Faculty meeting notes

Faculty Meeting Notes - Winter 2006 - 2007

3/7/07

Attendees: Greg Kremer; Jay Gunasekera, Carole Womeldorf, Izzi Urieli, Bob Williams; Khairul Alam; Frank Kraft, Ken Halliday, Bhavin Mehta, Stephanie Walker, David Burnette, Dave Bayless, Gary Graham

Curriculum - discussed and approved the following changes (which had been previously submitted in memo form for review by faculty and SAB):

1) Incorporate important lab elements from CE 223 (Strength of Materials Lab) in the new ME lab sequence and drop the CE223 requirement from our curriculum

2) Add 2 new 1-credit seminar (or colloquium) courses to the curriculum, intended to be taken in the sophomore and junior years to help build community and bridge the gap between the freshmen and senior years where the students will be building community in ME101 / Sr Design. [Pending feedback from SAB and check of the total number of credit hours required for graduation].

3) Change the way that ME489 is currently used and re-introduce ME499 for independent projects. This will require the elimination of the instructor-specific sections of ME489 to be replaced as needed by project (i.e. Robocup) or one-time course specific sections, and the creation of instructor-specific sections of ME499 for any faculty willing to guide independent projects.

Risk Assessment: Began the discussion of the risks that were rated by at least 1/3 of the raters as needing a risk management plan. The goal of the discussions is to get everyone to a common understanding of the situation so we can vote again to prioritize the items and start to attack the highest priority ones and monitor the rest. We will continue the discussion at a future meeting. The results of this process will ultimately be used to determine distribution of resources and discretionary departmental money.

2/28/07

Attendees: Greg Kremer; Jay Gunasekera, Carole Womeldorf, Izzi Urieli, Bob Williams; Khairul Alam, Rudy Pasic; Frank Kraft, Ken Halliday, Bhavin Mehta, Stephanie Walker, Matt Dixon

Reminder Schedule:

· White Awards applications for 2007: send to department committees by March 5

o Teaching Committee Chair: Dave Bayless (with Greg and Frank)

o Research Committee Chair: Frank Kraft (with Dave and Khairul)

Quick notes

· Disks available in ME office for new MS OFFICE 2008 version and the new Microsoft operating system - Vista. There are some compatibility issues with the new OS, so talk to Bhavin before installing on an existing system. When ordering new systems you can select the cheapest OS and upgrade using departmental disks.

· Math Placement test changes and early start program are being implemented for next year's incoming class.

· Math has changed prerequisites to "C or better" for each course in the Math 263A-340 sequence

· MSME & PhD Alumni database - Merry is compiling and will be asking for input from faculty

· OHIO IT recently finished installing standard, multimedia classroom presentation packages in all centrally scheduled Athens classrooms. We currently have a limited number of these packages available for installation in teaching labs or other non-traditional learning spaces at no charge. Both centrally scheduled and departmentally controlled spaces are eligible; however, due to limited resources, we cannot guarantee that all requests will be fulfilled...propose upgrade for our conference room.

· John Cotton's plans: As I believe you know, I will be coming to Athens with my wife, Sarah on Sunday, March 4. We plan on staying Monday and leaving Tuesday morning.

· Upcoming faculty meetings: 3/7, 3/28 (no meeting 3/14 or 3/21)

Action Items:

1. Lab committee recommendations concerning 015 [Izzi]

First step: ME lab committee and others will define the required experiments/experiences that are important for our students and decide where they will fit in our curriculum, including the replacements for CE223. Izzy will lead this and it will be complete by May 2007.

Current "equipment-related" outcomes:

· An ability to explain the operation and performance characteristics of electric motors [Competence; ME388 or ME488]

· An ability to use common measurement equipment [Competence; ME388 or ME288]

· An ability to apply previously-learned engineering concepts to compare theoretical predictions with actual experimental results in diverse, practical mechanical engineering experiments. [Competence; ME388]

· The ability to program and use CNC machines to manufacture simple parts [Competence; ME388 or ?]

1. CIM Lab Equipment is obsolete...Randy suggested MASTERCAM tool path studies - can it be integrated into ME 351/451?...Consider rewriting this outcome statement?

Lab experiences to fit in our curriculum (initial proposals, committee will make final recommendations for faculty approval):

· Mechanical/Materials Testing: tensile test, torsion test, column buckling, strain gages,...

· Thermal testing: thermocouples, ...

· Engine / Motor testing: Stirling engine, dynamometer (1 HP and/or 20 HP), rotational speed,...

· Equipment performance: pump,...

