Draft of April 12th, 2002 MITAB Minutes
Tennessee Technological University
Manufacturing and Industrial Technology Advisory Board
April 12, 2002
Minutes of the Meeting
The fortieth meeting of the MITAB was held April 12,
2002 in the executive Dining Room of the University Center.
PRESENT: President
Bell, Dr. Marvin Barker, Dean Johnson (Ex-offcio), Jim Cobb, David Collier,
James Hearne, Robert Henley, Chris Hetzler, Marc Lewis, Dr. Roy Loutzenheiser,
Robert Martin, Lem McSpadden, Andy Page, Michael Rayburn, Doug Rines and James
Whatley – Dr. Subramanyam Deivanayagam, Dr. Ahmed ElSawy, Dr. Ismail Fidan,
Dr. Delbert Stone, Dr. Fred Vondra, Barry Allison, and Pauline Ward (Please list
in Alphabetic order..Thanks) Did we miss anybody?
ABSENT: Gene
Brooks, Greg Brummitt, Gerald Hale, Walter Marcum, Winston Massengale, Eric
Meredith, Ratan Ray and Jason Smith
Opening Comments
The Chair of the MITAB Board, Mr. Chris Hetzler,
opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and expressing his appreciation to all
the board members and guests for taking the time to attend.
Mr. Hetzler turned the meeting over to Dr. ElSawy.
He welcomed everyone to the meeting and expressed his appreciation for
attendance. Dr. ElSawy turned the
meeting over to Dr. Bell.
Dr. Bell explained the first focus is on the
innovations and changes that have been brought to Tech.
Dr. Bell says that it will be a challenge for Tech to change as well as
the state. Enrollment at Tech is at
the highest. The projections for
next year are even higher. Tech has
become one of the top ten schools in the south.
The enrollment is up due to the aggressive recruiting work of the Tech
staff. Dr. Bell explained the State
proposed Downsizing Our Government Services (DOGS) budget. What this does to TTU
is that 9.6 percent across the board cut. 3.7 million dollars from each unit
will have some impact on. An additional 3.8 million dollars targeted
specifically at the College of Engineering.
All Centers of Excellence will lose state funding.
The DOGS budget has potential in becoming devastating to TTU and the
College of Engineering. Along with
the first cut this can become even more devastating.
The first cut eliminates 55 positions and 18% of state colleges will get
hit the hardest with this new DOGS budget.
Dr. Barker said that he has been at Tech for 12 years
and have always fought for the budget. He
said there would be more and more courses taught online.
Dr. Barker said that the faculty suggested teaching non-credit courses
online. Handouts were distributed
concerning ehorizon. These courses pay more and serve more of the students.
MIT Vision and New Degree Programs
Dr. ElSawy mentioned that the non-traditional
students prefer the online courses. The
department is already teaching some courses online. The department is working to increase the number of courses
online. These courses will increase
the enrollment and also reach more students.
A PLC Seminar workshop will be offered this spring.
Dr. ElSawy said that the department is trying to reduce the degree from
134 to 120 hours and take the 34 hours to enable students to receive a Masters
degree. The MS in Advanced
Manufacturing Technologies is still in the planning stages.
The department is currently at 128 hours.
MIT 4010 and ECON 2020 were changed from required courses into elective
courses.
Dr. Stone thanked everyone for purchasing the
T-shirts supporting the moon buggy club. Dr. Stone invited Channel 4 news to
publicize the moon buggy competition. The competition starts at 10:00 a.m.
tomorrow in Huntsville, Alabama. The
pits are open to visitors. The course is approximately ½ mile long.
Schools are allowed to have two entries.
Certification Programs
Dr. Stone mentioned that he will be attending the AWS
Welding Certification training to get certified as AWS certification instructor.
Also, the department will pursue AWS accreditation on the welding
facility to be used to teach AWS certification courses.
