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 Faculty Retreat Becomes All-Hands Powwow

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Topics ranged from admission standards to signal-to-noise ratios, collaborating with UNM's world-class departments to moral imperatives and focusing on how ECE research helps solve central global problems during ECE's 2005 Faculty Retreat and Advisory Council meeting on August 18. Make that faculty, advisory council, and staff meeting. This was the first year that ECE staff were invited to the retreat.

Emeritus Prof. Peter Dorato, Prof. Greg Heileman, CHTM Associate Director Kirsty Mills and, standing, Prof. Ramiro Jordan, ISTEC's director of Strategy and Planning. [photo album]

Staying through lunch, they heard first-hand about the hot topics engaging each of the department's seven academic groups, as well as comprehensive reports from the graduate and undergraduate program directors.

Chaouki Abdallah, ECE's new chair, also provided a wide-ranging look at the department's progress during Christos Christodoulou's five-year term, and at his own plans and ideas for the coming year.

Admin. Assistant Darise Gallegos said it was interesting to see a side of the faculty that normally staff doesn't get to see. "It was nice to see what goes on. There was a lot about the courses and how they're trying to change things. I never really knew that before.

"It was nice to be included, especially if you're one of the ones working on it," she said.

"The annual retreat provides an opportunity for faculty to step back and review where the department is heading," said Prof. Edl Schamiloglu. "Feedback from the advisory council is invaluable. We are fortunate to have members of our advisory council who also serve in the same capacity in departments that are among the most highly ranked ECE departments in the nation."

Featured speakers included School of Engineering Dean Joseph Cecchi and Associate Provost and Interim Dean of Graduate Studies Amy Wohlert.

Dean Cecchi briefed the department on SOE's priorities going into the 2005-06 academic year, including the successful bond sale and plans to begin construction on the Centennial Engineering Center after the new year. (See www.soe.unm.edu/About_Us/CEC.html)

Dean Wohlert offered insights into UNM's Office of Graduate Studies and had the audience laughing with anecdotes about her first months as Interim Dean of Graduate Studies. (See www.unm.edu/~grad/)

She emphasized that OGS is there to help students and to help programs, in line with UNM policies. She asked that inquiries be sent to her (awohlert@unm.edu) or to Associate Director Mary Jane Heinrichs (mjh7403@unm.edu). And she offered to meet with any faculty members who have problems with OGS procedures or, even better, suggestions for improvement.

The retreat's pre-lunch keynote speaker was Interim Provost Reed Dasenbrock. Among his topics: the obstacles UNM faces in competing with research universities in larger states that have a variety of non-research universities to serve undergraduates. He pointed out that some students interested in research and in small faculty-to-student ratios, however, make expensive mistakes in selecting pricey universities that don't match the quality of education at UNM. (See www.unm.edu/~acadaffr/)

"It is a pleasure working in an environment where faculty openly debate contentious issues," Prof. Schamiloglu said, "but with a common goal of continuing to seek excellence in the department."

The Hyatt Regency Tamaya in Bernalillo provided a quiet setting for a fruitful daylong retreat.