Faculty Meeting Minutes
Combined with Kitchen Cabinet Meeting Minutes
 From October 18, 2007
Friday October 26, 2007 
10:00 a.m.
PNK 212 Conference Room
Attendees: O. Baiocchi, L. Wear, L. Crum, A. Urbanec, D. McLane, D. Zimmerman, M. Muppa, A. Teredesai, G. Johnson, B. Aguiar, E. Hong, G. Mobus, Z. Chavez

1.  Approval of Minutes

•	     Friday, October 19, 2007

2.  Updates- Orlando Baiocchi

Graduate Review
(Below is a summary of opinions manifested by faculty and staff on how to respond to the Graduate School questionnaire. Names in red indicate people with particular expertise to answer each particular question.)

General Considerations and Faculty

1)	What is the general quality of the Institute of Technology, its faculty and students?  What programs are the Institute’s peers and how does it compare with these peers? Hanks and Wear

10-18-2007

Faculty members have a high number of publications, 100 last year.  Faculty members have Ph.D.s, with the exception of lecturers and or adjunct faculty.

Faculty members have high evaluations.  Many have attended international events. Some are APEC members, and several faculty members are members of honor societies. Moshe has been invited as a Fulbright Scholar in Russia and Vietnam.  Larry Crum has helped to establish new programs in Ohio, and here.  

Freshman students have high SAT scores (latest is 1076) compared with UWT and we have students qualified to join UPE.

10-26-2007

Larry Snyder, the Chair of the Program Review Committee wanted to know which institutions we consider peer institutions. Orlando responded that the institutions are: RIT, UW Bothell, Cal State System (non-doctoral), SUNY System (non-doctoral).  

During his research, Larry Wear found out that enrollment at Chico went from 400 FTE in the year 2000 to 138 FTE this fall. Most schools have the capability to enroll international students.  In many of the schools as many as 50% have int’l students enrolled.  A goal for us is to be able to enroll international students in our program.  Larry Wear would help looking up peer institution information.  Institutions that are well established and that we would like to be like are RIT and Cal Poly.  The Washington State system model is different than ours. The branch in Vancouver just started electrical engineering programs.  They don’t have a similar computer science program. 

Orlando would like to see enrollment dates, SAT scores, and number of faculty data. Larry Wear will send out what he put together for Chico as an example.  Larry Crum suggested leaving out Central and Eastern universities. 

2)	What is the nature of the Institute’s relationships with community colleges and are these collaborative efforts effective? Elizabeth, Orlando, Marcy Brown, Chris 

10-18-2006

Examples:  articulation agreements, CTC meetings every quarter, advisor luncheon and reception, faculty fellows, PC3 participation, lab class taught jointly with TCC, two presidents of community college are members of our advisory board and there’s a proposal to teach a circuits class with Clark Community College to serve the whole State of Washington.

10-26-2007

There was a meeting yesterday with the community college faculty advisors. 

3)	What has been the impact of institution building on faculty’s effort to maintain balance with teaching, research and service among faculty members? Orlando, Wear, Crum

10-18-2006

We brought senior faculty to our program instead.

10-26-2007

Research has taken a hit because of institution building.  One way that we are dealing with this is by having release quarters for young faculty to do research.  We received special funding from the state, but because of the expectations for faculty student ratio, the University is chipping away at the funding.  

4)	How well does the program governance structure function for faculty, students and staff?  Student participation is “done informally, through comments directed to the Graduate Advisor” (page 55).  Is this sufficient for student feedback on governance?  What is the status of the proposed Student Advisory Board?
Faculty and staff at large, student leaders, graduate student (Charles Bryan) who sits on the Advisory Board

10-18-2006

Examples: meetings with the director, students meet with academic advisors and faculty advisors, 
Charles Bryan our student representative is actively involved. Per Orlando, we need to emphasize 
the fact that we have a different kind of student population. 

10-26-2007

              We don’t have a Student Advisory Board yet. 

1.	ACM 
2.	Women in Computing
3.	Gray Hats

Report on a quarterly basis to student council.  