Dr. Stone is planning to conduct certification seminar courses in various
welding techniques and inspection in the near future. This will serve the state
needs for AWS certification and bring in funds for the department.
NAIT Certification is given every semester and our
students rank higher than national average. Dr. Fidan has been in charge of the
SME student chapter at TTU for the past 1½ years. Dr. Fidan encouraged everyone
to look at the SME web site. The
test for SME certification for technologist costs $95 for each student which is
not affordable for most of our students. He
is trying to obtain funds to assist the student’s with the certification
costs.
Introduction of New MITAB Members
Mr. Chris Hetzler told the board that Gene Brooks was
not able to attend the meeting. Mr.
Hetzler introduced Mr. Michael Rayburn who is replacing Mr. Chuck White. Mr.
Rayburn has worked for General Motors for 27 years.
He is currently Manufacturing Engineering and Maintenance Manager since
1997 for Saturn Corporation. Mr.
Hetzler introduced Mr. James Max Whatley to the advisory board.
Mr. Whatley has been retired for two years.
He worked for Lockheed Martin for 31 years and he was a staff engineer
before retiring. James graduated
from Tennessee Technological University in 1967 with a BS in Industrial
Technology.
MITAB Scholarship Recipient
Mr. Hetzler mentioned to the advisory board that the
Spring 2001 MIT Scholarship recipient, Eric Schuler, was not able to attend the
meeting. Eric asked Mr. Hetzler to
express his appreciation and gratitude to the advisory board.
Approval of Minutes
The Board reviewed the Fall 2001 minutes and a motion
was made to approve the minutes as presented. Motion passed.
Mr. Hetzler proposed that the members that have not attended a meeting in
two years and have not had any correspondence with the department would be
removed from the advisory board. The
bylaws will be amended and sent to the members prior to the meeting.
The board will vote on the updated bylaws.
2 + 2 Programs with Community Colleges
Dr. ElSawy told the board that he has been working
with community colleges to implement the 2 + 2 program.
The department only has 3½ faculty, 1 secretary and 1 technician.
He is asking that everyone look over the handouts and give him their
input on the 2 + 2 degrees. A
student could take classes at the community college, classes web based and the
last few classes at Tech. With the
increase in fees at universities, the 2 + 2 programs with community colleges are
more appealing to students.
MIT Enrollment and Recruitment/Retention
Efforts
Dr. Loutzenheiser distributed an enrollment chart.
The chart shows that the MIT student enrollment is increasing slightly
since 1997. Dr. Loutzenheiser said that 70% to 80% of transfer students
graduate while 50% of students starting as freshmen graduate.
The Admissions office goes out to different schools distributing
literature about Tech. The
university has more people applying for admission than in the past.
Advisement is being improved to help the students with their schedules.
The university is trying to develop more help study sessions for the
students. Getting the students
through the first year is the most difficult. The downside is fees are going up;
lab fees are going to be charged and additional fees to engineering students.
If the students bring their parents with them to tour the campus the
university has a better chance of retaining the student.
Fund Raiser for Labs and Scholarship Committee
Report
Mr. Lem McSpadden, chair of the Fund Raising
Committee, reported to the advisory board that he and three other members have
been working on a letter to send out to the alums. There are 1600+ alums but some are showing up under
Industrial Arts and they are in the process of getting that list of name from
Ms. Tolbert’s office. The cards
that will be sent out can be printed. The cards will need to specify donation to
the MIT department. The letter will
also have the name change included and a list of advisory board members along
with the department’s web site. The
letter will be held to one page showing the department logo. The committee is going to try to solicit $10 from each alum
for each year they have been out of college.
The donors are being asked to support scholarships and endowments.
The committee is trying to find a way to pay for postage and printing
charges. This is a start in the
right direction. The committee will
continue working on the letter.
Schedule Fall Meeting
The fall meeting is scheduled for October 4,
2002. Meeting adjourned at 4:08
Reporter
________________________
Pauline Ward