IEEE EAB ACCREDITATION POLICY COUNCIL (APC)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2 October 2010
Draft Meeting Summary
1. Review and Adopt Agenda—Painter
A motion was made and approved to adopt the proposed agenda.
2. Approval of the February and May 2010 Meeting Summaries/Action Register—
Painter
Summaries of the February and May meetings were reviewed and approved. The
Council reviewed the action register, discussed several issues, and directed that some
line items be deleted or edited.
3. EAC 2011 Member and Alternate Nominations—Cooper
The Council voted to recommend the following individuals to the EAB to serve terms in
2011-12 on the ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission: Franc Noel, Joe Hughes,
Curtis Dodd, Tom Kuckertz, Dianne Rover, John Vian, Vance McCullough, Michael
McQuade and Cheryl Schrader. The Council also agreed to recommend Lewis Brown,
Richard Lilly and James McDonald to the EAB as designated alternates to the ABET
EAC. Ken Cooper reported that he has asked Joe Hughes to represent IEEE on the
EAC criteria committee, and is now considering another EAC representative to replace
Hughes on the EAC training committee.
4. TAC Member and Alternate Nominations—Yaprak
The Council voted to recommend the following individuals to the EAB to serve terms in
2011-12 on the ABET Technology Accreditation Commission: Adrienne Hendrickson,
James Lookadoo, Martin Reed, Timothy Skvarenina, Richard Cliver, Larry Hoffman, and
Tom Hall. The Council also agreed to recommend Ece Yaprak and Sohail Anwar to the
EAB as designated alternates to the ABET TAC.
5. CTAA New Member Nomination--Yaprak
The Council voted to recommend to the EAB that Sohail Anwar fill a currently vacant
seat on the CTAA.
Rich Painter urged the CTAA to look more closely at committee member “life cycle”
issues, given recent changes in the committee charter and the current practice of
moving CTAA members onto the TAC before their committee term-limit has been
reached. He suggested that changes in the CTAA charter, similar to those proposed by
the CEAA, would likely be needed. Yaprak pledged to bring this to the attention of the
CTAA.
6. CEAA Charter Amendment—Cooper
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The Council voted to recommend to the EAB a proposed change in the CEAA charter
that expands the maximum number of alternate members from three to six. Cooper
explained that this step will make it easier to familiarize alternate members of the
committee with policy and operating issues before they become voting members, and
would also provide a needed increase in capacity of PEV mentors.
7. Chair’s Report—Painter
Painter summarized recent efforts by the CEAA and CTAA to implement streamlining
provisions approved last year. He again lauded the work of Hughes in developing the
CEAA streamlining proposal, preparing supporting documentation, and explaining the
rationale and implications of the plan at many venues over the past 18 months.
Reflecting on the recent experience of rewriting committee charters and moving these
proposals through the IEEE decision process, Painter voiced the perceived need for a
better system to control edited documents appearing in the EAB Operations Manual and
being circulated for comment. He stated that the ability of multiple authors to gain
access to, and edit, relevant documents has caused confusion and rework. Discussion
ensued on alternate methods of improving this process. Painter said he would work with
staff to address the issue.
8. PEV Recruitment—Painter
Painter described the ongoing challenge of recruiting new PEV applicants, especially
from industry, and the series of current activities focused on this need. Moshe Kam
warned against lowering knowledge and experience requirements for industry PEVs in
order to achieve a volunteer pool that is balanced between academic and industry
evaluators.
Though an annual invitation to nominate current and former members of industry
advisory councils is sent to department chairs through ECEDHA, Mike Lightner
suggested preparing a case statement that speaks directly to the potential candidates,
so that department chairs can distribute it without further writing effort on their part.
Cooper suggested adding a question to the PEV application form aimed at eliciting more
descriptive information about the position held within the organizational hierarchy by
industry PEV applicants, and distributing information packets about PEV service to
industry liaison officials in the IEEE regions that have one.
The Council also discussed at length issues related to recruitment and training of PEV
applicants located outside of the U.S. While the CTAA has had some success in
attracting such applications, subsequent training experience revealed that many of these
individuals have inadequate English language skills and insufficient knowledge of the
structure and practices common to higher education in the U.S. Resulting CTAA
decisions to not assign newly trained PEVs for these reasons has caused strong
disappointment among the individuals affected. In response, CTAA leaders recently
decided to adopt the existing CEAA policy of not accepting non-U.S. PEV applications.
Staff was directed to prepare template statements for future use in responding to PEV
applications from outside the U.S. The statement should also suggest a potential
opportunity to work with the CGAA in providing consulting and technical assistance to
organizations in other world regions seeking to create new accrediting processes.