5)	Is the primarily informal mentoring of junior faculty effective 
(Page 14)?  What is the unit’s timeline to formalize this mentoring process? Orlando. Wear, Crum   

10-18-2006

We will have a written process by the end of the year. Alina gave a handout last year (she will go
back and look at the minutes)

10-26-2007

Larry Wear and Dan Zimmerman are working on this.  They are going to have something in writing soon.  We need to find out if there is written documentation by the UWT.  

6)	Are there specific examples of how the staff has participated in professional development activities? Alina 

10-18-2006

See appendix “O” for staff development accomplishments

10-26-2007

Larry Wear will ask Alina to send out instructions on how to access this document.

7)	Since its inception, the Institute has worked to establish relationships with industry in the South Sound region.  The new position of Assistant Director of Industry Partners was created to assist in this effort (page 5).  How will the effectiveness of this new position be measured? Tomm (Advisory Board), Orlando, Crum

10-18-2006

This is not a new position (advisory board members should respond).  It will be measured by the number of internship opportunities, number of business and organizations that have been brought to the Institute, etc.

10-26-2007

Andrew Fry – Based on Advisory Board assessment 

8)	What is the Advisory Board’s assessment of the training and education of program graduates? What is the relationship of the Advisory Board and Assistant Director of Industry Partners? Tom (Advisory Board)/ Andrew

10-18-2006

We need something that addresses what our students are doing in the workplace.  A good example would be Erin Richie, who was featured in an article in the TNT.  
 
10-26-2007

Andrew Fry and Advisory Board - We have a database of where our alumni are currently working.  It is available at the Pinkerton building at the front desk, on the 2nd floor.

9)	UW Tacoma is currently developing an overall strategic plan.   How is the Institute coordinating the development of its strategic plan with this campus-wide effort? 
 Does the Institute’s strategic plan reflect the anticipated change in the field from “pure computer science” to “application-oriented disciplines” (page 12)?  What is the timeline to implement a new program in Information Science and a graduate certificate program in Health Informatics and Information Assurance?  Is the external stakeholders’ advice to offer “lighter-weight” academic programs consistent with the Institute’s mission within the UW? Orlando, Wear, Alina, George

10-18-2006

a)	We hired a consultant to look at the staff organization and we are following his chart recommendations. 

b)	We hired consultants to look at Institute visibility and regional program needs. We are     following their advice on both: CES was implemented, Information Technology Systems is in the approval process.

c)	Alina’s comments:

Coordination of the UWT strategic plan is evolving; presently the plan is in its developmental stage.  The University community is reviewing the current suggested plan in hopes that consensus will be reached and it will be finalized by winter quarter.  

The Institute is involved in this process and subsequent it’s completion.  George Mobus, senior faculty, is on the Strategic Plan Committee and Alina Urbanec, program administrator is on the Sub-committee identifying goals as they relate to the strategic plan.

Additionally, the Institute will be working with Ginger McDonald, in the Chancellor’s office whose charge is to connect/align each unit’s/program’s mission and strategic plan with UWT’s.

10-26-2007

UWT is in the process of reviewing and refining the strategic plan.  George Mobus is involved with this process.  Pat Spakes said that each unity is going to be responsible for updating their own strategic plan.  Our last strategic plan was worked on in 2003. In it, we talked about which degrees we were going to offer, as seen at that time.  

10)	What is the unit’s plan to increase the diversity of women and ethnic/racial minority faculty?   What is the unit’s plan to increase the diversity of undergraduate and graduate students?  What is the unit’s timeline to develop a diversity plan in collaboration with the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Diversity at UWT (page 31)? Alina, Orlando

10-18-2006

Current focus on:
Enrolling international students 
 
We have:
MSL students, and international scholars.  
- We work with CTC to recruit women.  
- We have a number of women faculty members: Isabelle, Lou Ann, Menaka, Barbara, Roya, Martine, and Vicki 
- And we are working with the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Diversity on our efforts.

10-26-2007

We don’t have as many women on the faculty as it would be desirable.  We have some minority faculty, but we’re not where we should be when it comes to women.  
A goal is to increase diversity of undergraduate and graduate students. Nationally we’re ok. 
NSF proposal that was not approved was aimed at increasing participation.  Other examples: Sam’s Korean American event, and our MSL program. 

