A meeting of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees convened at 8:42 a.m. on Friday, April 12, 2019, at Purdue Polytechnic Anderson, 1920 Purdue Parkway, in Anderson, Indiana.
All committee members were present: JoAnn Brouillette, chair; Vanessa Castagna; Malcolm DeKryger; Daniel Romary; and Professor Natalie Carroll (ex-officio). All other trustees were also present: Sonny Beck; Michael Berghoff; Michael Klipsch; Gary Lehman; Thomas Spurgeon; and Don Thompson.
Officers and administrators in attendance were: Mitch Daniels, president; Frank Dooley, senior vice provost for teaching and learning; Bill Sullivan, treasurer and chief financial officer; Jim Almond, senior vice president, assistant treasurer, and assistant secretary; Steve Schultz, general counsel; Janice Indrutz, corporate secretary and senior executive assistant to the Board; Ron Elsenbaumer, chancellor of Purdue University Fort Wayne; and Tom Keon; chancellor of Purdue University Northwest.
I. OPENING REMARKS
Trustee Brouillette announced that it was Professor Carroll’s last meeting with the Committee as chair of the University Senate, and she acknowledged Dr. Frank Dooley, who represented Provost Akridge in his absence.
II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to approve the minutes of its last meeting on February 8, 2019.
III. APPROVAL TO APPOINT THE JACK AND KAY HOCKEMA PROFESSOR IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
Dr. Dooley respectfully requested approval to appoint Dr. Robert J. Connor as the Jack and Kay Hockema Professor in Civil Engineering. He informed the Committee that Dr. Connor had earned an international reputation for his scholarship in structural engineering with a focus on design, research, and testing of bridges and related structures, fatigue and fracture of steel structures, and bridge inspection and inspection reliability. He said Dr. Connor’s research had resulted in transformative impacts on how steel highway and railroad bridges were designed, and the best way to describe the magnitude of these impacts was “all steel bridges and lightning towers over 50 feet tall were influenced by his work.” Dr. Dooley pointed out that Dr. Connor was regularly called on to investigate bridge failures nationwide, including the tragic failure of the I-35 West bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2007, which killed 13 people and injured 145.
Dr. Dooley elaborated that Dr. Connor had created a 22-acre research and education site near the Purdue airport, which was the home of the Center for Aging Infrastructure and the Steel Bridge Research, Inspection, Training, and Engineering Center, both for which he served as director. Dr. Dooley concluded his recommendation by citing one of seven letters received in support of Dr. Connor’s appointment.
Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval of Dr. Connor’s appointment. Supporting documents and a photo were filed with the minutes.
Dr. Connor expressed his appreciation for the appointment and all the wonderful opportunities Purdue had afforded him.
IV. APPROVAL TO APPOINT THE GEORGE W. McNELLY PROFESSOR OF TECHNOLOGY
Dr. Dooley respectfully requested approval to appoint Dr. Bedrich Benes as the George W. McNelly Professor of Technology. He informed the Committee that Dr. Benes was known for his work in computer graphics, procedural modeling, geometric modeling, simulation of natural phenomena, and additive manufacturing, and he briefly described the applications of Dr. Benes’ research. Dr. Dooley noted that Dr. Benes had an extensive international network of collaborators and, together with a colleague at Adobe, had developed procedural modeling and 3-D printing that had influenced several technologies implemented in Adobe products. Dr. Dooley added that Dr. Benes was recognized at Purdue as a University Faculty Scholar and was known as a challenging but empathetic mentor and an engaging and motivating teacher. Dr. Dooley cited one of five letters received in support of Dr. Benes’ appointment, in which the writer observed that Dr. Benes’ main strength was his creativity and his ability to offer original and novel solutions.
Trustee Brouillette remarked that, upon review of Dr. Benes’ documents, she was impressed by his letters of recommendation as well as the list of employers who had hired Dr. Benes’ students. She said it was proof that faculty members were preparing Purdue students well because many leading companies in the industry were hiring them.
Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval of Dr. Benes’ appointment. Supporting documents and a photo were filed with the minutes.
Dr. Benes remarked that his success had been made possible by Purdue.
