College of Engineering, Mathematics, and Science

Advisory Board Meeting

Friday, October 8, 2010

Minutes

Welcome – Dave Allison welcomed everyone to the meeting.  He announced Julie Wehler as the incoming chair.  Dave said there are quite a few changes within the College and also the University this fall which should make for an interesting year.  Introductions by everyone followed.

Joanne gave a brief introduction for Chancellor Shields.  The Chancellor spoke highly of UW-Platteville students.  This University is in charge of its own destiny and we need to be in control of our destiny.  The University is currently working on its Master Plan.  The College of EMS will be working on ABET accreditation in the near future.  The Chancellor asked everyone to look forward and decide where we want to be in the future as we move forward.  He will be on the road in the next five to six years raising money from different sources.  One of the goals is to get money endowed to support different needs.  Monies are needed to build new academic buildings, and we need to find different ways to do this.  He thanked everyone for being a part of this College and institution.  In closing he said to remember:  “Every day is a great day to be a pioneer”.   

Membership – Nominating Committee

Joe Coenen said the committee has spent time getting a chair and vice chair in position for next year.  We are waiting to see what direction the College is taking.  As a nominating committee, we are thinking of waiting and maybe in a year looking at the membership matrix.  Currently there is a need for more women to be a part of this Board.  If you have suggestions, contact Joe or Kevin Hagen and they will look at those suggestions.  People do not need to be a graduate from UW-Platteville.  Joe indicated that we need a balance between UW-Platteville graduates and others to be on this Board. 

College Update – Joanne Wilson

Joanne gave a brief introduction of herself, the College, the strategic plan for the College, and ABET Accreditation.  She indicated the next step is to get faculty and staff involved.  

- Enrollments – TSI began fall 2005 with 5,641 students and there are currently 7,212

- EMS – currently there are 2,480 students

- There has been an increase in the number of transfer students; 390 this year which is a 25% increase since 2004/05.  Our goal is to recruit and maintain students. 

- Need to increase the number of women and the diversity of our students within our College.

- The economy is beginning to look better for students finding permanent positions.

- ABET Planning has begun, and the review will take place in 2012.

Update on Search for EMS Dean - The Committee is meeting weekly.  The ad has been tweaked and the position has been re-advertised.  Everyone that had applied previously has been contacted.  The deadline has been set for January 2011.  The College was charged to get people of diversity to apply.  We are hoping to have someone on board early next year.  Joanne has asked this group to contact people they know to apply, or contact one of the search and screen committee members with names and information. 

Collaborative Engineering Programs – Mesut Muslu, Coordinator, gave a brief update.  The Collaborative Engineering Programs are between UW-Platteville and UW Colleges, and are to provide students with engineering degrees.  We currently have three existing programs.  The oldest one is at UW-Fox Valley with 180 students enrolled.  They have had over 40 graduates in mechanical and electrical engineering.  UW-Rock County, started in 2006, has mechanical and electrical students with 80-85 students currently taking classes.  The third program, which began in 2009, is state-wide using streaming video and is available to students anywhere within the state.  Streaming is limited to only students enrolled in programs through UW-Platteville. We currently have about 40-60 students taking electrical and mechanical engineering courses, we’re hoping to get civil and industrial engineering courses streamed.  We currently have a proposal to get Sheboygan and West Bend on board; need state level approval.    

Master of Science in Engineering Program – Lisa Riedle gave a brief update on the.  There are currently 170 students taking classes this semester.  This is our eleventh year and we are starting to expand in course offerings.  The program is moving quite well.

Strategic Planning Discussion – Lisa Riedle needed assistance from this group.  2005 was the last time the Strategic Plan was done.  She asked “What does the College look like from the outside”.  Lisa asked everyone to break up in small groups to discuss the strengths and improvement targets; what we can use for our key competencies; word(s) to describe.  She said she would compile everyone’s responses and bring these back to the spring 2011 meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 11:30 a.m. and the group left on a bus to have lunch at the Potosi Brewery located in Potosi, WI.  The bus returned to Platteville at 3:00 p.m.