B.7 Institutional Support and Financial Resources (Criterion 7)

One hundred percent of all funds to cover faculty and staff salaries are derived from the state. The funds are allocated to the department through the University and College budget process. Salary for each faculty and staff position is automatically covered each year as long as the individual remains in the department. When a member of the faculty and staff vacates his or her appointment due to resignation or retirement, the position reverts to the college for possible reallocation during the budget negotiation process for the following academic year.

Each year during the month of February, the College holds a budget conference. All department chairs, representatives of the various operational units within the college, the Dean, the Associate Deans, and the Dean’s support staff, attend the conference. At the conference, each department and operational unit is given the opportunity to present its budget priorities (e.g., new faculty and staff positions, lab equipment, faculty development, TA support, operating funds, etc.) for the upcoming academic year, its major accomplishments in the past year toward the college mission and goals, and how the budget requested will support the department and college performance objectives and mission. A second budget conference is called a few weeks latter with a summary of the budget requests from the academic departments and operating units. The summary also presents funds generated from all departments and operating units due to resignations, retirements, and appointment terminations. The sum of the generated funds is now considered as what is available to the college in the upcoming academic year for possible reallocation to meet the budget requests. In all cases, the total amount of funds requested significantly exceeds the available fund. Thereafter, each department Chair is asked to vote for two academic departments, excluding his own department, that the Chair considers are most deserving to have their budget requests satisfied. The College Administration uses the budget request information provided and its own goals, strategies, and priorities to prepare and communicate the college budget request to the Office of the Provost. For example, the college may either request a temporary or permanent budget increase for laboratory equipment or support for a promising and emerging new research area. The budget input from the Colleges and other university level administrative units are then used to build up the University budget priorities, which is then presented to the State of Iowa as the request from Iowa State University. The budget request process uses a bottom-up approach as requests are bubbled up from the departments through the colleges and administrative units to the university level.

When the approved budget for the College is known, the Office of the Dean makes all final decisions on how the available funds (old and new) are reallocated to the departments and operating units in the college. Final budget approval showing changes in the department budget status are communicated to the departments latter in the academic year, usually in June. Although the department has lost one faculty position in the past four years, in general, the level has remained relatively stable. We feel the lost positions are attributed to the department’s declining undergraduate enrollment for several consecutive years. During the 1999/2000 academic year, the department experienced a reversal in the enrollment trend. The enrollment is beginning to show an increasing trend. While there was a declining enrollment for several years in the IE program, in other programs such as Computer Engineering and Chemical Engineering, they are experiencing record growth. Naturally, there is the pressure at the College to reallocate available faculty positions to meet the needs of growing programs. The department enrollment now seems to be stabilizing around 200 students. The department also suffers from the fact that it is noncompetitive in external research funding generated when compared to all the remaining seven departments in the college. In 1999/2000, IMSE suffered some losses in its budget. The projection for the 2000/2001 academic year is that the cut will be even larger than last year. If this turns out to be true, the IMSE Department could face budget difficulty in meeting its operating needs.

While a loss in faculty position has been experienced, there have also been some gains as well. Since the last ABET visit in 1995, the department has added a full time Undergraduate Advisor, a Machinist, and an Administrative Specialist. The two new positions of the Undergraduate Advisor and Machinist have greatly enhanced the quality of services provided to our undergraduates in the area of academic advising, mentoring, and laboratory supervision. The Administrative Specialist monitors all faculty research expenditures and supports the department in all financial and proposal budget preparation and management matters.

The department’s approved budget from the college and state covers faculty and staff salaries, operating budget, and TA positions. Table A5a in Appendix I presents supporting budgetary documentation. The portion of the budget on salaries also include monies for existing and newly approved unfilled positions as well as funds for faculty members on leave and on sabbatical. The college employs block budgeting in its budget process. This implies the College reallocates all available funds to the departments and operating units when the budget process is finalized. No unallocated fund is left by the dean’s office at the end of the budget process to meet any new requests from the departments during the academic year. Once the budget process is over, a department is totally on its own to meet any financial demands placed on it during the year, including the provision of start up funds for new faculty members. The block budgeting process also gives total control to the departments in the management of their budgets. The departments are free to move money from one budget category to another without any further consultation with the Office of the Dean. The flexibility brought about by block budgeting has made it possible for the department to reallocate its funds to meet some unforeseen critical needs that arose during the year. Examples of such needs are start up funds for new faculty and funds for the move from Engineering Annex to Black Engineering.

Each student in the College of Engineering is assessed a computer fee of $169.00 per semester. This money is exclusively earmarked for the purchases of computers and software, computer laboratory supplies, and salaries for student lab monitors. The use of the fund is also restricted to laboratory activities that support instructional programs. The money is not available for equipment purchases for the faculty and research laboratories. Table A5b in Appendix I summarizes the amount of money derived from the fees by the College in the past five years. The table also shows IMSE Department’s allocation for each of the five years. As can be seen, the department receives more than $54,000 annually for each of the past five academic years. When academic discounts are applied to computer purchases, the purchasing power of the fund goes even higher. The fee is distributed to the departments in two ways. A share of the fund collected is distributed proportionally to the departments according to formula. All departments benefit every year from this portion of the money. A second portion of the fund is distributed on a competitive basis by having faculty members in the departments submit proposals for targeted laboratory development and improvement efforts. Only one proposal per department is allowed. In each of the two categories, IMSE Department has received a fair allocation from this fund.

During the 1997/98 academic year, the College of Engineering requested and obtained a one million dollar permanent addition to its budget to re-engineer engineering education (REEE). Annually, this money is distributed to the academic departments and service units within the college in support of undergraduate engineering education, including laboratory equipment purchases, co-operative education, international exchange program, students advising, mentoring, learning communities, and students recruiting. In fiscal year 1997/98, the department received $50,000 from this money for laboratory equipment purchases. For fiscal 1998/99, $25,000 was also received. For the 1999/2000, the allocation dropped to $5,000. Part of the 1999/2000 money was used to support the department’s undergraduate recruiting effort and the learning communities program for freshmen. Because the fund is a permanent addition to the college budget, the department expects to continue to benefit from this stream of money in future years.

The staff support in the department is excellent. In addition to the Machinist and the Administrative Specialist mentioned above, the department also has 3.5 FTE office staff and a Systems Support Specialist, The office staff maintains students records, coordinates department events, and provides referrals to students. The Systems Support Specialist installs and maintains all programmable devices and provides computer and software support throughout the department. The machinist supports laboratory instructions and experiments involving manufacturing processes, as well as research endeavors.

The department also has access to other funds to supplements its yearly operating budget allocation. These sources include the department’s gift account, salary savings from faculty research, and workshops. Additional funds have been derived from salary savings from sabbaticals, leave of absences without pay, and retirements. Funds from these additional sources are often used for new laboratory equipment purchases, faculty development, and students’ support. The department has also benefited from donations from industry through in-kind support and cash contributions. Incentive accounts are provided to faculty to support professional development. These are 15% of the indirect costs charged to a contract. These funds take some of the burden off departmental resources.

Through careful planning, the department has been able to acquire and achieve a resource level that is adequate for its size. Challenges exist in the future to maintain and update the facilities that we have acquired. About four faculty members in the department are approaching retirement age. How long these faculty members will continue in the department is unknown. However, should they choose to retire in the near future, their replacement will pose some challenges in generating the required start up funds for new faculty hires. The move from Engineering Annex to Black this year was costly and has depleted the department’s savings. The lack of any saving now has, undoubtedly, eroded our safety net.