Request for Authorization to Establish MSAE distance degree

Assessment of need and program planning/approvalRationale The Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at North Carolina State University is interested in delivering the existing

Appendix G THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA Request for Authorization to Establish a New Distance Education Degree Program

(through which 50% or more of a degree program is provided)

INSTRUCTIONS: Please submit three copies of the proposal to the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs,

UNC Office of the President The signature of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs is required

Date: April 23, 2002 _

Constituent Institution North Carolina State University

CIP Discipline Specialty Title: Aerospace Engineering

CIP Discipline Specialty Number: 14.0201 Level: B M _x I D _

Exact Title of the Proposed Program: _Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering _

Degree Abbreviation:_MSAE _ Proposed Date of Initiation: month August year 2002 Date at which assessment will be required (at the end of the fourth year or at least two months prior to program expiration, whichever comes sooner): August 2006

Will this program be completely individual access (e.g., Internet, videocassette)? Y x_ N

If “yes,” primary mode of delivery: _video- cassette, CD ROM, Internet

If “no,” list proposed sites (use additional lines as needed):

(1)

(2)

(state

(3)

If cohort-based, length of time to complete the program (e.g., 18 mos., 2 years): not applicable

List any other UNC institution that offers a similar program in the same location (if requesting a site-based program) or a similar program by individual access (if requesting an individual access program): Institution Program title Does this program constitute a substantive change as defined by SACS/COC? Yes No x

If “yes,” which substantive change procedure applies? One _ (prior authorization from SACS)

Two _ (prior notification to SACS)

By what date should SACS be notified of authorization to establish?

The following items conform to the information required for SACS Substantive Change Procedure One

1 Abstract (limit to one page or less)

Describe the proposed change; its location; initial date of implementation; projected number of students; description of primary target audience; projected life of the program (single cohort [indicate number of years] or ongoing); and instructional delivery methods

2 Background information

Provide a clear statement of the nature and purpose of the change in the context of the institution’s

mission, goals, and strategic plan; evidence of the legal authority for the change (to be provided by UNC Office of the President).

3 Assessment of need and program planning/approval

Rationale The Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at North Carolina State University

is interested in delivering the existing Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering (MSAE) degree program via individual access distance education starting in August 2002 On Oct 30, 2001 the MAE faculty voted unanimously to begin the planning process to establish this program This program will allow students to earn MSAE degrees by taking 10 distance education courses (30 cr hrs.) The degree requirements will be identical to the MSAE-option B on-campus program The intended audience is full time employees in state and federal government agencies, military personnel, and industries Aerospace engineers are distributed throughout the state, particularly at military

installations

Intended Audience The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering has recently been

contacted by Honeywell Aerospace (Rocky Mount, NC), Kidde Aerospace (Rocky Mount, NC), and the Naval Air Systems Command (Cherry Point, NC) to provide distance education programs in Aerospace Engineering In addition, the Governor’s Office is developing an initiative to create an

“Eastern Technology Corridor” for economic development in Edgecombe, Halifax, Nash and Wilson Counties Distance education programs, provided by the MAE department, are an important part of this initiative The MAE Department has been actively involved in this development North Carolina State University offers the only Aerospace Engineering degree programs in the UNC system As such

it is appropriate that NCSU offer a Distance Education degree program in Aerospace Engineering Honeywell Aerospace and Naval Air Systems Command leaders believe that 50 and 60 students, respectively, will register for Distance Education MSAE programs There are no competing Master of Science programs in Aerospace Engineering offered via distance education in North Carolina at this time

Institutional Planning Departmental and College level Compact Plans have identified distance

education as an important and necessary delivery mode of graduate degree programs in the State of North Carolina This change has been included in ongoing planning and evaluation processes

Review and approval process All levels, from the faculty to the UNC office of the President, have

been involved in the review and approval of this plan to develop an MSAE distance education program The Notification of Intent to Plan a New Distance Education Degree Program in the Master

of Science in Aerospace Engineering was approved by the College of Engineering Graduate Studies Committee on Nov 21, 2001 The North Carolina State University Administrative Board of the Graduate School approved this Intent to Plan on January 24, 2002 It was subsequently forwarded and approved by Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications (DELTA), the Provost, and the Chancellor Funds ($50,000) have been provided to the MAE department by DELTA to help develop this distance education program This intent to plan document was sent to the UNC Office of the President and was posted on March 11, 2002 on the New Distance Education website at

http://www.northcarolina.edu/aa/reports/mem407/public_page.cfm for access by all constituent UNC institutions No concerns have been received regarding the intent to plan a New Distance Education Degree Program in the Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Provide projected annual enrollment:

Individual access: Years 1 _10 2 15_ 3 20_ 4 30_ 5 30_

Site 1: Years 1 _ 2 _ 3 _ 4 _ 5 _

Site 2: Years 1 _ 2 _ 3 _ 4 _ 5 _

Site 3: Years 1 _ 2 _ 3 _ 4 _ 5 _

Projected total SCHs (all sites):

