News

For engineering, report could mean consolidation

Posted on April 05, 2010, at 2:06 a.m.

The provost at the University of Maine asked all the deans the same question: How would you adapt your college to a 20 percent funding cut? For the College of Engineering, that would mean fewer majors offered and faculty. For the students, it means a cause for concern.

The Academic Program Prioritization Working Group’s interim report, released March 24, proposes the elimination of three undergraduate and three master’s degrees from the College of Engineering. The report suggests combining electrical and computer engineering into one degree; doing the same for biological and chemical engineering; and eliminating the mechanical engineering technology degree. The recommendations would also result in 13 fewer full-time faculty positions. All changes would be in place by fiscal year 2014.

The dean and several faculty members and students are concerned about the damage these cuts would do to UMaine engineering if adopted.

“I do think they need to get a little tighter with their budget,” said Craig Verrill, a third-year electrical engineering student. “[But] I don’t think the cuts need to come from academics.”

Dana Humphrey, the dean of the engineering college, said he is concerned about the proposal.

“[The changes are] going to reduce our ability to graduate engineers that Maine’s economy desperately needs,” Humphrey said. “It’s also going to affect our research efforts.”

On average, each engineering faculty member generates more than $400,000 worth of externally-funded research per year, according to Humphrey.

None of these proposals are the final word on cuts in the engineering college. The details of the new electrical-computer engineering and biological-chemical engineering degrees are yet to be decided, and no one knows what they would even be renamed. Humphrey said the elimination of the mechanical engineering technology degree isn’t the final word in the proposal. The engineering technology department offers three other degrees: construction management technology, electrical engineering technology and surveying engineering technology, all of which may receive cuts by the time the restructuring process is over.

“It’s still open for discussion how we will organize ourselves with the number of faculty that will be left,” Humphrey said.

John Hwalek, a chemical engineering professor with the college, said he hasn’t heard any comments from students, but will likely try to talk with Humphrey if the final proposal affects his department.

“UMaine is known for being an engineering school,” said Chris Wacker, a third-year electrical engineering student. “So now all of a sudden we’re cutting our program after it’s become so nationally known?”

Neither Wacker nor Verrill were able to attend last week’s open forum on the APPWG proposal, but both said they would attend another if one were scheduled. Wacker said he glanced at the proposal but didn’t learn much about what it would do to electrical engineering.

“They’re cutting all these academic programs, but what do we have outside? A brand new plaza — we have two of these brand new plazas in the last two years and what do they do? Absolutely nothing,” Verrill said. “We have to sacrifice all of these academic programs just for making the school look good.”

Humphrey described the college of engineering as “medium” in terms of its size, and doesn’t believe the percent of the cut should have a bearing on the size of the college.

The college currently has 1,478 undergraduate students and 166 graduate students enrolled. About 150 engineering students and approximately 70-90 engineering technology students graduate from UMaine every year. Humphrey said demand for those engineering graduates is high in Maine and across the country. Two-thirds of the Maine-born students in the college of engineering get their first job in Maine, Humphrey said.

“What should be important is where the university needs to be,” Humphrey said. He said that means having a strong engineering college at UMaine that yields new research ideas and graduates who are ready to work in important Maine industries.

Humphrey stressed engineers’ role in moving Maine’s economy forward, and said, as an example, 70 percent of Maine’s exports rely on engineers. Engineering consulting firms in Maine create 75 percent of their solutions for out-of-state companies, Humphrey said, who added a 20 percent cut in the college would likely have a long-term negative effect on UMaine’s ability to produce engineers for Maine businesses.

“What I’m articulating as clearly as I can is the value of the college of engineering in the state of Maine,” Humphrey said. “In regards to the 20 percent cut, that’d be very significant for the college of engineering.”

Students enrolled in any program ultimately eliminated would be given the chance to finish his or her degree program. The proposed cuts would save the university more than $12 million between 2011 and 2014, according to a university statement.

APPWG’s deadline for its final proposal is April 8. Provost Susan Hunter will review the proposal before sending it on to President Robert Kennedy. The University of Maine System board of trustees must approve the elimination of any academic program.

Campus Currents: APPWG