Ken proposed returning to the idea of experiments associated with specific faculty members, and having an instructor of record who is responsible for the mastery outcome for lab report writing and other outcomes, and assigning course grades. There was general acceptance of the idea, so Ken will follow up with a more detailed proposal.

2. Other Space Issues: STKR 402 space assessment - Proposal to make the main room a dual-purpose ME grad student office space and "back-up" conference room. Arrange desks around perimeter and assign them to faculty with grad students actively doing work (PhD students and Research Post-docs get top priority). Put tables and chairs in the center of the room (conference room style) for use by other grad students (bookshelves and cabinets available for them to store books and personal items) and to allow the room to be used as a backup conference room (using the extra projector for presentations).

Other ideas:

· use 402 as "light" lab space?

· need to consider 408 also

· Khairul is converting ME596 and could move to 402, freeing up 298

3. Curriculum / Scheduling

· ME398 in the Spring - issue with instructor. Consider PhD students, or canceling it and offering a session in summer I

· Memo about proposed changes to ME curriculum for consideration and future discussion. [Ken]

· Closure for the CE 222 / ME 403 issue

4. SAB/GSAB: Working on next newsletter. SAB will review the memo of proposed changes to ME curriculum and will provide input.

Items below were not addressed in the meeting since we ran out of time. An email will be sent requesting faculty input.

5. Departmental Risk Assessment -

Next Steps:

· More group discussion (looking at highest ranked items from all categories to ensure all understand the current status) followed by a multi-vote process to determine what items to work on first.

· Establish working groups to develop risk management plans for each area, with each group responsible for developing a better understanding of the risks and the current "controls" in place, and proposing actions to reduce and monitor risk. The working group will establish the priority within their area.

Other

· Assessment 1-page forms due: ME314 and ME471 submitted. ME100, ME224, ME288, ME301, ME321, ME350, ME398, ME491, ME498 still needed. There will be an audit of our process happening soon. Please let Greg and/or Steph know what help you need to complete the assessments.

· Mentoring program for new faculty - [P&T Committee] Address research collaboration, teaching guidance, and must include a yearly discussion of P&T committee with untenured faculty in December or January with results included in the yearly evaluation letter from the chair.

· Other long term actions

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2/21/07

Attendees: Greg Kremer; Jay Gunasekera, Izzi Urieli, Bob Williams; Khairul Alam, Rudy Pasic; Frank Kraft (part of meeting), Ken Halliday, Bhavin Mehta, David Burnette, Stephanie Walker, Randy Mulford

Reminder Schedule:

· Stocker Endowment due to department today (2/21) and to college by (2/22)

· "Russ Best Paper Award" applications due by Feb 23rd to Dept, nomination by March 2nd to college. Dave/Greg and Bob have applied.

o Khairul, Rudy and Jay will evaluate and rank the papers.

o We may be able to send forth more than one (a change that is in discussion at the college level), but our applications need to be ranked by the department.

o Khairul will serve on the college award selection committee.

· White Awards applications for 2007: send to department committees by March 1

o Teaching Committee Chair: Dave Bayless (with Greg and Frank)

o Research Committee Chair: Frank Kraft (with Dave and Khairul)

Action Items:

1. Welcome Back Randy

· Current Work Schedule 11-3 PM and 4-8 PM

· We will be working on a prioritized task list to better define Randy's duties. Faculty may propose tasks (lab or equipment related) for Randy to work on.

2. New Faculty hire status:
a. Offer letter sent to John Cotton. He is planning to visit with his wife during the week of March 5th (his Spring Break). He must accept/decline by March 12th.

3. Departmental Risk Assessment - Summary of results from the final 3 rating sheets

· Undergraduate Program highest rated risks:

o Inadequate quality of service courses will cause problems for students

o Curriculum issues will cause problems for students

o Inadequate attention to assessment will cause accreditation problems

· Department and Personnel highest rated risks:

o Excessive Work Load Expectations will reduce job satisfaction and performance

o Inadequate Resourses and support for New Faculty will lead to problems with performance and retention

o Inadequate incentives will cause the program to not meet its objectives

o Inadequate Staffing levels will lead to inability to complete essential tasks

· Communications and Relations highest rated risks:

o Negative press (including Plagiarism issue) will impact our Reputation

o Lack of guidelines leading to deficient reports, thesis/dissertation

o Lack of Publicity or Exposure in Public and Media will cause recruiting problems

o Poor student advising will cause problems for students

o Poor University Relations will cause problems for the department

· Next Steps:

· Group discussion (looking at highest ranked items from all categories to ensure all understand the current status) followed by a multi-vote process to determine what items to work on first.

