Engineering Technology And Engineering At Iupui: A Harmonious And Profitable Co Existence

Currently, there are less than twenty engineering and engineering technology schools in the US in which the administrations of engineering and engineering technology programs are merged and a dean or director maintains academic and fiscal responsibility for both programs. The Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), has followed this administrative model since 1972. The school houses two engineering departments and five technology departments. The engineering departments offer undergraduate and graduate degrees and the technology departments offer both two-year and four-year degrees. This paper focuses on how a fair and harmonious balance is maintained to create a cooperative and collaborative community between both fields within the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI. The school's overall management systems are also presented. Resource allocation under the Responsibility Center Management (RCM) system, the faculty tenure and promotion processes, faculty loads, sharing resources, and other pertinent topics reveal that the administrative structure is not only effective, but also versatile. Through open channels of communication between faculty governance and department and school administration, the framework of the school has become a successful archetype of collaborative engineering and engineering technology program administration. In this paper the word “technology” will represent engineering technology and the word “PSET” will mean the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI. Introductory Remarks The Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI, reserves a unique position within the ever changing technical and engineering environment of the US. As one of a small number of schools in which engineering and technology administrations are integrated and one dean maintains the fiscal responsibility for both programs, IUPUI's School of Engineering and Technology has remained a model of joint administration for over twenty-five years. Since its inception in 1972, PSET has become not only a vital presence within IUPUI, but also an active contributor to the development of the community and the expansion of the engineering and technology education opportunities open to its residents. PSET's success is a result of the administrative structure, the enthusiasm and collegiality Page 355.1 of the faculty and staff, and the involvement of the student body, as well as the product of IUPUI's own approach to cooperative education. IUPUI was formed in 1969 when Indiana University and Purdue University merged their Indianapolis operations to form a united campus. Indiana University had established its first center in Indianapolis in 1916, and this center grew to become a regional campus in the 1960s. As a result, Indiana University at Indianapolis was later created in 1968. During World War II, Purdue University also centralized programs in Indianapolis and then established a regional campus in 1946. In 1969, the Board of Trustees of both universities specified that the fiscal and administrative responsibility for these programs be given to Indiana University, thus the IUPUI campus was established. Consequently, the combined resources of Indiana University and Purdue University have created the state's third largest and most comprehensive university, as well as opened up significant opportunities for the surrounding community. Today, IUPUI is an urban center of over 180 innovative academic programs and serves over 27,000 students. IUPUI employs over 1,500 full time faculty, 800 associate faculty per semester, 3,500 administrative and professional staff, and 3,500 full time support staff. In addition, IUPUI maintains sixteen schools offering Indiana University degrees and two schools offering Purdue University degrees. The two Purdue schools on the IUPUI campus are the School of Engineering and Technology and the School of Science. The Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI maintains a very unique status within both universities. Purdue University, West Lafayette approves new program and degrees for PSET. And while degrees granted by PSET are official Purdue University degrees, the faculty and staff of PSET are employees of Indiana University. Indiana University also approves PSET’s budget and is the granting institution for tenure and promotion. Though the system may appear complex from the outside, this uncommon position has afforded PSET many opportunities. The Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI, for example, stands as the only engineering and technology school for Indiana University. The largest drawback for PSET is the confusion by outsiders of who, what and where we are. Many outsiders believe that we are at Purdue University in West Lafayette. Even some Indiana University faculty and staff believe we are a part of PurdueWest Lafayette. And it seems only a few people outside Indiana have heard of IUPUI. While proud to be offering excellent Purdue degree programs for the IUPUI community, we struggle with communicating our uniqueness. The following sections provide a more detailed look at the structural make-up of the departments and the administration of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI, as well as an outline of activities and issues that have contributed to PSET's success. From ABET accredited programs to a strong interdisciplinary electric race car project, engineering and technology departments are equipped with the resources necessary to continue the pursuit of excellence in education on the IUPUI campus. Relationships with a not-for-profit corporation, AdvanceTek, and an international corporate institution in Malaysia have also proven invaluable, as have efforts to redefine the budgeting process by Indiana University through the Responsibility Center Management (RCM) system. At the heart of these new developments stand the PSET faculty and their students, two essential groups that are pursuing efforts to expand the collaborative community of PSET through teaching, research, and service. P ge 355.2 Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI Overview The Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI is the largest undergraduate degree-granting unit at IUPUI, serving a total of 1,881 students, with 58 full-time faculty, 75 full time equivalent associate (part-time) faculty, and 25 full-time staff members. Within PSET, five technology and two engineering departments provide students with a variety of choices, opportunities, and outlets for concentrated study. Specific fall 1997 student and faculty counts for each department are given in the following table. Students Faculty Department HC FTE Full Part-time FTE * Computer Technology 483 279 10 17.84 Construction Technology 207 133 5 8.20 Electrical Engineering 251 156 13 13.28 Electrical Engineering Technology 257 140 6 7.48 Manufacturing Technology 245 136 9 10.80 Mechanical Engineering 307 113 12 13.00 Organizational Leadership 131 69 3 5.07 and Supervision TOTAL 1,881 1,026 58 75.17 * Faculty FTE includes associate faculty FTE and full time faculty headcount. The technology departments offer certificate, AS, and BS programs and the two engineering departments offer BS and MS programs. Currently, biomedical engineering is the only Ph.D.granting program within PSET and is jointly administered by Purdue University, West Lafayette, and the Indiana University Medical School. All AS and BS technology programs in the Departments of Construction Technology, Electrical Engineering Technology, and Manufacturing Technology, excepting the Biomedical Electronics Technology AS program, are accredited by the Technology Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (TAC of ABET). The BS Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering programs within the engineering departments are accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET (EAC of ABET). Structurally, each department designates a chair who carries a twelve-month appointment with a half-time teaching responsibility. In addition to the dean, PSET administration currently consists of three full-time associate deans and one assistant dean, a full-time development director, a halftime recruitment director, a full-time placement and internship director, a half-time minority programs director, and several supporting staff. Since its inception in 1972, PSET has had three deans, all of which had a doctorate in an engineering field. The associate and assistant deans in PSET have come from both technology and engineering. Currently PSET’s administration consists of a dean, an associate dean for academic programs, an associate dean for research, an associate dean for industrial relations, an assistant dean for administration and finance, and seven departmental chairmen. Working individually and as a team, these administrators strive to create Page 355.3 a unified and collaborative school that is conducive to the unique educational needs of IUPUI students. PSET also benefits from the support of its own Computer Network Center, a computing facility that provides much needed aid to students, faculty, and staff. Under the supervision of a fulltime director, three full-time and several part-time technical staff members prepare and maintain PSET-wide information technology services. PSET has seven instructional computer laboratories that are shared by all engineering and technology departments. The largest collaborative effort by faculty and students in PSET is our electric race car project. Faculty and students from almost all disciplines within PSET combine their expertise, research, and development experience to create and maintain an electric race car. Students from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Manufacturing Technology, and Electrical Engineering Technology have u