ECE Curriculum Committee Meeting Minutes for 22 Sept, 2006

1. The Curriculum Committee welcomed Professor and Deputy Dean Nguyen from Ho Chi Minh University of Technology in Vietnam; he is visiting our department for four weeks to study our program and will visit the Curriculum Committee during his stay.
2. The Curriculum Committee aproved the minutes of the Sept 15, 2006 meeting.
3. The Chair solicited volunteers to serve as Secretary and pointed out the advantages of this "separation of powers"; the Committee preferred that the Chair perform these duties as well. The Chair issued a standing invitation for any Committee Member to accept the Secretary role in the future.
4. Professor Greg Timp reported on his experiment with ECE 398 GT last semester, which was designed as a potential new ECE 340 course.
5. The Curriculum Committee reapproved the ECE 398 course proposal by Greg Timp for Spring 2007, which was originally approved for Fall 2006 but dropped due to limited enrollment. Concerns were expressed about possible plans to reduce the faculty contact hours and whether changes will address the Committee's concerns about the level, pace, and appeal of the course for all ECE students at the junior level, but it was felt that the experiment should continue.
6. Professor Timp informally suggested restrictions on enrollment in ECE 440 to aid the transition to ECE 398. Without a formal proposal, the majority of the Committee felt that no action could be taken. In any event, the sentiment appeared to be that any such motion would be unlikely to be approved, since the course is experimental and not yet developed to the point of considering a curricular change.
7. The Curriculum Committee approved the ECE 498 course proposal by Nitin Vaidya for Spring 2007.
8. The Committee adjourned at 11:52 AM.