· Establish working groups to develop risk management plans.

4. SAB/GSAB:

· Input on CE223: All demos - students do not run the experiments. It is useful to have these experiences (tensile test, torsion test, column buckling, strain gages...) but could be much better. Students would like to have experiences integrated with the theory and actually get the hands-on experience to run the tests. Suggestion to consider combining with CHE418 (best from both labs)?

· ME470/ME101 interactions and time change to 1PM: try to work schedule around ME Labs, 350/351, CHE418, EE305 and IT117.

· Website is active at www.ent.ohiou.edu/me/sab/index.htm

· ME faculty invited to ASME social: Late night free skate this Saturday, 11PM - midnight at Bird Arena (after the 7:30 PM hockey game)

5. Lab committee recommendations concerning 015 [Izzi]

a. Basic concerns about appearance and impact on recruiting tours, etc.

· Immediate need: clean and organize to make it presentable

· Responsibility: Sr. Lab instructor, TA, and Randy

b. We will begin a formal process of assessing equipment and space (Refrigeration research apparatus, Steam turbine experiment, other major eqpt in CAMP, Sr Lab equipment,...) by evaluating 3 factors:

· Is it relevant?

o For student learning: ME lab committee and others will define the required experiments/experiences that are important for our students and decide where they will fit in our curriculum, including the replacements for CE223. Izzy will lead this and it will be complete by May 2007.

o For departmental research: PIs will verify that all equipment is active (possible criterion: has been used in the past year or will be used in the next year).

· Is it working? (If not, is it worth fixing or replacing?)

· Is it presentable? (Can it be made part of a "showcase lab" with posters, etc.)

· Need positive responses to all 3 items by August 07, or equipment will be removed and/or space reassigned...

Other issues to consider for the lab:

c. Balance of research space, undergraduate lab space, and desk space

d. Layout of space for ME288/388/488 to co-exist

e. Lab technician responsibility (Randy will assume the role, but if it proves to be too much then we will try to get additional help)

6. Curriculum

· CE222/ME403/ME304 issue has emerged for co-ops who cannot take 403 in Spring or Summer.

o We will get an idea of the number of students impacted and have them talk to Ken - he will determine how to deal with them fairly on a case-by-case basis.

· ME/HTC physics dual major 5-year plan [Bob]

· Memo about proposed changes to ME curriculum for consideration and future discussion. [Ken will distribute later]

Other

· Academic honesty: Update on hearings as reported to the board of Trustees - two cases have gone through the full hearing process. One case will require a rewrite and another case calls for degree revocation. The latter is under appeal. Many cases have been resolved prior to the hearing phase.

· Potential safety issues with wind tunnel - do we need procedures for operation to avoid hazards?

· Other long term actions

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2/14/07 Dean Irwin will be with us for this meeting

2/7/07

Attendees: Greg Kremer; Jay Gunasekera, Izzi Urieli, Bob Williams; Carole Womeldorf, Khairul Alam, Rudy Pasic; Frank Kraft, Ken Halliday, Dave Bayless, Bhavin Mehta, Gary Graham

David Burnette, Matt Dixon, Damon Givens, Stephanie Walker

Reminder Schedule:

· Reminder: Assessment 1-page forms due for ME100, ME224, ME288, ME301, ME314, ME321, ME350, ME398, ME471, ME491, ME498 - Contact Steph if you need a blank template.

· Stocker Endowment (2/22)

· New SEM Machine arrives at ICMT Feb 26th. Training for any faculty/students who want it will occur shortly after. If interested contact Bruce Brown, 593-9922.

· White Awards applications for 2007: send to department committees by March 1

1. Teaching Committee Chair: Dave Bayless (with Greg and Frank)

2. Research Committee Chair: Frank Kraft (with Dave and Khairul)

· "Russ Best Paper Award" applications due by Feb 23rd to Dept, nomination by March 2nd to college. Dave and Bob are applying. Any others? Grad faculty not applying will be asked to evaluate the papers. We may be able to send forth more than one (a change that is in discussion at the college level), but at a minimum our applications need to be ranked by the department.

o We need to identify a faculty member to serve on the college award selection committee.

Action Items:

1. New Faculty hire discussion/decision:
a. Faculty hiring committee [Ken, Rudy, Bob] will open the discussion and either provide a recommendation for which candidate to hire, or lay out the pros and cons of each candidate as they see them.

