Strategy A: Initiate actions to create an engineering student services/classroom building, perhaps in cooperation with other colleges (particularly Natural Sciences) in the northeast part of campus, and in the interim, to provide enhanced opportunities for faculty/student interaction.
A sense of community is at least in part engendered by a place of community. Our students would benefit greatly by convenient departmental and College-wide venues for study, meeting, and socialization, similar to the Taylor T-Room in days of old. To achieve this goal, we should:
Action 1. Start the ball rolling on funding and planning of a major new building project in coordination with the Campus Master Plan.
This building should include dining and meeting facilities as well as classrooms and laboratories.
Responsibility: Asst. Dean for Development
Resources: Funding of at least 50% of building cost between the Colleges of Engineering and Natural Sciences
Timeline: Building in place for Fall, 2005
Success Metric: A building in place.
Progress: John Halton notes that we are actively pursuing University assistance which would motivate private donors to help fund a water resources and environmental building at the Pickle Research Center and a Student Services Building/Dormitory on the Main Campus.
Action 2. Provide informal meeting areas for students and faculty in each building assigned to the College, and promote faculty-student-staff interactions. Expand the availability of study areas with tables and internet connections, and monitor use so that deficiencies can be quickly remedied. Food service should be provided where possible. Interdepartmental student mixing should be encouraged.
Responsibility: Department Chairmen
Resources: Minimal if surplus furniture used
Timeline: In place for Fall, 1999, with continual upgrade
Success Metric: Did it happen, use by students, faculty and staff.
Progress: Mechanical Engineering has begun planning for an additional study area in ETC. Preliminary design work has been completed by UT's Physical Plant. Mechanical Engineering will cost share. The Dean is currently seeking funds.
Chemical Engineering has faculty-student mixers about once a month that are sponsored by the AIChE student organization. It has two common areas for undergraduate and graduate students to study and interact. Chemical Engineering has study areas for the undergraduates that are equipped with modem connections. They would like to have additional space for meeting and studying; short of The University adding a floor to the building, this is not likely to happen.
At the moment space is at a premium in ENS. Electrical and Computer Engineering has a few student gathering/studying areas but these are not used much by the faculty. The new ACES building is another matter. It was designed with precisely what this action item has in mind. There are a number of informal meeting areas on all of the floors and are located to be accessible by the ECE, CS and TICAM faculty and students. There will be food service on the first floor of the building.
Strategy B: Facilitate a sense of community between faculty, students, staff, alumni.
Community sense should be enhanced among all combinations of faculty, students, staff and alumni. Some of these interactions will require facilitation through explicit programs or funding, and others simply require good will efforts by those concerned. Actions in this Strategy should be the responsibility of appropriate committees within the College and Departments, as well as EFAC and the College Alumni Affairs coordinator. Some of these actions are also suggested in other parts of this plan.
Faculty-Faculty Interactions:
- Institute a formal program of mentoring of junior faculty
- Promote collaborative teaching and research across traditional disciplinary boundaries
- Reward teamwork
- Group faculty offices by common research interest
- Restructure CoE faculty meetings to promote collegiality, perhaps with special social gatherings beforehand.
- Encourage departmental faculty meetings, lunches and retreats.
Student-Student Interactions:
- Identify common student space
- Provide a choice to students of common engineering living space, e.g., engineering floors in Jester
- Promote mentoring of lower-classmen by upper-classmen
- Promote participation in student professional engineering societies
Staff-Staff Interactions:
- Encourage mentoring of junior staff by senior staff members
- Promote professional development
- Solicit input from staff on methods to facilitate collegiality
- Provide a staff award program to encourage recognition and performance.
- Provide a staff lounge area, and encourage staff meetings with lunch provided
- Provide a staff profile book for access by students and faculty
Alumni-Alumni and Alumni-University and Alumni-Students Interactions:
- Challenge distinguished graduates to develop a plan to enhance CoE Alumni relations
- Consider special summer programs that appeal to children and grandchildren of CoE alumni
- Consider employing a part-time coordinator in each Department to build an alumni network and alumni-faculty-student relations. This person could be a retired alumnus/alumna with close ties to CoE
- Utilize alumni to interact with CoE students and potential students in their home towns. Include overseas locations as well.
Faculty-Students Interactions:
- Encourage “small group” experiences and consider formation of “cohort” groups
- Encourage more faculty to host “firesides”
- Review freshmen introduction to engineering
- Address the retention issue
- Continue emphasis on high quality teaching
- Provide a photo of each student on the web
Faculty-Staff Interactions:
- Emphasize that faculty and staff form an integral team
- Solicit suggestions from staff as to what can be done to facilitate faculty-staff collegiality
Faculty-Alumni Interactions:
- Consider holding CoE alumni events by geographical area
- Consider overseas locations where some of our most loyal alumni are located
- Consider holding CoE alumni gatherings at large professional society meetings
- Consider enhancing alumni activities at the departmental level on “football Saturdays” or other appropriate occasions
Student-Staff Interactions:
- In each department inform students (via a web page) of the role of appropriate staff members and the processes for which they are responsible
- Sensitize students to the important role the staff plays in their education
- Solicit feedback from students on the effectiveness of ECAC