V. FOR THE PURDUE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY AT IUPUI: APPROVAL OF PH.D. IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Following Trustee Brouillette’s brief introduction of this item, and on behalf of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI, Dr. Dooley explained that IUPUI’s Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. program currently operated under a cooperative agreement with the School of Mechanical Engineering at the West Lafayette campus, and he respectfully requested approval to transfer IUPUI’s program to an IUPUI site-approved Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. degree program. He informed the Committee that the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering at IUPUI had been training Ph.D. students since 2004 under the cooperative agreement, and because the program had experienced significant growth, successful transfer of the program’s curriculum and administration to IUPUI would eliminate a number of requirements which limit the program’s growth, such as the requirement that its students take four West Lafayette Mechanical Engineering courses. He said the new curriculum would be based on courses currently offered at IUPUI with the understanding that their students would have the option to take courses offered at Purdue West Lafayette if needed. He added that this would be the final engineering Ph.D. program offered under a cooperative agreement to be transferred to IUPUI; most recently, the Board approved such a transfer for the Ph.D. program in Electrical and Computer Engineering on April 21, 2017. Dr. Dooley added that this recommendation had the support of Dr. Mung Chiang, John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering, and Dr. Anil Bajaj, head of the School of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Jie Chen, chair of the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering at IUPUI was in attendance to answer questions from the Committee.
Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval to transfer the program. Supporting documents were filed with the minutes.
VI. APPROVAL OF FACULTY PROMOTIONS FOR 2019-2020
Dr. Dooley respectfully requested approval of the roster of 142 faculty candidates for promotion, system-wide; 105 from West Lafayette, 9 from Purdue Fort Wayne, 12 from Purdue Northwest, and 16 faculty from the Purdue Schools at IUPUI. He quoted the promotion policy and pointed out its mission areas of discovery, learning, and engagement and said all faculty members must have documentation of accomplishment and demonstrated excellence in at least one mission area with the understanding that ideally strength would be apparent in more than one. He also provided examples of faculty mentoring, which was also documented by faculty as specified by the revised guidelines for promotion and tenure. To conclude, he said the quality of Purdue University was sustained by the excellence of its faculty.
Trustee Romary disclosed that his major professor for his Master’s degree, Dr. Craig Goergen, was included in the list of candidates and therefore recused himself from the vote with regard to Dr. Goergen. He said, however, that Dr. Goergen had his highest endorsement and it had been a great experience working with him.
In response to questions from Trustee Castagna and Chairman Berghoff, Dr. Dooley reviewed the promotion and tenure process, which he described as deliberative and which included feedback from external evaluators. Trustee Thompson observed that Purdue was one of the most diverse universities and asked if breadth of that diversity could be concluded from the promotion and tenure process. President Daniels remarked that Purdue had one of the highest ratios of tenure/tenure-track faculty in the country and expressed his belief that, because it was a challenging process to achieve promotion, the Committee could vote knowing the candidates for promotion had truly earned it.
Upon proper motion duly seconded, and following discussion, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval of the slate of faculty candidates for promotion and tenure. Following the vote, Trustee Thompson remarked that he was proud of Trustee Romary for the integrity he had shown with recusing himself from the vote relative to his major professor. Supporting documents were filed with the minutes.
VII. REPORT OF THE UNIVERSITY SENATE
Professor Carroll reviewed the outcomes of Senate meetings held on February 18 and March 18. She outlined the results of the university-wide survey and discussed the town hall meeting both with regard to President Daniels’ suggestion that students be required to show competency in civics. She said an ad hoc committee would meet over the summer to consider how the requirement could be met. Professor Carroll also provided a preview of the action and discussion items slated for the Senate’s next meeting on April 15, its last for the academic year.
With this being her last meeting as chair of the University Senate and an ex-officio member of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee, she informed the Committee that Professor Cheryl Cooky would become chair of the University Senate on June 1, 2019, and Professor Deborah Nichols, who had been elected vice-chair, would succeed Professor Cooky in 2020. To conclude her report, Professor Carroll said serving as chair of the University Senate had been a great experience and she had enjoyed working with the Board. A copy of Professor Carroll’s report presentation was filed with the minutes.
Chairman Berghoff expressed his gratitude to Professor Carroll for positively shifting the leadership of the Senate and the Senate’s relationship with the Board. He said focusing on things the Senate, administration, and Board could do together had made a difference for the university.
VIII. ADJOURNMENT
By consent, the meeting adjourned at 9:18 a.m.