telecommunications. He is a member of the IEEE Education Society Administrative Committee and is General Chair of FIE 2000.
Robert L. Sullivan and Timothy N. Trick were honored at the Annual Meeting Banquet with NEEDHA's Outstanding Service Award. Robert Sullivan is currently Dean of Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology. He was elected NEEDHA secretary/treasurer and 1988, and became president in 1989, organizing NEEDHA's first meeting outside the continental United States. This meeting in Puerto Rico introduced breakout sessions which permitted the involvement of many more members in the annual meetings. Bob has also served in leadership roles in the Southeastern Association of EE Department Heads, as well as in ASEE and IEEE.
Timothy N. Trick was elected to the NEEDHA Board of Directors in 1991, and in 1994 he served as Vice President and General Chair for the Annual Meeting in Hilton Head, followed by a term as NEEDHA President in 1995. Tim is due substantial credit for the continuing strength and value of the Annual Meetings, based on the quality of the speakers and topics which he organized. Tim also took responsibility for the strength and currency of the NEEDHA Constitution, proposing several important changes, and seeing them to implementation. After serving as head of the ECE department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign for 10 years, Tim Trick currently directs the Sloan Center for Asynchronous Learning Environments at Illinois.
NEEDHA members and spouses at ASEE in
Milwaukee enjoyed a German dinner at
Mader's restaurant.
Last year's newsletter reported on the re-establishment of a long tradition of NEEDHA get-togethers at ASEE and FIE Annual Meetings. This year's ASEE event was held at Mader's restaurant in Milwaukee, with over 20 members and spouses in attendance. The food was excellent and conversation was lively, ranging over topics quite distant from those of day-to-day department head duties. Previous to that, in November, 1996, NEEDHA members attending FIE in Salt Lake City gathered at Mullboon's restaurant. Those attending the FIE dinner included Dave Soldan, Rod Soukup, Bill Brown, John Orr, Dave and Jerry Ann Conner, Larry Kinney, Berne and Marilyn Maxum, Bill and Shirley Hornfeck, Mehmet Cultu, Sam Hazen, Glen and Gwenyth Gerhard, and Larry Burton. Finally, as this newsletter goes to press, the dinner at FIE97 in Pittsburgh is being organized. Hosts and organizers are always welcome, particularly to involve someone in the home city.
Since August of 1996, a subcommittee chaired by Bob White of Carnegie Mellon has been at work on ABET Criteria 2000 from the point of view of the heads of Electrical and Computer Engineering departments. In addition to Bob, the committee membership included: Barry Farbrother (Rose Hulman), Steve Kang, (University of Illinois), John Orr (WPI), and Raman Unnikrishnan (RIT). The committee received valuable input and assistance from Ed Ernst (University of South Carolina), Sherra Kerns (Vanderbilt), and several other NEEDHA members. A progress report was presented at the 1997 Orlando meeting. NEEDHA members raised many questions and concerns at the meeting which provided focus and direction to the committee. Armed with this input, the subcommittee augmented its membership and drafted a report to summarize the situation from NEEDHA's perspective.
With the realization of the continuing importance of accreditation issues, the Board established a standing "Committee on Accreditation Issues" at its meeting in August. Membership of this new committee is: Sherra E. Kerns, (chair), Edward W. Ernst, Barry J. Farbrother, John A. Orr, Paul Penfield, Jr. (MIT), and Roger P. Webb (Georgia Tech). This committee edited the report of the ad hoc committee and issued a "White Paper" on Accreditation of Engineering Programs. This White Paper was endorsed by the NEEDHA Board in August, 1997, and has been distributed to our members as well as to officers of ABET. The complete paper is available on the NEEDHA web site. The committee hopes that the paper will help both groups (accreditors and accreditees) in implementing Criteria 2000 in a manner which will achieve the goals established for this major change in accreditation practice.
A large group of NEEDHA members, spouses, and family members helped celebrate Disney's 25th anniversary in Florida, at the NEEDHA Annual Meeting in Orlando, March 14-18, 1997. Paul Penfield opened the meeting on Saturday morning, highlighting the changes which we all face, both internally in ECE education and in the external environment. Some of the highlights of the meeting are summarized here. Additional information may be found at the NEEDHA Web Site.
NEEDHA guests depart for an afternoon of
sight seeing.
