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Electrical and Computer Engineering Strategic Plan

Mission Statement

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering educates, conducts research, and disseminates knowledge through nationally recognized programs in electrical engineering and computer engineering for the benefit of society.

Vision Statement

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering will be the undergraduate electrical and computer engineering department of choice in Texas and will be recognized as one of the top research and graduate engineering departments in the nation.

Strategic Plan

Goal 1. Access and diversity: Recruit, retain, and graduate a larger, more academically prepared, and diverse student body.

Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years) :

  • Be in the top 5 in Texas in number of electrical and computer engineering graduates by graduating 60 per year.
  • 525 undergraduate students in EE, EECS, and CMPE.
  • 100 graduate students.
  • Mean SAT of 1200 or ACT equivalent.
  • Mean composite GRE of 1200.
  • 75% of entering freshmen meet the criteria for admission to an electrical or computer engineering major.
  • Minimum five-year graduation rate of 90% for students admitted to Phase II.
  • 75% of students admitted to an electrical or computer engineering major graduate with an engineering degree.
  • 50% of engineering graduates earn their BS degree in 5 years or less.
  • Increase diversity in the department.
  • Increase the number of transfer students.
  • Develop relationships with regional junior colleges and help them provide EE 2304.

Objectives:

Objective 1.1: Annually increase the diversity of the student body. 

Strategies:

  • Support student groups in the College of Engineering.
  • Support diverse student groups in the department.

Assessments:

  • Student membership in IEEE and AWEE.
  • Student membership in NSBE, SHPE, and SWE.

Objective 1.2: Assist the College of Engineering in improving retention and graduation rates.

Strategies:

  • Use IEEE Student Branch, HKN and AWEE to enhance student retention.
  • Encourage organization to sponsor tutoring and problem sessions.
  • Assign students to faculty for mentoring.

Assessments:

  • Retention rates.
  • Graduation rates

Objective 1.3: Recruit and admit the most qualified students to the college.

Strategies:

  • Establish more scholarships and fellowships to attract the best and brightest students.
  • Administer the Dynamic Enrollment Management Program and develop criteria for admission to upper division programs.

Assessments:

  • The university's student quality indicators.

    • Number of hits on our website relating to recruiting and advising.

Objective 1.4: Establish more programs, scholarships and fellowships to attract the best and brightest students.

Strategies:

  • Work with alumni and industries for increased support.
  • Provide a NSF research experience for undergraduates.

Assessments:

  • Number of program.
  • Number of scholarships or fellowships.
  • First generation college students.

 

Goal 2. Academic and Research Excellence: Attain national recognition as a top publicly funded Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering considers this goal as its flagship goal and critical to its success.

Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years) :

  • Be listed in the top 50 of publicly funded electrical and computer engineering departments.
  • Addition of 7 new faculty at various ranks in various areas with startup funds.
  • Increase the number of tenure/tenure track FTE consistent with enrollment and research volume.
  • Implementation of the College of Engineering Master Plan.
  • A center of excellence generating at least $1 million annually in external funding.
  • $300,000/FTE/year in research expenditures from current $200,000/FTE/year.
  • Post doc supported by the university for two years for faculty with research support of over $200,000/year.
  • Reduction of teaching load from 4 courses per year to 3 courses per year for faculty with $150,000/year in research expenditures.
  • Increase the number of archival publications/citations to more than one refereed journal article and two conference contributions per FTE/year.
  • One research assistant or teaching assistant per faculty member.
  • Hire permanent support staff for each center including technicians.
  • Endowments for scholarships and chairs.
  • Faculty membership in national academies.
  • Fellow of IEEE status for at least 40% of full professors.
  • Increase the number of faculty registered as licensed Engineers.
  • Increase annual giving of alumni.
  • Have at least 90% passing rate on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam.

Objectives:

Objective 2.1: Modernize and strengthen our undergraduate electrical and computer engineering programs .

Strategies:

  • Undergraduate Curriculum Committee will be responsible.
  • Form a special ad hoc committee will be formed.

Assessments:

  • ABET Accreditation.
  • Student surveys.
  • Fundamentals in Engineering pass rate.

Objective 2.2: Strengthen graduate and professional programs and increase the yearly Ph.D. graduates from 4.5 to 7 per year .

Strategies:

  • Graduate Study Committee responsible.
  • Provide incentives for Ph.D. students.
  • Update the Ph. D. requirements.

Assessment:

  • Number of students graduating and in Ph.D. program.

Objective 2.3: Continue to build research programs that enhance the academic reputation of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Specific areas include, but are not limited:Pulsed Power and Power Electronics, Nano Technology Center, Optoelectronics/semiconductors, Computer Vision and Image Analysis Laboratory, Advanced Communication Systems, Biomedical, and Semiconductor Product and Test Engineering.

Strategies:

  • Add faculty to support the new research areas.
  • Off load faculty from teaching to increase research.