Category I

Category II

Category III

Category I

Category II

Category III

Category I

Category II

Category III

Category I

Category II

Category III

4 Description of the change

Description of the proposed program

This program will deliver graduate level courses via videotape (or CDROM) through the studios and offices of NCSU’s College of Engineering’s Video Based Engineering Education (VBEE) program,

or via the World Wide Web to students throughout North Carolina This program will allow students

to earn MSAE degrees by taking 10 distance education courses (30 cr hrs.) The degree requirements will be identical to the MSAE-option B on-campus program The Mechanical and Aerospace

Engineering Department has actively participated in Distance Education since 1979 as part of the College of Engineering’s VBEE program The department currently offers between 8 and 10 VBEE courses per year and thus has the experience and desire for this proposed program to be successful The department intends to add approximately 10 new courses to the existing VBEE courses so that on the average 20 graduate level MAE distance education courses are offered each year The VBEE program provides financial incentive for offering new courses, and thus the driver is in place for aggressive development of these new courses It is expected that students could satisfy the degree requirements in 3 years The MAE Director of Graduate Programs will administer the application and admission process of this program The MAE faculty will advise students in this program in the same fashion that MS-Option B students are advised

Specific outcomes and learning objectives

The learning objectives of this distance education MSAE program will be identical to those for the current on-campus MSAE – Option B program Consistent with the objectives of a graduate

education as stated in the NC State Graduate Catalog, a distance education MSAE student should have completed the “reasonable, comprehensive mastery of the subject matter” pertaining to

Aerospace engineering As with on-campus students MSAE students, off-campus students will submit a Graduate study Plan of Work in consultation with a faculty advisor to ensure that this objective in achieved Most distance education MSAE students will also complete at three-credit hour independent study within their chosen research area of interest to demonstrate their independent investigation abilities

Curriculum and schedule of proposed course offering

As noted earlier, the degree requirements for the distance education MSAE degree will be identical to the on-campus MSAE-option B program In both cases, students earn an MSAE degree by taking 10 three-credit hour courses (30 cr hrs.) The admission process and requirements with will be identical Each student will have an academic advisor who is a faculty member in the Department Each student will be required to submit a Graduate Plan of Work which must include a minimum of 30 credit hours A distance education student will typically take 9 – 3 credit hour courses and a 3 credit hour Aerospace engineering project course The specific selection of courses is made by the student and the student’s faculty advisor and is approved the Director of Graduate Programs before the Plan of Work is submitted to the Graduate School

A detailed schedule for offering 20 MAE graduate level engineering courses in the distance education MSAE degree program is proposed The majority of these are expected to be video-based courses requiring TV studio time These courses will be delivered through the College of Engineering’s Video Based Engineering Education (VBEE) facilities using resources already available It is

expected that off-campus students could satisfy degree requirements in 3 years A preliminary six-year schedule for the 20 distance delivered course is given in Table 1 Note that that a full rotation through the 20 graduate courses occurs every three years and that 3 to 5 courses will be offered each semester Highly enrolled courses will be offered more often, once patterns are established The courses offering will allow students to concentrate in one of four areas as identified in Table 2

Describe and provide rationale for any differences in admission, curriculum, or graduation

requirements for students enrolled at the new site(s), or any special arrangements for grading, transcripts, or transfer policies.

There will be no difference in admission, curriculum, or graduation requirements for students

enrolled in the distance education MSAE degree program compared to those enrolled in the on-campus MSAE degree program Grading, transcripts, and transfer policies will also be the same

Describe administrative oversight to ensure the quality of the program or services to be offered.

Administrative oversight will be essentially the same as for the on-campus degree program Each student will have a faculty advisor who will advise the student regarding course selection The student must complete a graduate Plan of Work and obtain a signature from the advisor before the end of the student’s first semester The plan of Work must then be approved the Director of Graduate Programs and then by the Graduate School of NC State University Courses will be evaluated by student surveys Since all the proposed distance delivered courses will also be delivered to on-campus students all courses these courses are evaluated every ten years by the department, college and

university New courses are subject to the University Course Action approval process Student course evaluations will be sought from both on-campus and distance students The program will be subject to periodic review by the Graduate School as are all programs

Table 1 Preliminary six year Schedule for MAE Courses to be offered via Distance Education

Fall 2002

MAE 505 Heat Transfer Theory and Applications

MAE 521 Linear Control & Design for MIMO

MAE 533 Finite Element Analysis I

MAE 553 Compressible Fluid Flow

MAE 742Mech Design for Automated Assembly

Spring 2003

MAE 501 Advanced Engineering Thermo MAE 545 Metrology For Precision Manufac MAE 534 Mechatronics Design

MAE 561 Wing Theory

Fall 2003

MAE 504 Fluid Dynamics of Combustion I

MAE 513 Principles of Structural Vibration

MAE 541 Advanced Machine Design I

MAE 550Foundations of Fluid Dynamics

Spring 2004

MAE 534 Mechatronics Design MAE 543 Fracture Mechanics MAE 544 Real Time Robotics