Pallab Chatterjee from Texas Instruments brought the present realities of the corporate world into sharp focus, centering his remarks around the principle that in the commercial world, "Your only advantage is time." In specific terms, he described the 10-month life cycle of current-generation Personal Computers: a new model is introduced every 3 months; this model has a 6 month selling life, followed by 1 month to clear inventory. If the time to market is missed by even one month, the net cash flow from this product will be negative. In this environment Pallab highlighted vital engineering skills beyond technology: teamwork, multidisciplinary skills, lifelong learning abilities, ability to listen as well as talk. He challenged faculty to get closer to industry, particularly via consulting, to be better able to prepare students for this world.
Ralph Cavin of the Semiconductor Research Corporation gave us a view from a location which may be considered midway between academia and industry. The SRC performs "pre-competitive" research for its member corporations, supporting approximately 750 graduate students in the process. The member industries view their financial support as an investment upon which they expect to earn tangible returns. Members measure the return via a "Weighted Relevance Index" which quantifies the cost, importance, and satisfaction of each project, compared to the fee paid by the company.
Steve Director from the University of Michigan titled his talk "The Times, they are a Changin'." He began with a provocative statement from Forbes Magazine, that universities won't survive another 30 years, given all the changes now going on in knowledge delivery mechanisms. To try to assure that such a prediction will not come true, Steve proposed some fundamental changes in the way that universities approach teaching, such as converting teaching from a "loaner" endeavor into a team sport following the research model of peer review and recognition for excellence. Steve also posed some provocative questions: "Are we in danger of losing our core business (to continuing education deliverers)?" "Does research cost or pay for universities?" "Having survived for 500 years, is there any need for higher education to change?"
Saturday afternoon was devoted to four parallel sessions addressing diverse current issues. The groups reported their results in a final plenary session. Daniel Bukofzer, of California State University - Fresno, reported that downsizing of the ECE curriculum arises in at least two contexts: external mandate (from the university or legislature), and in response to the need to add new content in non-traditional areas. The group concluded that this issue has no single answer, but inherently represents compromise. The parameters include: breadth vs. depth, identification of core ECE competencies; implementation difficulties (faculty cooperation), and the difficulty of identifying an absolute minimum amount of ECE technical content.
Rod Soukup of the University of Nebraska reported on a variety of faculty evaluation and reward techniques, ranging from salary raises to extra released time, to public congratulations.
The topic of intellectual property was addressed by Roger Webb of Georgia Tech and his panel. This issue is of increasing importance as universities seek increased corporate research support as well as project opportunities in industry for their students. The likelihood of conflict between the corporation's desire for economic benefits from each collaboration and the university's desire for publication rights as well as protection of its own commercialization rights was highlighted. One key aspect is to keep faculty informed and "in the loop."
Al Johnson (Widener University) led a panel on the role of engineering in liberal education. Case studies from three universities provided examples of such programs, ranging from single courses (WPI) to multi-year programs (University of Denver and Lafayette College). These courses go far beyond the traditional "EE for non-EE's" courses which are usually aimed at other engineering disciplines, and represent examples of "engineering as the new liberal arts."
Monday morning was devoted to the topic of ABET Criteria 2000, from the viewpoints of both ABET and the universities. It is an understatement to say that the discussion was lively and animated!
Ira Jacobson of Embry-Riddle provided informative background from his perspective on the Criteria 2000 Development Committee of ABET. He emphasized the completeness of the break from the past, and the philosophy on which Criteria 2000 are based. This philosophy has two major components: (1) an educational process based on specific educational objectives and incorporates evaluation and feedback processes; and (2) a system of outcomes assessments through which students demonstrate that they have accomplished the educational objectives.
Bill Carroll of the University of Texas at Arlington addressed the development of program criteria for electrical engineering and computer engineering under Criteria 2000. These criteria are still in draft form.
Gloria Rogers of Rose Hulman spoke regarding the important issue of outcomes assessment. She described examples of the process of development of an assessment process for a specific educational outcome.
From the university perspective, Bill Brown of the University of Arkansas and John Orr of WPI described their experiences as heads of the first two EE programs visited under Criteria 2000. Bill and John concluded that these visits were "learning experiences" for everyone involved (both ABET and the universities) and demonstrated the complexities of implementing Criteria 2000.
Finally, the NEEDHA Working Group on Criteria 2000, represented by Barry Farbrother and Raman Unnikrishnan, presented a progress report on the group's work. Elsewhere in this newsletter is a related story.
This session stimulated substantial interest, participation, and frustration on the part of NEEDHA members. The frustration appeared to arise because of the uncertainty regarding appropriate means to meet the new ABET criteria, as well as the need for each school to interpret the criteria in the light of their program goals. This stimulated an added session on Tuesday morning, where through brainstorming among the entire group, a substantial list of outcomes assessment measures with respect to specific criteria was assembled.