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9. ABET Report—Lightner
Lightner provided a summary of recent ABET Board activity and ongoing policy and
operating issues. Council discussion centered on ABET’s development and use of “test”
sampling techniques for a multi-campus TAC visit to DeVry University. CTAA members
have expressed concern about: 1) lack of advance notice or opportunity for input in the
formulation of sampling policies; and 2) viability of the actual sampling methods with
respect to DeVry. Lightner pointed to the broader issues of managing costs and
volunteer resources that sampling is intended to address, and the need to identify the
specific institutional characteristics that will likely guide the future use of sampling. This
topic will be the subject of further dialog between IEEE representatives on the ABET
Board and those from several other interested societies.
10. ABET Human Rights Policy—Hughes
Council members discussed the perceived need for ABET to adopt a human rights or
non-discrimination policy that will help guide decisions on where it will (and will not) offer
accreditation services. A variety of viewpoints were expressed, including reference to
IEEE’s own human rights policies and practices in selected locations. There was
agreement that IEEE should nominate team chairs and PEVs without concern that a
particular demographic characteristic of a volunteer might be perceived as objectionable
by the applicant school. There was no clear consensus on what policy should govern
where ABET does or does not offer accreditation. Hughes agreed to draft a proposal on
this topic for discussion at the next APC meeting, with the goal of presenting an APCprepared statement for initial discussion at the March ABET Board meeting.
11. CEAA Report—Cooper
Cooper provided an update on CEAA activity, including selected leadership
appointments to key sub-committees. Noting that future CEAA chairs will likely be
drawn from the ranks of EAC members that have recently finished their terms, Cooper
proposed creating the position of chair-elect, so that the selected individual can refamiliarize themselves with committee issues and operations. Under this plan, the
CEAA chair would be elected to a single two-year term, and the chair-elect would serve
a one-year term before assuming leadership. The current vice-chair position would be
eliminated in years when there is a chair elect. Cooper and Hughes will draft language
for use in the CEAA charter, which will then be presented to the CEAA for action in
January, 2011, and APC and EAB action in February. A vote to select the chair-elect
could then be conducted by electronic ballot in spring, 2011, and the person chosen
could take office at the July, 2011 CEAA meeting.
12. EAC Report—Hughes
Hughes provided a brief report on EAC activity. He noted that recent changes in ABET
governing documents which create an academic advisory council, and allow more
specifically for public comment about changes in accreditation criteria, may help create
the framework needed for a substantive discussion about criterion #3.
13. CTAA Report-Yaprak
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Discussion returned to the issue of ABET sampling policy and the need of IEEE and
other societies for better opportunities to provide input. Staff will draft an “executive
director to executive director” letter asking ABET for an explanation of how it plans to
engage societies in this policy discussion. In addition, Cooper and Yaprak will contact
IEEE representatives on the EAC and TAC, and request their help in raising this issue at
every opportunity.
Yaprak also reported on the development of an online tool to facilitate the PEV applicant
ranking and selection process. Painter asked that this tool be demonstrated to the
CEAA at its next meeting.
14. TAC Report—Cliver
Rick Cliver reported on activities of the ABET Technology Accreditation Commission.
15. CGAA Report—Kam
Kam summarized ongoing CGAA outreach in the Caribbean and China, and new
initiatives in eastern/southern Africa, nations belonging to the Gulf Cooperation Council,
and India, as well as a project in Latin America aimed at helping interested parties
develop a common nomenclature to describe the characteristics of different courses and
degree programs in computing. Resulting discussion focused on the type of information
about these efforts that should or should not be shared with ABET. The Council agreed
that Doug Gorham would share Kam’s PowerPoint presentation with Michael Milligan on
an “information” basis.
16. Introductions to CACET and NAAC
Chandrabhan Sharma described the evolution and current status of CACET, noting the
active role played by IEEE in its development. The Council also received an electronic
report about the National Assessment and Accreditation Council in India from Prasad
Kodali.
17. Mission and Role of the APC—Painter
Painter noted the contrast between statements contained in the APC Charter document
that describe a wide-ranging role in developing accreditation-related strategies, policies
and projects, and the actual focus of most APC activities. He invited Council members
to comment on its appropriate role within IEEE and its working relationship with bodies
and individuals in the organization that also influence accreditation policies and
activities. A lengthy and wide-ranging discussion ensued. Among the key points made
were: 1) that the APC has helped IEEE become more proactive with ABET on policy and
operating issues: 2) that the APC plays an important role in cross-fertilization of IEEE
accreditation operating committees; 3) that the most creative and compelling thinking
about needed changes and reforms in engineering education will not be derived from
accreditation policies, which typically help codify and institutionalize practices developed
in other settings; 4) IEEE may wish to consider creation of a different entity to evaluate,
propose and/or help implement new innovations in the content and delivery of
engineering education; 5) the APC needs some form of quality measure to assess its
own performance. Painter thanked Council members for their input, and will consider
the implications for future agendas.
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18. ABET Dues Payments—Hickman
Chuck Hickman provided trend information on annual IEEE payments to ABET and the
balance of the accreditation reserve fund.
19. CSAB Report—Seidman
The Council received an electronic report from Steve Seidman about current CSAB
issues.
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