APC 3-4 October 2008 Draft Meeting Summary

 

EAB ACCREDITATION POLICY COUNCIL (APC)
The Rittenhouse Hotel
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
3-4 October 2008

Draft Meeting Summary 

1.    Call to Order and Introductions – Tappert
Eric Tappert, APC Chair, called the meeting to order at 8:30pm. Eric introduced himself and then the committee members introduced themselves, ( Summary Attachment #1).

2.     Review and Adoption of Agenda – Tappert
The agenda was accepted as written.

3.    Report of the APC Chair – Tappert
Eric Tappert gave his report as APC Chair, (Agenda Attachment #2). He announced the winners of the EAB Award for Meritorious Achievement in Accreditation Activities, and he spoke about the Draft White Paper on Standards. Moshe Kam advised that the White Paper will be presented at a Standards Meeting on Tuesday and it will also be presented to the EAB during the November OU series. Eric also spoke about the Educational Activities Board policy on international travel and also the program evaluator on-line training tool. He advised that both topics would receive time on the agenda later in the meeting.

4.    EAB’s Vice President’s Report – Tzanakou
Evangelia Micheli-Tzanakou, Vice President of Educational Activities spoke about current EAB and EAD activities and programs. Topics she covered included:

  • Sections Congress
  • Pre-University Education
  • The Teacher in Service Program
  • Portals – Overview
  • Tryengineering.org
  • Accreditation.org
  • ExpertNow Production
  • IEEE Education Partners Program
  • Certification
  • IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE)

5.    EAD Update – Gorham
Douglas Gorham, Managing Director of IEEE Educational Activities, reported on new EAD Staff:

  • Charles Hickman – Director of University Programs
  • Sadiq Mitchell – Educational Program Manager of University Programs
  • Steve Welch –
  • Marsh Eileen Fitzgerald –
  • Jennifer McClain – Standards Education Program Manager
  • Jennifer Callow – Project Administrator
  • Mirelle White – Educational Activities Promotional Manager
  • Liz Kurzawa – Educational Outreach Program Manager

Doug urged the APC members to view the accreditation.org website if they have not already done so and he requested feedback. He also made a pitch for the Educational Activities Awards program.

6.    University Activities – Hickman
Chuck Hickman spoke about University Activities. He is working on the development and implementation of a strategy for IEEE for higher education. Chuck discussed his environmental scan comparing IEEE’s focus and those of others in the business of higher education. He has been researching the number of academic IEEE members, including their professional interests and employers.  Chuck advised that he and Sadiq Mitchel are working on a summer series for young professional students in emerging technologies. He also detailed the Real World Engineering Projects. These are courses aimed at freshmen students which work at retaining their interest in engineering. The RWEP website up now up and running – realworldengineering.org

Chuck also spoke about the Legacy project, which is a technical English project in Russia, and global accreditation.

7.    ABET BoD Report – King
Willis King, IEEE Representative Director on the ABET Board of Directors, reviewed his written report, (Agenda Attachment #4). He discussed the following:

  • ABET Finances
  • Dual Level Accreditation
  • IEEE motion on Governance Model Development
  • Qualification of Program Evaluators for Non-Domestic Visits
  • Team Chair Competency Model

The group spoke about ABET’s financial status in depth.

8.    CEAA Report – Tredennick
Nick Tredennick, Chair of the EAB Committee on Engineering Accreditation Activities (CEAA) reviewed the July 2008 Draft Meeting Summary and Action Register, (Agenda Attachments 4a and 4b). He spoke in detail about the recent notification from ABET that the number of IEEE Representatives to the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET will increase from seven (7) to ten (10). Staff will contact ABET to see if former commission members can be reinstated or if current commission members can have their terms extended, (Action Item #1).

9.    EAC Report – Hughes
Joe Hughes, EAC Representative to the APC, gave a report on current EAC activities, (Agenda Attachment 4c). He supplied details on the following:

  • Harmonization of criteria
  • Frequent Criteria Revisions
  • Consistency Issues
  • Observations on common issues from the discussions of programs being reviewed
  • Remembrance of Bill Sayle

The meeting adjourned for the evening at 10:10pm.

Eric called the meeting to order again on Saturday morning at 8:00am.

10.  CGAA Report – Kam
Moshe Kam, Chair of the EAB Committee on Global Accreditation Activities, (CGAA), gave a presentation on the CGAA, ( Summary Attachment #2). His presentation covered the following topics:

  • CGAA Mission and Scope
  • Activities in China
  • Activities in Peru
  • (CACET) Caribbean Accreditation Council for Engineering and Technology
  • Accreditation.org

11.  CTAA Report – Hall
Thomas Hall, Chair of the EAC Committee on Technology Accreditation Activities (CTAA), reviewed his CTAA Meeting Summary, (Agenda Attachment 6a). He spoke about the following topics:

  • Reappointment of existing TAC Commissioners
  • Assessment Tool should be on-line by the beginning of 2009
  • Review of program criteria
  • Mentoring Process
  • Registering Program Evaluators to attend PEV Training

12. TAC Update – Sammarco
John Sammarco, TAC of ABET Representative to the APC, reviewed his written report, (Agenda Attachment 6c). He spoke about the following items:

  • Decrease in the number of accredited two year programs
  • Harmonization of Criteria

13.  BMES Council of Cooperating Societies for Biomedical Engineering Update – Hudson
Donna Hudson, President of EMBS and IEEE Representative to the BMES Council of Cooperating Societies for Biomedical Engineering, reviewed her written report, (Agenda Attachment 7). Donna spoke about the history of the accreditation of biomedical engineering programs and advised that she has not been to any meetings of the BMES Council of Cooperating Societies for Biomedical Engineering. She has been told that she will be invited to the next scheduled meeting. IEEE will insist on having a large participatory role in the accreditation of biomedical engineering programs.

