Trustees: Approve Merger, Degrees in Engineering

TRUSTEES APPROVE MERGER, NEW DEGREES IN ENGINEERING

     COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees 
on Thursday (2/29) modified two degree programs in the 
College of Engineering and merged two departments in the 
college.  They also heard a report on instructional 
computing.

     Pending approval by the Ohio Board of Regents, Ohio 
State will offer the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science 
and Engineering degree, a modification of the current 
Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science.

     In addition, the university will offer a Bachelor of 
Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering degree with 
two options, electrical engineering and computer 
engineering.  The degree is a modification of the current 
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree.

     The changes will permit establishment of computer 
engineering programs that meet the criteria for 
certification by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and 
Technology.  A committee of representatives from the 
departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer and 
Information Science recommended that the changes be made.  
The degree programs were approved by the Council on Academic 
Affairs and University Senate.

     In addition, trustees merged the Department of Civil 
Engineering and Engineering Graphics with the Department of 
Geodetic Science and Surveying to enhance their close 
disciplinary relationships in teaching and research.  The 
new name will be Department of Civil and Environmental 
Engineering and Geodetic Science.

     The merger is a culmination of restructuring the past 
two years that resulted in combining the departments of 
Civil Engineering and Engineering Graphics and moving the 
Department of Geodetic Science and Surveying from the 
College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences to the College 
of Engineering.

     The mission of the new department is to provide 
undergraduate and graduate education, based on active 
research; serve as a focal point for programs in civil 
engineering, environmental engineering, and geodetic science 
and surveying; and provide innovative instruction in 
engineering graphics and fundamentals for all engineering 
students and students in allied creative disciplines.

Tuition increase helps support undergraduate computing

     Thousands of Ohio State University undergraduates have 
benefited from $1.1 million in upgrades to computing 
programs, which were paid in large part from a 1 percent, 
$800,000, increase in undergraduate tuition last year.

     Improvements include up-to-date hardware and software 
for instructors to use in classes taught in computing labs.  
This fall, 3,313 courses were scheduled in the labs, an 
increase of 558 from autumn 1994.

     The labs are open to all students during hours when 
classes are not being held.

     "Last spring, we pledged to enhance instructional 
support for computing, using $800,000 from a 1 percent 
increase in undergraduate tuition," said Edward J. Ray, 
senior vice provost and chief information officer at Ohio 
State.  The university also used funds from the Office of 
Academic Affairs, raising the total allocation to $1.1 
million since July.

     More than $500,000 was awarded in grants to fund 
proposals to enrich undergraduates' experience with 
computing and technology.

     "Furthermore, $443,000 will be carried over to fiscal 
year 1997 to support awards that will promote learning 
technologies," Ray told trustees Thursday.

     Ohio State also has been able to:

     -- Create or upgrade multimedia classrooms, which allow 
professors to use videos, slide shows and other tools to 
teach.

     -- Reduce computing fees for engineering and business 
majors by $5 per student per quarter.

     -- Improve the technology infrastructure.  For example, 
the number of modems was almost tripled to 672 to increase 
access to the campus network and the Internet.

     -- Upgrade computing sites used for instruction in 
English, mathematics and the arts, and for College of Food, 
Agriculture and Environmental Sciences classes; and adding a 
site in Drake Union for theater courses.

     -- Improve five specialized computer laboratories by 
providing: statistical analysis software for the Department 
of Statistics, instructional tools for the Department of 
Mathematics, interactive technology for Department of 
Physics, multimedia stations for the Department of 
Communication, and a new database and multimedia lab 
hardware for the College of Pharmacy.

     --  Install modeling software so anatomy students can 
visualize the human body.

     -- Use the World Wide Web to provide 6,000 students 
each year with Department of Economics syllabi, assignments 
and reference materials.

     The improvements and grants are consistent with Ohio 
State's Plan for Academic Computing and with a new program 
called "Best Practices."  Best Practices is a seven-step 
process "to remove barriers to the rapid adoption and 
diffusion of innovative instructional practices throughout 
the university."

                             #

Contact:  Edward J. Ray, Office of Academic Affairs, (614) 
292-5881, or Tom Spring, University Communications, (614) 
292-8309.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Thu, 29 Feb 1996 16:51:00 -0500]
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