11)	Is the Institute utilizing expertise of the Center for Instructional Development and Research (CIDR) to integrate on a more systematic basis the sharing of best teaching practices that would assist with issues of student learning?
Josh, Donald

10-18-2006

a)	We have two internationally known specialists in computer science education.  
b)	Mentors program

10-26-2007
 
They have limited staff to drive down from Seattle.  We would love to have more CIDR support, but that’s the biggest obstacle. Faculty laments the fact that CIDR is not involved. 
.  
12)	Is the faculty working with CIDR to define and evaluate learning outcomes for individual courses within the curriculum? Josh, Donald, Wear

10-18-2006

We have partial results, but it is an on-going process.

10-26-2007

One Assistant Professor and one Lecturer were advised to contact CIDR.

13)	In 2006, the B.A. in Computing and Software Systems and a minor in Applied Computing were implemented.  Additionally, the new B.S. in Computer Engineering and Systems has been implemented in autumn 2007 (YES).  What are the projected enrollments for these new degree programs?  What purpose is the new minor curriculum providing for students across campus?  What is the impact of these new programs on faculty and staff work loads and productivity?  Alina, Chris, Hanks

10-18-2006

a)	We projected 20 students for computer engineering, and are already there.  
b)	We are investing efforts in the minor.  The BA had the problem that there were very few minors students could go to. It will change for the better with the approved Minor in Business.
c)	Include Lou Ann in the marketing process of the Minor.

10-26-2007

Larry Crum:

 We have started new degree programs.  They have low enrollment and it means we have to teach extra courses, and we don’t get additional faculty to teach, so that affects workload and productivity.

Applied Computing:  Small at this point.  Whereas it is a good addition to the Institute offerings, created to fulfill an industry/student need and provide an excellent addition to student preparation for careers, it should attract significant student interest.  However, most UWT programs presently do not encourage or easily accommodate minors.  Until there is a change in this culture, likely many students will have to take the minor as additional hours toward their degree.

Computer Engineering & Systems:  Initially the enrollments will be small.  The UWT native student lower division curriculum is neither encouraging nor supporting of students who might want to consider this degree.  Few community college programs presently prepare significant numbers of students for this degree.  It will take some time and much effort to change this culture.  High school and community college students will have to be made aware of the opportunities in this career path, and the community colleges will have to invest in lower division programs, despite the challenges to obtain faculty and the challenges of high facility costs.

The minor in Applied Computing is designed for students who want to be sophisticated users of computing technology and principles in their field, but do not seek extensive theoretical/conceptual and programming experience. The Applied Computing minor offers grounding in basic computing skills and principles, and key technologies such as database management and computer networks. It also provides the student the opportunity to integrate these skills into his/her major field.

The impact of these new programs on faculty and staff work loads and productivity is
actually considerable.  Whereas there are relatively few students committed to and ready to begin these programs immediately, significant specific additional faculty expertise is required, curricula and additional courses needed to be offered and nurtured, and specific facilities developed and maintained.  In addition, significant work needs to be done to educate and attract potential students, and provide a supportive environment for them in the lower division offering in both UWT and the 15 partnering community colleges.  Nevertheless, it is important that the Institute offers these programs.  A mission of the Institute is to provide programs that are necessary to meet the critical needs of students and industry in the South Sound and in the State.  Unfortunately, while the Institute has specific expected, yet expensive, missions recognized in the initial private/public partnership funding of the Institute, that funding is eroding, rather than keeping pace with Institute developments and successes.  In particular, the originally provisioned State funding for the Institute is being diverted to other priorities at UWT, rather than continuing to provide support for the legislated Institute mission.  There are no longer the guaranteed and needed additional monies for engineering level faculty, facilities, and supplies.  This is a serious problem as the Institute moves forward.
 
14)	What efforts have the faculty undertaken to increase participation of both undergraduate students and graduate students in research? Moshe, Ankur, George, Isabelle, Sam

10-18-2006

	See Appendix for research projects list. 
	
10-26-2007

	Plenty written on the report that was submitted.

