The University of Wisconsin
College of Engineering Strategic Plan, 2008-2012

 

Mission:

To educate and prepare men and women to contribute as engineers and citizens through the creation, integration, application, and transfer of engineering knowledge

Vision:

To be, and be recognized as, a world-class college of engineering that provides an excellent learning experience, learning community, and learning environment in a leading research university

Strategic Objectives

• Educational excellence and leadership
• Research leadership
• Technology innovation and entrepreneurship
• Recognition of the quality of our education and research
• Effective business model, infrastructure and administrative support to accomplish the mission, vision and objectives

Objective: Educational Excellence

Strategies/Goals:

1. Recruit, develop, support and retain a world-class diverse faculty and instructional staff dedicated to education, research, technology development, and entrepreneurship.

   • By 2012, faculty should include 20% women and 15% minorities, including traditionally underrepresented minorities.
   • Initiate/find/promote ways for current faculty and instructional staff to continually refresh and re-inform their perspectives on engineering education.
     • 33% of faculty in every department participates in an engineering education development activity each year.
   • Maintain number of faculty above 185.
   • Retain 90% of our top faculty members who are recruited by other universities.

2. Recruit, support and retain the best undergraduate and graduate students, especially women and underrepresented groups.

   • Set high expectations for students — and let them be known and visible.
   • Provide support (advice, academic help, counseling) so students who choose to stay in CoE can succeed.
   • Enroll at least 35 National Merit Finalists / Scholars per year.
   • Provide scholarships of at least 1/4 of the in-state tuition to 25% of the incoming undergraduate students by 2012.
   • Increase the percent of women engineering students to 25% and the percent of minority engineering students to 15% and underrepresented to 7% by 2012.
   • Increase the number of diversity scholarships to 125 at an average amount of $3000 by 2012.
   • Recruit at least 18 NSF Fellowship students annually.
   • Provide 30 fellowships to incoming graduate students by 2012.
   • Help develop the pool of potential STEM students and make UW-Madison CoE visible in K-12 through Outreach program.

3. Continually improve and innovate engineering curricula, including content and method, to meet students' and stakeholders' changing needs.

   • Develop and support programs to help students become successful learners, particularly in early stages of their CoE education
   • Improve student retention in CoE from entry into pre-engineering to graduation to over 70% and retention from department entry to 5-year graduation to over 92% by 2012.
   • Add larger interdisciplinary educational component to a strong fundamental disciplinary engineering education.
   • Align curriculum and educational offerings with CoE 2010 vision and plan
   • Support student activities and leadership opportunities; provide an opportunity for a leadership experience for every CoE student.
   • Develop effective Internet-based learning approaches for both on-campus and off-campus students.
   • Increase international study opportunities and the numbers of students who take advantage of them; 25% of our students should have some kind of international experience (class/semester/year abroad, co-op or internship abroad) by 2012.

Objective: Research Leadership

Strategies/Goals:

1. Maintain strong core research programs

   • Increase federal research funding by 5% annually.
   • Increase annual R&D funding from industry and gift funds from $18.5M to $25M by 2012.
   • Annual R&D support in excess of $250k each from at least 10 companies and/or industrial consortia.
   • Rank in the top 5 public universities in industrial research support.

2. Encourage development of interdisciplinary research, which addresses strategic needs of industry, government, and society.

   • Maintain at least 20 strong existing interdisciplinary research centers.
   • Start 5 new interdisciplinary research centers over the next five years.
   • Sunset outdated research centers.

3. Identify and invest in strategic areas of potential R&D growth.

   • Maintain strong core programs with all core disciplines ranked in the top 10 in the nation by 2012.
   • Strengthen programs in biotechnology, nanotechnology, information-technology, energy, sustainable engineering, environment, homeland security, and healthcare/disease.
   • Create a College-level Industrial Affiliates Program.
   • Create an IR&D fund to support novel research ideas.

Objective: Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Leadership

Strategies/Goals:

1. Enhance current approaches and develop new approaches for technology transfer to industry, business, and government.

   • Understand industry's needs and develop solutions for industry's problems.
     • Add 5 new company partnerships annually.
     • Add 10 new company custom professional development training engagements annually.
   • Maintain the number of patents and copyright disclosures above 125 annually.
   • Provide infrastructure and support for start-up companies.

2. Establish mechanisms to create student project opportunities with industry and government.

   • Establish and maintain at least 10 project opportunities that involve >400 total students.
   • Engage at least 75 students in the Innovation Day competitions by 2012.
   • Maintain undergraduate student participation in co-ops and internships above 800 annually.

3. Form strategic alliances with other UW-Madison colleges / schools to harvest technological opportunities in interdisciplinary areas.

   • Form at least 5 viable alliances by 2012.

4. Form strategic alliances with other universities and with the private sector for research partnerships and technology transfer.

   • Form at least 5 viable alliances by 2012.

Objective: Recognition of the Quality of Education and Research in the CoE

Strategies/Goals:

1. Maintain all currently highly ranked disciplines and improve those disciplines that are not in the top 5 in public universities and the top 10 in all universities.

   • Focus research areas so that each department is world class in 2-3 key leading-edge areas.
   • Maintain a critical mass of high-quality faculty in key areas.
   • Recruit world-class faculty in selected areas to replace retirements.
   • Reward faculty based partially on department performance.

2. Enhance current approaches and develop new approaches for external relations.

   • Collaborate with the WAA to maintain the number of interactions with College of Engineering alumni to more than 200 annually
   • Quarterly Research News Publication

Objective: Effective infrastructure and administrative support to accomplish the mission, vision and objectives.

Strategies/Goals:

1. Support educational and research excellence with effective academic services, administrative services, and information technology.

   • Continuously evaluate academic and administrative services to meet customer (departments, centers, faculty, and students) needs in the most efficient and cost effective manner.
     • Increase use of web-based tools to standardize and simplify administrative processes.
   • Provide state-of-the-art laboratory, library, computer, and media support.
   • Maintain broadband Internet access to instructional software applications, library, and ECS registration from residence halls, classrooms, and remote locations.
   • Provide adequate support for development and delivery of the majority of the engineering courses to be Internet-delivered by 2012.

2. Support technical innovation and entrepreneurship with administrative staff and services.

   • Continuously evaluate the CoE approach to understanding entrepreneurship and technology transfer and adapt as appropriate to meet industry and state needs.
   • Better integrate CoE services with other campus entities (Foundation, WARF, OCR) to interact with industry.

3. Provide the necessary space and facilities for innovative research and instruction in the College of Engineering.

   • Maintain a comprehensive space inventory and plan, including use of space in Wendt Library.
   • Update the space and facilities plan for the Engineering Campus.
   • Plan for an Information Technology and Technology Incubator Building - Plan an upgrade for the ERB.

4. Provide appropriate resources to attract, support, and retain world-class faculty and students. By 2012:

   • Increase the number of endowed chairs to 25.
   • Increase the endowment for undergraduate scholarships to $36M.
   • Increase the endowment for graduate fellowships to $30M.

5. Encourage and support professional development for faculty and staff

   • Continuously assess climate on the CoE campus and in all engineering departments and major Centers.
   • Identify and support opportunities for faculty and staff development on an on-going basis.