<div dir="ltr"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">Dear Eugene,</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">As a College of engineering senator, I understand that
a couple of engineering faculty positions (one in mechanical) are about to
be un-frozen subject to Senate approval. The Provost mentioned in the senate
that the COE need for new faculty positions was a result of our fear of not
being able to get ABET accreditation. Is this true? I never knew this was ever
an issue. Were we given a serious ultimatum by ABET?  In order to prepare
for the senate meeting, could you please share with us any communication
received from ABET saying that, if we do not increase our faculty
numbers, we will lose our accreditation? </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">I have also been contemplating for some time about our high
faculty growth rate as a college without simultaneously growing our resources
(e.g. number of graduate students on the decline, limited technical staff,
limited space, etc.). Instead of hiring more and more faculty, it could be
argued that we should be first building and strengthening our foundations
(support structure) to enable a stable and sustained growth going forward.</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><u><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">For example:</span></u></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">1.  <b>Building resources in
support of our current un-tenured and un-promoted faculty “first”</b>,
resulting in the retention of successful faculty and high faculty
morale. For example, financial support for conferences, technician
support, space, increasing our MS student population, establishing a
"robust" and "inclusive" program to connect faculty
with program managers of funding agencies to facilitate the securing of grants,
establishing a comprehensive mentorship program in which 'interested' faculty
may join, promoting a grass route discussion regarding RTP and inviting all
faculty to participate in this discussion to arrive at fair and solid
criteria for tenure, on the department and college levels.  </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">2.  Currently, all recent positions
have been given to the college on the <u>firm</u> condition by the
provost that t<b>here will be</b> <b>no additional space given</b>. This point
emphasizes our lack of space to grow into, and the potential crowding
of existing faculty at risk of declining faculty morale, and faculty
retention. <i>Before long,</i> <i>the
grass may truly be greener on the other side.</i></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">3. We cannot assume that when new faculty are
granted Ph.D. students as part of their startup then we have done our part
toward them. The likelihood of a faculty member hiring and graduating a Ph.D.
student before their tenure clock is up is slim. That means they would need to
also advise MS students, to expand their research portfolio. With the increased
faculty hiring and not increasing resources, serious issues are arising. For
example, in mechanical, the decline/low MS student numbers has led us to change
our RTP policy such that we do not now require faculty to advise students as a
requirement for tenure and promotion, this compromise has happened because some
faculty may not be able to recruit MS students due to the low numbers of
students (i.e. it would be unfair to hold them to this). <b>Hence, as a
direct result of excessive hiring without increasing resources, our high standards
in RTP are now being negatively impacted.</b></span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"><br>
There are equally important arguments for looking after our current faculty
before we hire more, but I wanted to make this message brief. </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">Thank you, and looking forward to learning more
about this ABET threat that has stimulated all this spontaneous growth in the
College (in case we get asked), before our senate meeting. </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">My best regards</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"> </span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">Khaled</span></p></div><div><br></div><div><div dir="ltr" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div>K. Morsi, D.Phil (Oxon.)<br></div>Professor & Director<br></div><div>Advanced Materials Processing Laboratory (AMPL)</div>Department of Mechanical Engineering<br></div>San Diego State University<br></div>5500 Campanile Drive<br></div>San Diego, CA 92182-1323<br></div>Tel: 619 594 2903<br></div>Fax: 619 594 3599</div>Website: <a href="http://eon.sdsu.edu/morsi" target="_blank">http://eon.sdsu.edu/~morsi</a><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>