Communication of the results of academic and scholarly activity has traditionally been directed to a relatively narrow audience of students, fellow academics and researchers, in the form of lectures, presentations, technical books and articles. In an age where technology impacts the lives of everyone, and in which we need to garner support from the public to insure continuing excellence, it is increasingly important that we communicate the technological and social implications of our work more effectively to a broad audience.
Strategy A: Continue publicity to external sources that reach a broad audience of constituents.
Informing the public about the results and implications of work done in the College is not only in our self-interest, but a basic professional responsibility. To continue and expand this effort:
Action 1: The Dean should present a “State of the College” address annually. The contents should be conveyed to the University President and Provost. The address should include College goals, attainments, problems and needs. This address should be publicized and published on the web and in media that reach the faculty, the academic community, legislators and prospective donors.
Responsibility: Dean
Resources: Dean and Dean's staff
Timeline: Annually, to begin in 1999
Success Metric: Did it happen, success in increased support.
Progress: A State of the College address was presented to the faculty at a faculty meeting on April 30, 1999, and copies of the address were widely disseminated to EFAC, friends of the College, and alumni, Dean Streetman presented the address to all staff in the College of Engineering on July 29, 1999. A synopsis of this address appeared on the front page of the engineering alumni newsletter which is distributed to 30,000 alumni, plus faculty and UT Austin and UT System administrators.
Action 2: The College of Engineering FOA/faculty network should be formalized and extended to cover the State and selected metropolitan centers. This should be done by forming a speaker's bureau, preparing a video collection highlighting important aspects of the College, and publicizing availability on the web and in alumni newsletters. Sunrise breakfasts/briefings of targeted research areas should be provided to industry through CES.
Responsibility: College Development Office
Resources: EFAC, Visiting Committees, Faculty, Friends of Alec, Texas Exes, corporate assistance, CES, some staff support
Timeline: In place and videos complete within three years, self-sustaining
Success Metric: Number of participants and level of activity. Surveys of cost/effectiveness of each action.
Progress: John Halton notes that currently we do not have the staff to implement this area. However, we have had discussions with Sherry Woods, Sandra Jacobson, and Tricia Berry about combining their efforts to move forward in this area.
Action 3: Special publicity should be given to our strong programs that support diversity, including the Women in Engineering Program, the Equal Opportunity in Engineering (EOE) program, and the success of our minority engineering organizations. This publicity should include a strong web-based information source.
Responsibility: College Communications Office
Resources: Staff time
Timeline: Immediate implementation and continuing effort.
Success Metric: Diversity of student population, change in public misperception concerning College's commitment to diversity.
Progress: A press advisory was distributed about EOE's Industry Super Bowl the weekend of January 30, 1999. It was distributed to the Austin press as well as statewide minority media. Information on Drs. Christine Schmidt and Rebecca Richards-Kortum has been provided to U.S. News and the Austin American-Statesman.
A press release was distributed about EOE's World of Engineering program October 16, 1999, and a report appeared on News 8 Austin. A newspaper article appeared in the Daily Texan as well. A press advisory was distributed about ARCO's $85,000 gift to the EOE program and a report appeared on News 8 Austin as well as a newspaper article appeared in the Daily Texan.
A press release was distributed on the Women in Engineering Program's sponsorship of astronaut Cady Coleman's talk, November 5, 1999.
Action 4: Increase efforts to publicize college efforts focusing on benefits to society, the economy, health, safety, lifestyle, etc.
The public may respond to those activities perceived to be of direct and immediate benefit, and these should be highlighted in our publicity efforts.
Responsibility: Communications staff
Resources: Additional staff time
Timeline: Ramp up activity within existing programs
Success Metric: Focus group interviews
Progress: The Communications Director has written and distributed many news releases. To name a few: Tivoli Center of Excellence announcement, Dr. Gary Pope's election to the National Academy of Engineering, Drs. Lloyd and Bonnecaze kidney dialysis research and Dr. Stearman's pilot recording box research which aired on the Discovery Channel as well as local stations.
A news release was distributed by the College and information was coordinated through NASA on Dr. Goldstein's attempt to discover water on the moon July 31, 1999. The report of his October 13 findings resulted in more than 100 national and international newspaper articles and reports on every major broadcast news agency.
A news release was distributed on Dr. Corsi's indoor air quality research that resulted in broadcast news reports on 170 stations and print articles in Prevention, The Economist, Redbook, among others.
News articles on College of Engineering activities totaled more than 400 for the 1998-99 academic year.
Strategy B: Strengthen the liaison between the College and national technological leadership.
Action 1: Aggressively pursue nomination of faculty and students for national and international awards and honors.
One of the most visible and widely accepted measures of excellence are honors and awards garnered in national and international competition, such as student design competitions, research and teaching awards, NAE membership and fellow status in major societies. The College should initiate a College standing committee for this purpose that concentrates on encouraging nominations and acting as a clearinghouse for engineering-wide awards (ASEE, NAE, Packard Foundation, etc.). In addition, department chairmen and the Dean should aggressively nominate faculty for service on national and international boards and policy committees.
Responsibility: Dean to appoint Awards Committee (or enlarge charge of present committee)
Resources: Faculty time
Timeline: Immediate
Success Metric: Number of awards, nominations, new service appointments
Progress: Dean Streetman meets with Austin members of the NAE annually to work on nominations. He has encouraged department chairmen to establish awards committees in each department. However, Dean Streetman has not as yet appointed a college-wide committee. He plans to visit with department chairmen to see if they would consider this a help or an intrusion.
The Lockheed Martin Teaching Assistant Award for Teaching Excellence: Recipient, Jeff Gray; Lockheed Martin Assistant Instructor Award for Teaching Excellence: Recipient, Tracy Vogler; Marvin Wright Student Athletic Award: Recipient, Bryan D. Jones
Action 2: Task the Associate Dean/Research to work with the Vice President for Research for improving routine liaison with national research sponsors, particularly to facilitate large multidisciplinary proposals.
Responsibility: Associate Dean for Research
Resources: Travel support
Timeline: In place within one year
Success Metric: Number of multidisciplinary awards
Progress: The Associate Dean has attended three ASEE Engineering Research Council meetings, and has reported to the faculty on the annual trends in research funding and on particular opportunities available from various federal agencies. He has also been elected as a member of the ERC Board, and will be involved in organizing future meetings. The recently established Director for Research and Technology Development also identifies industrial research opportunities and helps in the development of major interdisciplinary proposals. To date, an NSF Engineering Research Center proposal has passed the preliminary proposal stage with help from this system, and the final proposal is in preparation.
Action 3: Sponsor seminars and Visiting Professor positions for national and world leaders
Responsibility: Departments, Office of the Dean
Resources: Endowment funding through College Development Office, contacts through Faculty, Office of the Dean, EFAC
Timeline: In place within one year
Success Metric: Number of seminars and visitors in place as a result of this action
Progress: We are working on establishing endowments for visitors, and also seeking approval from one donor to use a chair for this purpose.
Chemical Engineering has three named seminars each year that are awarded to national and international leaders and which are funded by the Department. The Department does not have the endowment in place to fund a Visiting Professor yet.
A number of the technical areas in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (ECE) hold regular seminars. Speakers from the outside are regularly invited. ECE and CS have a distinguished lecture series for software engineering that is jointly sponsored by the College of Engineering, ECE, and CS. This has been very successful in attracting the world leaders in the field.
ECE has not had too many Visiting Professors recently, but its faculty is encouraged to identify potential candidates. The new ACES building has a number of offices reserved for Visiting Professors.