Manufacturing and Engineering Technology

Goals & Objectives

Department of Manufacturing and Engineering Technology's mission is to graduate innovative Engineering Technologists who solve technological challenges to meet societal needs.

Long-range goals and objectives

Goal 1: Curriculum - The ultimate departmental goal is to adapt to the latest educational priorities and demands of the present and for the future, and to provide an educational experience relevant to the current and future societal needs to meet global economic and industrial trends.

1.1 The Engineering Technology program will reflect greater intellectual breadth, a stronger sense of social responsibility, a tendency for collaboration, and a habit of lifelong learning. It will be broad and liberal enough to serve as preparation for non-technology professions and instill the knowledge of how to learn and desire to learn in both technical and non-technical areas, over a lifetime as well as instill a sense of business context and globally competitive nature of technology.
1.2 Develop new distance learning courses with greater technical emphasis to serve the traditional and nontraditional students. The graduates of this program will meet the life-long demands of the present and future industrial work place and of life in a complex technological society.
1.3 Develop interdisciplinary degree programs to meet the educational needs of the graduates with associate degree programs who would like to advance or change their careers.
1.4 Revise the Engineering Technology curriculum to include the necessary fundamentals, integrate them with design for manufacturability and exclude unnecessary materials. The curriculum shall be sufficiently practice-oriented with emphasis on teamwork as well as individuals to prepare students to practice upon graduation.
1.5 Revise the curricula to include applied research/design/senior projects of significant depth, requiring innovation and creativity, which will result in a student who demonstrates both mastery of the subject matter and a high level of communication skills.

Goal 2: Faculty & Staff - Recruit and retain additional faculty and staff to meet the teaching, research and service obligations of the Department of Manufacturing and Engineering Technology.

2.1 Pursue, through faculty load modifications, administrative recognition of the linkage between program quality and the faculty's investment of time, effort, and resources. Factors to consider prior to faculty load determination include time, effort, and resource expenditures associated with grant proposal preparation, submission, and administration; and preparation of publications and materials for public presentations.
2.2 Hire additional faculty members with diverse background to meet existing and anticipated needs of emerging technologies, new interdisciplinary degree programs.
2.3 Hire additional staff personnel, with an immediate need for a minimum of two additional technicians with flexible time distribution to meet the department needs. To hire one additional secretary whose primary duties will be to assist the Secretary to Department Chairperson as requested (purchasing, accounting, filing, personnel matters, etc.), provide back-up phone for the departmental main office, take minutes at department council meetings, and provide support to faculty/staff/students.
2.4 Continue to comply with Affirmative Action policies and procedures to assure equitable opportunities for underrepresented minorities while maintaining the quality standards of Tennessee Technological University.
2.5 Create faculty "mentor" program with new hires; to provide programs for advancement and training for all personnel of the department in their appropriate areas; to continue the current program of providing new faculty with reduced teaching loads in their first two semester at Tech; and to establish a policy and procedure whereby new faculty members are explicitly appraised of their obligations to the department and the university with regard to teaching, research, and service responsibilities.
2.6 Continue to support efforts providing faculty and staff with sufficient training to meet the objectives set forth in the OSHA Hazard Communications Standard and other pertinent standards; to continue funding of faculty development by providing travel funds for attendance at technical workshops, national symposiums, technology transfer conferences, and other outreach activities.

Goal 3: Students - Inform, attract, and retain high quality undergraduate students in the academic programs offered by the Department of Industrial Technology.

3.1 Inform and recruit quality undergraduate students, at a rate equal to or exceeding the average university figures, from high schools and community colleges throughout Tennessee and, as time & resources permit, beyond the borders of the state. This will be accomplished by email, invite students from high school and community college to visit the department and review the curriculum, general university literature, attendance at state, national, and international conferences, business & industry contacts, and news press releases.
3.2 Retain undergraduate students in the department through the delivery of appropriate courses, quality teaching, advisement and counseling, student outcomes assessments, and adjustment to the needs of both students and the potential employers.
3.3 Conduct follow-up studies regarding appropriateness of the undergraduate academic program offered in the department on a five-year schedule. The obtained data will be analyzed and utilized to review and improve the departmental academic program.
3.4 Increase the number of scholarships and the dollar amount of existing scholarships for departmental undergraduate students. Personal contact will be made with the people and groups providing scholarship funds and request their consideration for increasing the scholarship numbers and dollars amounts. Also, effort will be expended to identify other sources of scholarships.

Goal 4: Facilities - Continue to develop the laboratories and support facilities of the Department of Manufacturing and Engineering Technology to integrate the most current technologies in the appropriate fields of study. Insure that the facilities meet the student and faculty needs for current activities and are capable of being changed to meet future technological requirements.

4.1 Develop and implement a comprehensive plan to expand the Manufacturing and Engineering Technology Department facilities to meet projected space requirements. Plan for additional laboratory space to house the areas of industrial automation and robotics, computer numerical control machining, programmable logic controllers, plastics technology, and materials testing. Allocate space for office and support staff as well as for departmental files. Continue to renovate and upgrade the laboratory facilities to fully modernize and enhance the instructional and undergraduate research space within the department.
4.2 Develop and implement a plan of action to upgrade the basic laboratory equipment, which supports the core undergraduate programs in each technological area. The quality of the students' technological core laboratory experiences must be augmented by upgrading selected equipment and instrumentation. Further, specialized knowledge in the technical field can only be encouraged with specialized equipment.
4.3 Develop and implement a plan to locate the computing resources within the Manufacturing and Engineering Technology Department so that faculty and students have access to sufficient resources for educational and research activities. Establish a supervised lab using current equipment, provide connection to the campus network for all computer users in the department and provide a central location for all specialized licensed software.
4.4 Develop and implement a plan, which will enhance the facilities for technical support, which must be provided by the department, library and/or other sources of the most current technical reference material. Allocate sufficient space for current technical journals in each laboratory area and encourage faculty to solicit materials specific to their technological area.
4.5 Provide improved high-tech capabilities and access to information systems and related technologies for the faculty, students, and appropriate external community personnel. Up-grade the current multi-media and projection system in the classrooms and laboratories to include new capabilities and access to campus network and on-line library resources.
4.6 Enhance the current facilities through appropriate upgrade and maintenance, particularly in high traffic areas such as corridors and classrooms. Provide new displays and graphics on walls with appropriate technological themes and safety information. Insure that new spaces and facilities are maintained in excellent condition as they are brought on line.

Goal 5: Funding - Continue to seek funding from appropriate sources to assist with all departmental activities.

5.1 Aggressively pursue increased support for the regular department budget for supplies and services to allow for such activities as maintenance of existing and new equipment. Further, to increase the budgeted equipment line item to replace the outdated lab equipment on an annual basis.

5.2 Continue to seek external and internal grants to support research and curricular efforts as appropriate.
5.3 Continue to work with industry and alumni to secure endowments for scholarships, equipment and other department needs.
5.4 Continue to seek appropriate equipment, supplies and financial donations from industry. Also work with the Tech Foundation office personnel and other sources from both within and outside the university to seek contributions.
5.5 Expand efforts with other college and university organizations to secure funding for projects of mutual benefit nature for faculty and the goals and priorities of such organizations.