A faculty panel – the Resource Allocation Sub-Council (RASC) – appointed to review the proposed elimination of the Civil Engineering department, is to issue its report of options Friday to the College 's Academic Affairs Committee (AAC), Faculty Executive Council, academic departments, and President Roger Hull.
RASC members included Prof. Byron Nichols, political science; Prof. Chris Duncan, visual arts; Prof. Tom Jewell, civil engineering; Prof. David Hayes, chemistry; and Prof. Kimmo Rosenthal, mathematics, and associate dean for undergraduate education.
The proposal to phase out Civil Engineering is an effort to reallocate resources within the division focusing on electrical, mechanical and computer systems engineering as well as computer science. RASC was formed, according to FEC Chair Prof. Tom Werner, to “Assure that the issue is addressed according to the faculty governance system. ”
The report, according to Nichols, RASC chair, “Presents a range of options to be considered as the College weighs this important decision. ” The committee did not take a position on any one option, he said. “The report offers a framework for continued discussion of the proposal. ”
Werner added that the report would be discussed at the Oct. 3 meeting of Union faculty. “A faculty vote will not be binding, but will give the administration a sense of the group, ” he said.
The Union board of trustees is to consider the proposal at its Oct.12 meeting.
“The College is committed to a strong engineering program, ” Hull said. “As one of our distinguishing characteristics, engineering at Union will remain, and will, in fact, become stronger. The important work of this committee is in concert with the Plan for Union, which enhances the College 's longstanding commitment to technology and engineering within a liberal arts environment. ”
Under the Plan for Union, the organizing theme of the engineering division is Converging Technologies. Engineering students will continue to receive degrees in mechanical, computer science, and electrical engineering, and will also be introduced to such state-of-the-art concepts as bioengineering, nanotechnology, mechatronics, and pervasive computing. The division has already developed new classes – some offered this fall – that support this theme, including “Introduction To Nanotechnology, ” “Digital Systems & Interface Electronics, ” and “Fundamentals of Wireless Electronics. ”