· A rating table will likely be used to guide the discussion.

b. Student input will be solicited and included in the evaluation table

c. Other faculty and staff will be invited to share their impressions

d. If a clear majority favorite has emerged from the discussion, we will work towards a consensus decision (a decision that everyone can live with). If no clear favorite is evident, we will identify the concerns and questions that are the differentiators in the decision, and request more information to address them and/or move to the reference checking phase for more than one candidate.

2. Lab committee recommendations concerning 015 [Izzi]

3. Departmental Risk Assessment - The final 3 rating sheets will be distributed this week and should be returned promptly, but at the latest by Feb 16th:

· Undergraduate Program, Department and Personnel, Communications and Relations

4. Mentoring program for new faculty - [P&T Committee]

· Address research collaboration, teaching guidance, and must include a yearly discussion of P&T committee with untenured faculty in December or January with results included in the yearly evaluation letter from the chair.

5. SAB/GSAB: Input on CE223? What is happening now? How valuable is it to our program?

6. Dean Irwin will be with us for next week's meeting (Feb 14)

Other

· Bulletin Board Update Status - [Steph]

· long term actions

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1/31/07 - No meeting (due to faculty interviews and advising week)

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1/24/07

Attendees: Greg Kremer; Jay Gunasekera, Izzi Urieli, Bob Williams; Carole Womeldorf, Khairul Alam, Rudy Pasic; Frank Kraft, Ken Halliday, Stephanie Walker [Dave Bayless, Bhavin Mehta, Gary Graham absent]

Reminder Schedule:

· Reminder: Assessment 1-page forms due for ME100, ME224, ME288, ME301, ME314, ME321, ME350, ME398, ME471, ME491, ME498 - Contact Steph if you need a blank template.

· SFEF (1/26) and Stocker Endowment (2/22)

Announcements and quick items:

ICC Approved (1/3/07) ME 491; Change Prerequisite from C or better in 224, MATH 340, ET 240, sr to C or better in 224, MATH 340, MATH 344; Effective S 06/07

SEM agreement with ICMT: Khairul has obtained a JEOL SEM as part of a project with Pete Klein. Due to space issues we have arranged to have it located and maintained by ICMT for the next 3 years, with free access for Khairul's project and "reasonable access" for other ME projects. Other ME users would be expected to enter into a formal agreement with ICMT that includes a contribution to help cover the operating costs (equipment maintenance and training of users).

· Machine arrives Feb 26th. Training for any faculty/students who want it will occur shortly after. Send names to ICMT.

White Awards applications needed for 2007.
Apply by March 1?. Names should be sent to Colleen by April 1.

Teaching Committee Chair: Dave Bayless (with Greg and Frank),

Research Committee Chair: Frank Kraft (with Dave and Khairul)

"Russ Best Paper Award" applications due by Feb 23rd to Dept, nomination by March 2nd to college. To be eligible, it must be a journal article that describes work done while the faculty member has been at Ohio University and must have been published during calendar year 2006.

· We must provide the name of a tenure track faculty member from your department who will serve on the award selection committee.

New Faculty hire update: "Finalize" schedules and interview times.

Other faculty/staff status updates...Still lots of uncertainty

Bulletin Board Updates - If there is anything on the Conf Room bulletin board that should still be displayed, let Steph know. Also get pictures to Steph if you'd like them included in future displays...

SAB/GSAB: Input on CE223? What is happening now? How valuable is it to our program?

Vendors on campus to display alternatives for a new Student Information System (SIS).

info: http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/06-07/January/a283-067.cfm

to sign up: http://iliad.cats.ohiou.edu/cgi-cf/adminsys/onlineseminar/menu.cfm

· Steph checked out the details and we decided that it is not worth sending a departmental representative

Action Items:

1. Departmental Risk Assessment - 11 responses so far for Graduate Program issues (Still need some grad student input).

· We will have the rest of the rating sheets soon.

2. Curriculum and Ugrad issues -

· The lab committee is working on issues related to use of 015 (space for ME288, dyno for ME488, ...)

· Online catalog software proposed - see demo at www.digarc.com/solutions/demo.php

1. Annual catalogs and revisions will continue...hopefully changes will occur automatically after ICC/UCC approval, with departments just reviewing changes.

Other

· long term actions -

> P&T Committee to propose a formal mentoring program for new faculty

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1/17/07

Attendees: Greg Kremer; Jay Gunasekera, Gary Graham, Izzi Urieli, Bob Williams; Carole Womeldorf, Khairul Alam, Rudy Pasic; Frank Kraft, Bhavin Mehta [Dave Bayless, Ken Halliday absent]