Report on the March ABET Board Meeting

1
Report on the March ABET Board Meeting
For Summer EAB Meeting
Arnie Peskin, IEEE Representative Director, ABET
Board of Directors
06/24/2006 Minneapolis MN
2
ABET BoD Themes

• ABET Financial Model
• International Accreditation
• Participation Project
• Diversity
• Co-lead Arrangements
• Harmonization of Criteria

3
ABET Financial Model

• ABET is solvent, but
• Societies Schools seeking relief
• Recent ideas
• Add Industry as a constituency
• Differential charges to schools
• Relationship to new initiatives

4
International Accreditation

• ABET already active with substantial
  equivalency
• Problems in expansion
• Current model is US-centric
• The role of regional accreditors
• Inviting offshore competition to US
• Compromising ABETs Code of Ethics
• Costs

5
Participation Project

• Addresses recognized deficiencies in quality of
  accreditors
• ABET vs. Societies responsibilities
• Effectiveness of large vs. small societies
• IEEE demanding a greater role

6
Diversity

• Volunteer bodies not particularly diverse, but
  does reflect the wider pool of qualified
  candidates
• Place to start is earlier in the pipeline
• Societies dont collect statistics on their
  constituents

7
Co-lead Arrangements

• For programs that cross disciplinary lines
• Mechatronics
• Nano-technology
• Systems engineering
• Ad-hoc vs. standing procedures

8
Harmonization

• To establish a common look and feel among
  Commissions
• Make sure changes are editorial, not substantive

9
Other Items

• Executive Director Peterson and the societies
• Next Board Meeting in Tampa in October
• Next Annual Meeting theme will be International
  Accreditation
• New Slate of Officers

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Personal Reflections

• Undeniable tensions between ABET and IEEE
• Goals are similar, but perspective is often
  different
• IEEE is hardly a typical society
• Harmonious resolution is a worthy challenge