Inside Iowa State

Sept. 22, 2006

Engineering student, faculty teams help evaluate proposals

by Anne Krapfl

The College of Engineering will hire faculty, create teaching assistantships, renovate space and purchase new lab equipment with the supplemental tuition it receives this year, the first of four proposed years.

In an effort to spread out the money and ensure that all students reap some benefits before they graduate, dean Mark J. Kushner said the additional revenue this year was awarded for immediate needs and in proportion to undergraduate student counts in each of the eight departments. Separate student and faculty committees reviewed department proposals for funding last spring and shared their recommendations with Kushner, who made the final decision.

Last December, the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, approved for the first time ever supplemental tuition at the regents universities. Juniors and seniors in the College of Engineering are paying an additional $500 in tuition this academic year beyond what other ISU undergraduates are paying. Iowa State successfully argued to the board that the facilities and technology required in the engineering fields make it more expensive to educate students.

The estimated additional revenue for the college this year is $1.092 million, of which 15 percent, or $164,000, must be set aside for student financial aid as required by regent policy. Another 5 percent ($46,400) went to the provost's office to be used for university programs that benefit the college, leaving just over $880,000 for college use.

Plans for this year

Kushner said he is holding $200,000 to be spent on college-level activities and priorities. Later this fall, he said he'd make decisions on how to spend those funds. The remaining $678,000 was awarded in June to proposals by department:

• Agricultural and biosystems engineering: $25,000 to upgrade the instrumentation computers used for three undergraduate courses.
• Materials science and engineering: $35,000 for teaching assistantships.
• Industrial, manufacturing and systems engineering: $37,155 to add sections to a 300-level course and staff a learning support center.
• Chemical and biological engineering: $60,000 to add teaching assistantships for core courses.
• Aerospace engineering: $70,000 to create an academic adviser position and improve engineering mechanics courses (administered by the department and used by all departments).
• Civil and construction engineering: $131,000 for part of a new faculty salary, to renovate a classroom and several laboratories, and improve student study space in Town Engineering.
• Electrical and computer engineering: $160,000 to purchase new equipment for the circuits lab and to retool the department's senior design project to make the experience more interdisciplinary and holistic.
• Mechanical engineering: $160,000 to hire more lecturers to teach high-enrollment courses.

  "What our departments have been asking for money for in the last year or so is what showed up in the proposals," Kushner said. "I commend them for their consistency in identifying their highest priorities."

Looking ahead

Kushner said that in future years, 75 percent of the college's supplemental tuition net revenue would be used to create faculty positions, with the remaining 25 percent designated for physical improvements such as equipment purchases and lab upgrades.

"Our truly largest need as a college is to reduce undergraduate student-faculty ratios," he said, noting that the Engineering college currently has a 23:1 student-tenure track faculty ratio. In contrast, the average of ISU's peer engineering colleges is a 17:1 ratio. He said it would take 70 new faculty positions to bring the college's student-faculty ratio down to 17:1.

The supplemental tuition is a permanent addition to the tuition of upper division engineering students. This is the first of four years Iowa State's and Iowa's engineering colleges will request regents' permission to assess incrementally higher tuition, but the request must be made each year. This year's request likely will be made at the November board meeting in Ames.

Engineering Dean Mark J. Kushner said he is holding $200,000 to be spent on college-level activities and priorities. Later this fall, he said he'd make decisions on how to spend those funds. The remaining $678,000 was awarded in June to departments for immediate needs and in proportion to undergraduate student counts in each.