After lunch on Monday, issues of research and research funding returned to the foreground with three presentations. John Toole from the National Coordination Office for Computing, Information, and Communications, described the High Performance Computation "food chain" from physics through materials science to user applications. He postulated three upcoming revolutions in (1) knowledge engineering, (2) computational experimentation, and (3) mathematics and physical sciences.
Burnie Chern of NSF described the reduction in funding for MOSIS, through which a large number of integrated circuits have been fabricated for both teaching and research purposes. This initiative is being converted to a self-supporting model, and substantial concern was expressed for the survival of MOSIS in a form which can serve its initial purpose.
Kaigham Gabriel of DARPA provided an overview of the agency's "High risk, high payoff" approach to research selection and funding. From his viewpoint, interest and need is moving somewhat away from computation toward sensing, communications, and activators.
Considerable discussion in the business meeting centered on the "internationalization" of NEEDHA. General recognition of the increasing globalization of engineering education was expressed, but it was not felt to be desirable to make an immediate transition from a national to an international association of EE department heads. Rather, in the upcoming annual meetings, participation by guests from overseas should be encouraged.
Complementing the regular program at the Orlando meeting were two workshops, one on evaluator training for accreditation of Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering programs, and one for new department heads. The session for those new to department "heading and chairing" is a perennial favorite session, and in 1997 was led by one of our most experienced heads, John Proakis of Northeastern University. The program evaluator training session is a newer addition to the Annual Meeting, and with the implementation of Criteria 2000, this event has achieved a high profile. The program is open to everyone, and is just as valuable to those being evaluated as it is to new program evaluators. For 1997, the emphasis was on the current criteria, with an introduction to Criteria 2000. In the future, primary emphasis will be on the new criteria.
NEEDHA sessions were informative and well
attended.
Friday, March 13, 1998
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. ABET EC 2000 Workshop 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. New Chairs Workshop - Mos Kaveh 5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Welcome Reception
Saturday, March 14, 1998 - ABET Criteria 2000
7:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. Regional Meetings
8:30 a.m. President's Welcome - Bill Brown
8:45 a.m. - Noon Plenary Session - ABET EC 2000
Plenary Speaker
Plenary Workshop Summary
Guest Speakers
Topics: Preparation for Visits
Panel Discussion
Noon LUNCHEON
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ABET EC2000 (continued)
Getting Faculty Involved
Setting Goals & Objectives
Assessment Tools & Measurement
Outsourcing Option
Feedback & Improvement (Panel Discussion)
6:30 p.m. RECEPTION, DINNER, DANCING
Sunday, March 15, 1998 - Activities on your own
Monday, March 16, 1998 - Internationalization of Engineering Education
8:30a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Speakers
10:30 a.m. - 11:30 p.m. Breakout Sessions
Life After Department Head
Teaching Innovations
Industrial Needs Over Next Five Years
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Post Tenure Review
Department Management
Department Resources
12:30 p.m. LUNCHEON
1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Demands on CS and CE Programs
3:15 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Your Opinion Counts
6:30 p.m. Reception, Awards Banquet
Tuesday, March 17, 1998
8:30 a.m. NEEDHA Business Meeting 10:30 a.m. Open Forum Noon LUNCHEON & ADJOURNMENT
As of August, 1997, the heads of the 294 ABET-accredited Electrical and Computer Engineering programs in the US constitute NEEDHA's potential membership. Of these, 242 are currently dues-paying members. That is impressive participation, but our goal is 100 percent membership. If you know the department head of an eligible program which is not a NEEDHA member, please either contact him or her directly, or ask a member of the NEEDHA Board to initiate the contact. A large part of the value of NEEDHA is brought about by the breadth of representation of EE/CompE programs across the United States, and 100% membership is the best way to assure that breadth!
It hardly seems possible that the Orlando meeting occurred almost 8 months ago, but it is, in fact, time once again to be thinking about the next annual NEEDHA meeting. Of course, for many, it will be a lot easier to think about the meeting in February, than now, given its location. The crazy weather patterns predicted for this winter as a result of some real or imagined phenomenon occurring in the Pacific Ocean may also cause a few more of our members to think about the meeting location if the October snow storm that hit the midwest is any indication of what kind of winter we are in for this year. In any case, I've already made my plans to be in Oahu, Hawaii come March 1998 and I do hope that all the rest of you will be there. The program, under the guidance of Larry Burton, is shaping up to be another great one. For those who can not seem to get enough of it, ABET Criteria 2000 (C2K) will be the focal point of the meeting, and Saturday will be devoted to this topic.