Assessments:

  • Amount of research dollars.
  • Number of research proposals.

Objective 2.4: Develop externally funded, nationally recognized centers of excellence.

Strategies:

  • Strategically hire individuals to support the centers.
  • Off load faculty from teaching to increase research.

Assessments:

  • Number of publications and patents.
  • Research support and graduate student support.

Objective 2.5: Recruit, hire, develop, and retain nationally recognized faculty.

Strategies:

  • Improve infrastructure and support.
  • Increase national visibility through short courses, workshops, and conferences.
  • Invite well known faculty in for seminars over a period of several days.

Assessment:

  • Number of faculty honors.

Objective 2.6: Improve retention and graduation rates for graduate students.

Strategy:

  • Change graduate regulations and procedures.

Assessment:

  • Number of graduates.

Objective 2.7: Achieve higher levels of student financial support.

Strategies:

  • Encourage research proposals to support students.
  • Promote industrial and Coop interactions.

Assessment:

  • Level of financial support.

 

Goal 3. Engagement: Build community connections that enhance the quality of life for students and the community.

Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years) :

  • Graduate 15% of students with a service learning designation.
  • Produce 60 graduates per year from the department.

Objectives:

Objective 3.1: To be a significant contributor to economic and workforce development.

Strategies:

  • Assist the College of Engineering with its role at Reese Technology Center.
  • Increase the students' design project involvement with local industry.

Assessments:

  • Number of engineering design projects involved with industry.
  • Number of graduates.

Objective 3.2: Increase awareness of opportunities in engineering for K-12 students.

Strategy:

  • Assist the College of Engineering with to establish strong ties with K-12 education.

Assessment:

  • Number of outreach contacts.

Objective 3.3: Foster outreach culture in the college.

Strategies:

  • Assist the College of Engineering with to extend outreach programs developed in the Lubbock area to communities such as Amarillo, Abilene, etc.
  • Encourage participation in university’s service learning program.

Assessments:

  • Percentage of graduates with service learning designation.
  • Number of students reached by outreach contacts.

 

Goal 4. Technology: Maximize the use of technology in the delivery of services.

Critical Success Factors(measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years):

  • Create and maintain a quality Internet presence.
  • All students will have connectivity to our networks and servers via their own resources.
  • Provide for compatible specialty engineering software that students can access from their own resources.
  • Maintain the security of our data.

Objectives:

Objective 4.1: Exploit e-business solutions and human computer interface designs.

Strategies:

  • Assist the College of Engineering with agreements and licenses with software venders.
  • Work with College of Engineering web designer.

Assessment:

  • Number of transactions and number of users by function in transaction logs of file servers.

Objective 4.2: Provide delivery systems appropriate to the needs of users.

Strategies:

  • Work with College of Engineering to negotiate agreements and licenses with network vendors.
  • Support College of Engineering for delivery systems.

Assessment:

  • Bandwidth utilization.

Objective 4.3: Use standardized software to deliver subject matter content.

Strategies:

  • Assist College of Engineering for software and other resources.
  • Employ professionally trained support personnel for all delivery systems.

Assessment:

  • Degree of interoperability of software.

Objective 4.4: Have highly reliable and secure systems.

Strategies:

  • Have surveillance in critical areas.
  • Have systems that will protect our networks from intentional disruptions.

Assessments:

  • Availability of the systems.
  • Downtime due to other-than-scheduled maintenance.

 

Goal 5. Partnerships: Build strategic partnerships and alliances to support the teaching, research, and service missions of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years) :

  • Generate $1 million annually from industry to support graduate student stipends.
  • Increase internship options for graduate students with industry, national laboratories, and other universities both national and foreign.
  • 10% of faculty actively advising industry and federal agencies.
  • Increase the number of relationships with other departments in the College of Engineering, other colleges at Texas Tech, the Health Science Center and other universities.

Objectives:

Objective 5.1: Establish partnerships with undergraduate institutions, domestic and foreign.

Strategies:

  • Work with regional 4 year universities.
  • Work with community and junior colleges for transfer students.

Assessment:

  • Number of partnerships.

Objective 5.2: Forge industry alliances to accomplish workforce development, meet the financial need of students, and garner research funding.

Strategies:

  • Work with Texas and regional industry.
  • Use the Coop office and Industrial Advisory Board.
  • Hire part time staff to assist.

Assessments:

  • Number of alliances.
  • Level of funding.

Objective 5.3: Promote working relationships with other colleges and with the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center.

Strategies:

  • Encourage faculty interaction with colleagues in other departments.
  • Encourage joint proposals.

Assessments:

  • Poll faculty about interaction every year.
  • Number of joint proposals or programs.

Objective 5.4: Nurture relationships with governmental laboratories and federal agencies.

Strategies:

  • Support faculty relationships with agencies.
  • Work with College of Engineering staff.

Assessment:

  • Number of relationships.

