MEMO
Date: November 12, 2001
To: Robert Keen, President of the Univeresity Senate
From: David Nelson, Dept of Biomedical Engineering
Subject: Response to Senate Committee Reports
Response to Senate Finance Committee report
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The committee appears to have done a careful and thorough analysis of the
savings and costs associated with the proposed merger. It is clear that, even
ignoring hidden costs, there are substantial, real direct costs associated with
the proposed merger. These costs are associated with resources promised to the
combined department. Failure to fund those costs would represent a very serious
breach of an explicit commitment made by the University to a funding agency, to
"... fully support the necessary administrative costs for the Bioengineering
Center, including salaries for the Director and support and clerical staff,
beyond the grant period." (CJ Tompkins letter to P. Katona of Whitaker
Foundation, 8/9/96). Those salaries are precisely the costs that are included
as savings under the merger proposal.
Reneging on commitments to the funding agency may put the university at peril of
legal action. At the very least, it will decrease the likelihood of success on
future funding applications to The Whitaker Foundation and other funding
agencies (private and governmental).
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Some of the added costs associated with the merger are attributable to the two
additional GTA positions promised the Chemical Engineering Department by the
Dean of Engineering. There seems to be some sentiment that these costs are not
real, as they may represent re-assigning existing GTA positions. The costs of
the GTA positions are every bit as real as faculty line costs. If there are
"extra" GTA positions in a given department, those positions can be eliminated
from the university's general fund budget to help meet the cost reduction
targets.
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Among the hidden costs, potential enrollment losses are identified. These
losses are liable to be significant. While applications for admission to the
Biomedical Engineering program are currently running 15% ahead of last year, I
have begun receiving e-mail inquiries from applicants who have heard of the
budget cuts and merger during campus visits. There is great apprehension over
the future of the program among students and potential students.
This potential enrollment loss is particularly troubling given the Biomedical
Engineering program's record for enhancing the diversity of the engineering
student body. Biomedical Engineering is unique among engineering programs in
that a majority of the BSBE students are women. According to Mark Bowman of the
Whitaker Foundation, Michigan Tech's proportion of women biomedical
engineering students (62%) is the highest in the U.S. Downgrading this
program, with the loss of identity, visibility, and departmental support, raises
serious questions about the university's - and the college's - commitment to
inclusiveness in its academic programs.
It is particularly noteworthy that the students attracted to this program are
among the most qualified academically of all applicants to the university. This
is illustrated by the fact that, of the 24 semi-finalists for the 2002 MTU
Scholar Awards, five of them are planning to study biomedical
engineering. Four of those semifinalists are women.
Response to Senate Administrative Policy Committee report
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The findings of the committee are essentially correct. With regard to ABET
accreditation (item #2), it should be noted that a re-organization will likely
result in delaying the initial ABET accreditation by two years. The Biomedical
Engineering faculty are preparing for an anticipated ABET accreditation visit in
Fall, 2002. In the event of a merger, it would be unwise to have a merger
during the first months of operation of a merged department, even assuming
sufficient administrative time is available to commit to preparing for the
accreditation visit. As the Dean of Engineering has stated that, if the ABET
visit does not occur, the college would not support an accreditation visit until
the next general review for other COE programs, which is to occur in 2004.