This year, for the first time, Sunday is free of NEEDHA activities. I imagine that everyone will be able to find plenty to do. Since we will be sitting on a golf course, pack the clubs and enjoy the facilities.
Monday's program begins with short presentations by heads from different countries, followed by a question and answer session. This represents a continuing theme of the "internationalization of NEEDHA." Breakout sessions, which permit everyone to become actively involved in the meeting begin next. These sessions will be slightly different this year. There will be two sessions in sequence, each addressing three different topics in parallel sessions.
The program winds up on Tuesday morning with the NEEDHA business meeting followed by the "Open Forum", traditionally one of the more interesting parts of the program. I wonder what innovation we can come up with for this meeting?
The annual NEEDHA meeting in March in Hawaii is a great opportunity to take advantage of some of that vacation time you have been accruing and, for many, losing every time the new year rolls around. I urge you to take some time to rest and relax before heading back to the job. A few extra days will not make much of a difference in terms of what is waiting for you when you get home. In the meantime, don't forget to make your reservations if you haven't already done so. I'm looking forward to seeing ALL of you in Oahu.
At some point newsletters printed on paper will certainly disappear, as electronic information becomes universally available with convenience and portability equivalent to a piece of paper. That has not quite happened yet, and I hope this annual newsletter serves a useful purpose to you. It seems to me that facilitation of personal communication among EE heads is the central benefit of NEEDHA membership. That communication is face-face at the annual meetings, and via telephone and email between meetings. Vehicles such as our excellent web site (thanks to Paul Penfield) and this newsletter can help to initiate and maintain those personal connections, whether it is by putting a name with a face, or helping to identify a likely person to address a particular need. Obviously, a great limitation of newsletters is that they are one-way. Further, being annual, "letters to the editor" would not receive a timely airing. Should we consider asking Paul to consider such a feature on the NEEDHA web site?
Members of the NEEDHA Board of Directors and Committee Chairs for 1997-98 are:
President
William D. Brown
University of Arkansas
Vice President
Larry C. Burton
Pennsylvania State University
Secretary / Treasurer
James A. Roberts
University of Kansas
Junior Past President
Paul Penfield, Jr.
MIT
Senior Past President
Sherra Kerns
Vanderbilt University
Member-at-Large
Rodney J. Soukup
University of Nebraska
Member-at-Large
John A. Orr
Worcester Polytechnic Inst.
IEC Representative
Edward W. Ernst
University of South Carolina
Executive Director, Assistant Treasurer
Robert M. Janowiak
International Engineering Consortium
Awards Committee
G. Marshall Molen, chair
Mississippi State University
Nominating Committee
Abraham H. Haddad, chair
Northwestern University
Survey
Greg Zick, chair
University of Washington
Accreditation Issues Committee
Sherra E. Kerns, chair
Vanderbilt University
Web Committee
Paul Penfield, Jr. chair
MIT
Steering Committee
Sherra E. Kerns, chair
Vanderbilt University
Newsletter Editor
John A. Orr
WPI
Members of the NEEDHA board and staff
enjoy some time outdoors after the August
board Meeting in Jackson Hole.
NEEDHA recognizes both individuals and programs with awards. The NEEDHA Distinguished Service Award pays tribute to outstanding service to NEEDHA by a member or former member. The NEEDHA Innovative Program Award is presented to a department or one or more individuals who have developed and demonstrated an innovative program in EE/ECE/CS education. Members of the Awards committee are: G. Marshall Molen, (chair), Michael A. Austin, Naim A. Kheir, Robert J. Mattauch, and David L. Soldan. Committee members welcome questions regarding the awards or nominations at any time. However, to accommodate the selection process for presentation of awards at the annual meeting, nomination for the 1998 award should be received by January 15, 1998. Nominations should be accompanied by a statement describing the accomplishments on which the award would be based, and may be sent to Kathy Ricker, NEEDHA Coordinator, email: kricker@iec.org, mailing address: IEC, 549 W. Randolph St., Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60661-2208.
Paul Penfield promised to take care of the meeting's mascot.
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NEEDHA members and guests enjoy a relaxed atmosphere at the NEEDHA banquets. |
Tim Trick, NEEDHA Outstanding Service Award recipient, provides a light moment. |
The 1996-1997 NEEDHA Board of Directors pauses for a photo.
From left: Roger Webb, Ed Ernst, Bill Brown, Sherra Kerns, Paul
Penfield, Tim Trick, Larry Burton, John Orr, and Bob Janowiak.
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Other newsletters: 1995-96, 1996-97, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2001-02|
Created: Dec 15, 1997
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Modified: Dec 30, 1998|
To NEEDHA home page
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