14. CSAB Update – Varanasi
Murali Varanasi, CSAB Representative to the ABET Board of Directors and Liaison to the APC, reviewed his report, (Agenda Attachment 8). He spoke about the following items:

  • History of CSAB
  • Computing Programs Accredited by The Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) & Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET
  • CAC Program Evaluators
  • CSAB’s role in the Training of Program Evaluators
  • Future Activities

Moshe Kam advised that he is working on a Task Force that has been charged with developing a process to accredit the University of Phoenix, (a distance learning institution). Moshe will send Murali a list of members of this Task Force and will work with CSAB on this issue, (Action Item #2). Murali advised that Patrick LaMalva, CSAB Executive Director, will be retiring in the near future and CSAB will begin searching for his replacement.

15.  Approval of February 2008 APC Meeting Summary and Action Register –   Tappert
A Motion was made and approved to accept the meeting summary (Agenda Attachment #9a) with the correction of the spelling of Litsa’s name. The items on the action register (Agenda Attachment #9b) were examined.

16.  Approval of Computer Engineering Technology Program Criteria – Hall
Tom Hall explained the editorial changes to the Computer Engineering Technology Program Criteria, (Agenda Attachment #9d). A Motion was made and approved to adopt these changes, which will go to the EAB for approval and then on to the TAC of ABET, (Action Item #3).

17.  Approval of IEEE Representatives to the Technology Accreditation  Commission (TAC) of ABET – Hall
Tom Hall presented the slate of IEEE Reps to the TAC of ABET, (Agenda Attachment #9e). All representatives are re-appointments – there were no new commission members appointed. A Motion was made and approved to accept the slate of commissioners as presented, (Action Item #4).

18.  Approval of IEEE Representatives to the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET – Tredennick
It was requested that this item be discussed in Executive Session. During Executive Session, a Motion was made and approved to accept all the IEEE Representatives to the EAC of ABET appointments and re-appointments, (Action Item #5).

The committee discussed the need for three additional IEEE Representatives to the EAC of ABET. The CEAA will vote on appointing three new commission members and the new appointments will need APC approval before they are sent to the EAB for approval during the November 2008 meeting, (Action Item #6).

19.  Support for ABET International Visits – Tappert
Eric led a discussion on the nuances of supporting ABET in non-domestic accreditation visits. He spoke about the language barriers, cultural issues, etc. The APC needs to develop a process so that we can provide program evaluators for international visits. It was decided that the APC will still support international visits to the extent that they are not in conflict with the IEEE Travel Policy.

20.  Online PEV Training – Tappert 
Eric reported the IEEE PEV Online training system is up and running. The committee discussed the program and requested that Unreal include the “pop-up” message in bold and red on the home page of the program, (Action Item #7).  It was also suggested that answers to the case studies should be directed to a “Yahoo e-mail group” for response.

Eric and Doug will work together to ascertain the costs of adding other ABET societies and running the on-line training program for them, (Action Item #8).

21.  ABET Training – Tappert
Eric reported that PAVE is complete and the training of program evaluators is now a responsibility of ABET. He and Carolyn Solimine, (IEEE EA Staff) were both appointed to the ABET Training Committee. Susan Conry is the Training Committee Chair and Susan Schall was hired as an Adjunct Training Chair. ABET intends to continue with the initial program evaluator training and the societies will be responsible for the program-specific training and mentoring.

22. Staff Process to “Capture” Volunteers who Should not be Utilized in the Future – Solimine
Carolyn Solimine discussed the need for keeping records on volunteers who should not be put into service. This came up during the February 2008 APC meeting when a volunteer was almost approved as a program evaluator before it came to the committee’s attention that someone on the committee had prior knowledge of this person. Once this knowledge was discussed, the APC determined the applicant should not be approved. Carolyn detailed a new spreadsheet on the program evaluator database that would keep track of these prospective volunteers in a way that would not be slanderous.

23.   Development of Different PEV Qualifications for “A/I or G” Volunteers – TappertEric advised that the committee has not worked on this topic yet but it is an action item for before the February APC meeting. He asked that a conference call on this topic be set up for the following week, (Action Item #9).

24.  Balance of A/I and G Volunteers – Hall
Tom Hall advised that the CTAA endorses the statement in the CTAA Charter that states the CTAA strives for a 50/50 balance of academic vs. industrial program evaluators. The group discussed this topic which came up during CEAA and CTAA meetings because it seems to some people that industrial experience might be weighed higher in a volunteer’s history than academic experience does. The committee must decide about the importance of industrial involvement. This topic will also be discussed during the conference call the following week.

It was suggested that program evaluator performance appraisals be examined to determine the difference, if any, between the performance of industrial and academic evaluators, (Action Item #10).

25.  APC Charter – Tappert
Eric reviewed the APC Charter and the positions detailed in the document as compared to the composition of the APC. He stated that the APC has been spending more time on policy development which is a foundation of their mission.

26.  Old Business – Tappert
There was no old business.

27.  New Business – Varanasi
Murali Varanasi spoke about AIS Information Systems Society – they are working on graduate accreditation for non-domestic programs. AIS has expressed an interest in working with CSAB to accredit programs without working ABET’s involvement.

28.  Remarks for the Good of the Order – Tappert
Donna Hudson addressed the group, thanking them and stating she had learned a lot. She requested a list of abbreviations, (Action Item #11).

Doug Gorham and Moshe Kam joined Eric in thanking the group for their efforts.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:55pm.

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