Objective 5.5: Actively participate in university/COE interdisciplinary and strategic federal initiatives.

Strategy:

  • Work with the CoE and university personnel.

Assessment:

  • Number of interactions.

Objective 5.6: Increase collaborative relationships with other research institutions, including graduate student exchange programs.

Strategies:

  • Support multiple university research proposals.
  • Form ad hoc research initiative committee

Assessments:

  • Number of collaborations.
  • Number of proposals.

 

Goal 6. Human Resources and Infrastructure: Maintain a quality work force and work environment and maximize the use of technology in the delivery of services.

Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years) :

  • 1 full-time support position.
  • A classroom with at least 20 computers for instruction.
  • Modernize audiovisual equipment in all classrooms.
  • Upgrade/update student laboratories.
  • Increase the number of minority hires.
  • Increase the number of faculty and staff attending professional development seminars and short courses.
  • Update technology systematically in the project labs.

Objectives:

Objective 6.1: Add a website/recruiter position to our staff.

Strategy:

  • Provide justification to administration.

Assessments:

  • Hiring of person.
  • Recruiting efforts.

Objective 6.2: Maximize the utilization of existing space resources.

Strategy:

  • Form committee to look at options.

Assessment:

  • Results of committee actions.

Objective 6.3: Provide necessary equipment and technology to enhance teaching and research .

Strategies:

  • Use committee to ascertain type of equipment needed.
  • Poll faculty on space and technology needs.

Assessment:

  • Amount of equipment purchased.

Objective 6.4: Attract and retain faculty and staff .

Strategies:

  • Encourage faculty to find prospective faculty and staff.
  • Encourage faculty to take leadership roles.

Assessment:

  • Faculty and staff turnover rate.

Objective 6.5: Increase percentage of women and minority faculty.

Strategy:

  • Encourage the hiring of women and minority in employment decisions.

Assessment:

  • diversity of faculty.

Objective 6.6: Increase professional development for all employees including short courses.

Strategy:

  • Provide support for faculty and staff for professional development.

Assessment:

  • Keep records of attendance.

Objective 6.7: Provide competitive salaries at all levels.

Strategies:

  • Use ECEDHA surveys to find appropriate levels.
  • Inform administration of the salary and support required.

Assessment:

  • Salary ranges compared to per institutions.

Objective 6.8: Continue a coordinated system for policies and procedures.

Strategy:

  • Use small committee to exam policies and procedures.

Assessment:

  • Review policies and procedures.

 

Goal 7. Tradition and Pride: Enhance the national image of the College of Engineering.

Critical Success Factors (measures of the degree of success over the next 5 years) :

  • Bring at least one national meeting to Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering each year.
  • Assist the College of Engineering in this effort.
  • Recognize each year at least 3 departmental alumni who have achieved significant leadership roles.

Objectives:

Objective 7.1: Instill tradition and pride in the academic experience.

Strategies:

  • Increase the number of faculty on boards of national technical societies.
  • Assist the College of Engineering to develop traditions.

Assessment:

  • Number of events in department.

Objective 7.2: Add value to the graduates and faculty by an enhanced national image of the college.

Strategy:

  • Attract international and national meetings hosted in department.

Assessment:

  • Number of meetings.

Objective 7.3: Foster ethics and professionalism.

Strategy:

  • Assist the College of Engineering to foster professionalism and ring ceremony.

Assessment:

  • Number of participants in the ring ceremony.

 

Goal 8. Development and Marketing: Assist the College of Engineering to enhance the fiscal stability through development activities that support students, faculty, and college operations.

Critical Success Factors (measures the degree of success over the next 5 years) :

  • Assist the College of Engineering to obtain $35M in cash.
  • Assist the College of Engineering to secure $100M in endowment.

Objectives:

Objective 8.1: Assist the College of Engineering to be ranked #1 among colleges in university fund raising. (Currently #2)

Strategies:

  • Identify endowments for scholarships and chairs.
  • Increase annual giving of alumni.

Assessment:

  • Annual giving and endowments.

Objective 8.2: Increase the visibility of the department.

Strategy:

  • Work with the College of Engineering to design and implement strategic college-wide marketing/advertising/promotion campaigns that highlight the College and its people.

Assessment:

  • Media hits and column inches.

 

Goal 9. Accountability: Enhancing planning, performance, assessment, and public accountability.

Critical Success Factors (measures the degree of success over the next 5 years) :

  • Maintain EE and CMPE program accreditation.
  • Complete the stewardship process on an annual basis.
  • Assist the College of Engineering to plan and manage 12-month budgeting.

Objective:

Objective 9.1: Assess academic programs on an annual basis.

Strategies:

  • Use departmental committees to assess programs and objectives.
  • Keep abreast of ABET criteria.

Assessment:

  • Number of assessments completed.

 

(Also refer to the Texas Tech University Strategic Plans and Assessment Reports)