IIT BSCPE Self Study 2008 - Illinois Institute of Technology

CRITERION 6. FACULTY
• Leadership Responsibilities
The Chair of the ECE Department has leadership responsibility for the BSCPE
program, with the assistance of the Associate Chair. The chair is responsible for
fundraising activities, interfacing with the upper administration, budget, teaching
assignments (full-time faculty, part-time faculty, teaching assistants), evaluating and
monitoring teaching performance of full-time faculty, supervising part-time faculty,
faculty hiring, involvement in promotion and tenure, salaries and raises, staff
supervision, and oversight of facilities.
The Associate Chair also has responsibilities as Director of ECE Undergraduate
Programs, including the BSCPE Program. The Associate Chair oversees the Office of
the ECE Advisor and thereby manages faculty advising of students, handles matters
pertaining to undergraduate probation and reinstatement, assists the Office of
Educational Services regarding graduation checkout and regarding transfer credit, and
assists the Office of Admission regarding any admission matters. The Associate Chair is
the program’s liaison to the university Undergraduate Studies Committee
The ECE Undergraduate Program Committee, chaired by a faculty member, oversees
all curricular matters associated with the undergraduate programs, and assists with
policies regarding undergraduate advising and matters pertaining to undergraduate
probation and reinstatement.
• Authority and Responsibility of Faculty
Proposals for new courses, for modifications to existing courses, and for the elimination
of courses originate with the faculty of the department offering the course. In the ECE
Department, the ECE Undergraduate Program Committee (or for graduate level courses,
the ECE Graduate Program Committee) reviews the course change proposal and either
approves or rejects the proposal. If the Undergraduate Program Committee approves the
course change, this fact is reported to the ECE Faculty and the course proposal is
forwarded to the ECE Chair for approval. If approved by the ECE Chair, the course
proposal is then passed to the Dean of Armour College for approval, and if approved is
then sent to the university Registrar.
To ensure consistency of the courses taught, instructors must follow the catalog
description and provide instruction leading to the achievement of the course objectives.
Feedback regarding whether this happens is obtained via student evaluations of
teaching. These student evaluations are conducted university-wide in all courses. They
include a question in which students rate to what degree “The course covered the
announced objectives.”
The monitoring of course quality is also achieved using the student evaluations of
teaching. A range of questions regarding the quality of instruction and the quality of the
course are posed to the students in the evaluation questionnaire, and the students also
have the opportunity to provide additional comments. The results of the student
evaluations are provided to the department chair, who can then take corrective or
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