Master’s Program

1)	What is the quality of applicants to the M.S. program? Hanks, Chris, Jim Posey

10-18-2006

Graduate school report that compares GRE, GPA, enrollment, etc.

10-26-2007

We have a mix of excellent students, but not enough.  We have 2 international students who applied directly to the program. They are here on educational visas.   Larry Crum commented that when the master’s program was created it was created to support local industry, so that people coming to the area had a place where they could do their master’s degree.  The main problem is that industry has not developed in the South Sound as expected.  Per Ankur, TOEFL is hard to pass for international students. 
 
Need to get TOEFL, and GRE scores. 

2)	What is the students’ time to degree completion? Alina, IR

10-18-2006

Already included

10-26-2007

Our students take longer to complete their degree because of the fact that most students work part-time.

3)	Has the graduate degree program met or exceeded students’ expectations? Hanks

10-18-2006

Exit survey can be found online.

10-26-2007

Students are asked to take the exit survey, but not that many students take it.  Alina got some data from students that completed the survey.  Per Ankur, it would be a good idea to include such survey in the master’s seminar.  It could be made a requirement for the thesis, or project.  It would be required during the last quarter (discuss during next faculty meeting). 

4)	The self-study notes that the MS degree program’s “distributed computing systems concept” is unique in the field (page 7).  Is this curricular structure appropriate for the MS degree program? Hanks

5)	10-18-2006
 
Ankur’s social network, Dan Zimmerman courses and research, Don McLane’s security course, etc.

10-26-2007

The distributed computing systems concept is what distinguishes us from other programs in the area. We need to identify if we have an expert in our program? We have engineering, computer science, and application people.  

Orlando asked Steve this question, and he said that what Sam and Isabelle do is distributed computing. They teach graduate courses.  A distinguishing characteristic of our program is that it is applied distributed computing.  

6)	The self-study noted the Institute faced challenges with the M.S. degree program (page 10).  What is the status of the Institute’s effort to address admission requirements and bridge courses for Track I of the M.S. program?  What is the Institute’s overall success in meeting its intent to “offer both a ‘research oriented’ educational experience and a professional/practice program”? Hanks, Wear, George

10-18-2006

Gather data on how many took thesis and how many took course option. 

10-26-2007

There’s going to be different opinions on this by the faculty. 

7)	Is the Lead Graduate Advisor effective in advising and mentoring students in the M.S. program? Hanks, Alina

10-18-2006

YES

10-26-2007

Chris is the Lead Graduate Advisor.  Steve is the Graduate Coordinator. The question is, if the system we have is effective.

	Bachelor's Degrees

1)	What is the quality of the B.A. and the B.S. in Computing and Software Systems programs?  What are the enrollments for these degree programs? Hanks, Chris, Wear

10-18-2006

a)	Enrollment is up. 
b)	Need to find out how many folks get jobs and in what is the timeframe.  
c)	Get input from an outside companies: Expeditor’s would be a good example, they have hired about six of our students. Also comments from Buzz Allen manager in Seattle 

10-26-2007

We have lots of data on enrollment in the degree.  We have a nice example showing how good we are compared to similar programs.  We have the data from 1999 on.  

2)	What is the time to degree completion for the B.A. and B.S. students? Alina, IR

10-18-2006

a)	That’s in the report, based on what Alina received from the IR.  
b)	Find out how many students are working and how that affects the time of completion 

10-26-2007

a) We don’t have many traditional students like Seattle.
            b) Applications are also up for the winter quarter. 

3)	The self-study noted a decline nationally in computer science undergraduate enrollment.  While the Institute experienced a similar enrollment decline to a lesser extent, 2006 saw a slight growth d in degree production (page 5-6).    Does the Institute anticipate a continuing increase in enrollment and in program graduates in the near future? What are the implications of these trends for the South Sound region workforce? Wear, Andrew, Hanks

10-18-2006

YES, we are doing more recruiting.  Ankur wrote 4-5 pages on the job outlook in the introduction in his proposal.  We need to have a copy to show them.

10-26-2007

N/A

4)	What initiatives has the Institute implemented to increase visibility of the Computing and Software Systems program and to articulate more clearly the nature of the program (page 11)? Alina, Andrew, Orlando

10-18-2006

Examples:  Website postings, videos, marketing campaign, blogs, and billboards.

10-26-2007

We would like to change the name from CSS to something else.  Larry Crum suggested Computer Science and Systems to math Computer Engineering and Systems. 

5)	How has the unit’s relationship with community and technical colleges affected student transfers to the undergraduate programs?  Are the student transfers occurring effectively into the Major Ready Programs?  How many credit hours are transfer students acquiring at degree completion? Chris, Elizabeth, Alina

10-18-2006

a)	Community colleges concentrate on getting students major ready.  
b)	Need to get a report with the total number of units/average per graduating student.

10-26-2007

We have very little control over how many units students take at community colleges.  When they come into the program they still have to take the units required.  There is an articulation that they can follow.  The problem is that of the six courses, only two count towards courses in our program.  They may get some as vocational credit, and general education. Problem is typical of all community colleges.

6)	How has integrating freshmen affected the undergraduate programs? Chris, Donald, Wear

10-18-2006

Not a significant impact on our undergraduate programs. The biggest impact is that we have to offer more Fluency classes.  

10-26-2007

One impact has been more students in courses in 142 and 143, and more Fluency classes will need to be offered. 

7)	What is the status of the proposals to offer new undergraduate degrees in Systems Engineering and Information Technology and Systems (page 12)?  What is the timeline for implementation of these new programs? Orlando, Wear, Sam, Ankur

10-18-2006

             ITS proposal is in process of getting approval, Systems Engineering is ready, but we need to demonstrate that there is demand for it.

10-26-2007

	N/A

8)	What is the status of the new Program Improvement Process for program graduates that the unit has implemented (page 37)? Is any data available on the initial assessment that has been conducted? Wear

10-18-2006

No.  Need to show diagram on how we’re planning to become accredited (CES).

10-26-2007

	We put in the report something about a plan for accessing outcomes.  The answer is NO.

9)	Have the orientation program, peer mentoring, and early intervention initiatives had impact on undergraduate student retention? If so, what is the magnitude of this change? Chris, Donald, Wear

10-18-2006

a) We’ve had an increase in orientation attendance. 
b) We need to develop an undergraduate survey.

10-26-2007

We have an issue with 390.  Larry Crum met with 3 students and did an early intervention; two of the three changed their classes. Donald’s research shows good effects of 390. 

10)	Does the Institute plan to have their BS in Computer Engineering and Systems program be accredited by ABET? 
Wear

10-18-2006

YES

10-26-2007

N/A

Resources

1)	Given UW budget constraints, it is unlikely that significant new resources will be available to this or any other academic unit.  Is the Institute making the best use of their current funding? Orlando, Wear, Alina

10-18-2006

YES. We hired new faculty members without getting funding from UWT.

10-26-2007

We are making the best use.  But, we are losing funding.  This is a good opportunity for the
Graduate school to say, that our program needs to get the 2 million a year, plus subsidies in order
to become the program it needs to be. 

2)	If new resources are required, how might the Institute raise these funds? Orlando, Andrew, Wear, Advisory Board (Bruce Kendall)

10-18-2006

Bruce Kendall initiative.

10-26-2007

We can go back to the community and request more funds.  But, we can’t raise funds, when we are restricted from requesting funds from them. 

3)	What is the unit’s strategic plan for its future direction?  How has it aligned itself to achieve its goal?  Has potential external funding been identified to enable the unit to pursue this plan? Orlando, Wear, Andrew, George, Hanks

10-18-2006

N/A

10-26-2007

The institution as a whole is going through the process.  In the past, we’ve done it on our own, now we’re going to do it as a whole.

4)	If limited new state resources were available, what would be the best strategic investment to meet the Institute’s current goals and to position it to be at the cutting edge of its discipline in the future? Orlando, Wear

10-18-2006

We would get a new building that could house all faculty and staff in one place.  
Currently faculty is housed in different buildings.

10-26-2007

We would invest in our new programs, space, labs, getting back some of our space that was taken over, and laboratory equipment. It hurts our productivity to be spread so far apart from each other. 

3.	New Business

4.   Announcements