Fall 2004

MAE 518 Acoustic Radiation I

MAE 524 Principles of Mechantronic Control

MAE 537 Mechanics of Composite Structures

MAE 560 Comp Fluid Mech & Heat Transfer

Spring 2005

MAE 501 Advanced Engineering Thermo MAE 545 Metrology For Precision Manufac MAE 534 Mechatronics Design

MAE 561 Wing Theory

Fall 2005

MAE 505 Heat Transfer Theory and Applications

MAE 521 Linear Control & Design for MIMO

MAE 533 Finite Element Analysis I

MAE 553 Compressible Fluid Flow

MAE 742Mech Design for Automated Assembly

Spring 2006

MAE 534 Mechatronics Design MAE 543 Fracture Mechanics MAE 544 Real Time Robotics

Fall 2006

MAE 504 Fluid Dynamics of Combustion I

MAE 513 Principles of Structural Vibration

MAE 541 Advanced Machine Design I

MAE 550Foundations of Fluid Dynamics

Spring 2007

MAE 501 Advanced Engineering Thermo MAE 545 Metrology For Precision Manufac MAE 534 Mechatronics Design

MAE 561 Wing Theory

Fall 2007

MAE 518 Acoustic Radiation I

MAE 524 Principles of Mechantronic Control

MAE 537 Mechanics of Composite Structures

MAE 560 Comp Fluid Mech & Heat Transfer

Spring 2008

MAE 534 Mechatronics Design MAE 543 Fracture Mechanics MAE 544 Real Time Robotics

Table 2 MAE Graduate Program Concentration Areas Thermal Sciences and Energy Systems

 Atomization and sprays

 Combustion

 Heat and mass transfer

 Renewable energy

 Thermal Management

 Thermodynamics

Aerodynamics, Fluid Mechanics & Propulsion

 Biofluid mechanics

 Computational fluid dynamics & design opt

 Experimental aerodynamics & flight research

 High-speed propulsion

 Reactive and multiphase flows

 Stability, transition and turbulence

Dynamics, Vibration and Controls

 Adaptive structures

 Control and system identification

 Machine design and dynamics

Structural Mechanics and Materials

 Active Materials & Auto-Adaptive Structures

 Composite Materials

 Elasticity, Plasticity and Fracture Mechanics

 Mechatronics and smart systems

 Vibration and acoustics

 Structural health monitoring

 Manufacturing and Automation

 Stochastic Mechanics

5 Faculty and support staff

Number of faculty expected to deliver instruction: full-time faculty _16 part-time faculty

A complete roster (using the SACS “Roster of Instructional Staff” form) of those faculty employed to teach in the program, including a description of those faculty members’ academic qualifications and course load in the proposed program, as well as course work taught in other programs currently offered;

See attached roster

Evidence that adequate faculty members are assigned to support the program;

Initially 16 of the approximately 40 departmental faculty will participate in the delivery of the 20 courses offered for the distance education MSAE program These courses will be taught by the faculty assigned to teach the on-campus sections and therefore there will not be any additional lectures in order to accommodate distance education courses Adequate faculty exists to support the distance program as these courses are already offered to on-campus students

Impact of the initiative on faculty workload; and

Faculty who teach distance students will do so by lecturing to on-campus students in studio

classrooms Thus, some additional faculty effort will be necessary to communicate with distance students via telephone or email in lieu of holding office hours and some incremental increase in grading will be associated with the increased course enrollment from distance students In addition, special effort to prepare and deliver quality lectures to distances students may be necessary, however, the same can be said for traditional delivery Presently, faculty receive overload compensation in consideration for any extra time required to deliver a distance education course For very large sections, resources for teaching assistants have been provided Thus, the impact on faculty workload

is marginal

Number and responsibilities of support staff (e.g., program coordinator).

The MAE graduate program has approximately 150 graduate students It is anticipated that the distance education MSAE degree program will generate approximately 30 new students by the 4th year of the program The responsibilities of the support staff will involve processing admission applications, advising students, processing graduate Plans of Work, and processing paperwork pertaining to graduation It is anticipated that this increase can be supported with existing resources in the first several years of the program

Describe means by which the institution will provide support services for students enrolled at the site(s) (e.g., admissions, skills assessment, course registration, academic advising, counseling, etc.).

Distance education students will apply for admission into the MSAE program in the same manner as on-campus students The student will submit an application to the Graduate School and indicate that the wish to be considered for the distance education MSAE degree program The student must also submit three letters of recommendation, transcripts, a statement of purpose, and GRE scores

International students are also required to submit TOEFL scores Students will be evaluated for admission on the basis of merit There are no skills tests required other that the GRE and, if

applicable, the TOEFL exam Course registration will be handled through the VBEE program and/or through the TRACS system, which are both existing support services Academic advising will be provided by an assigned MAE department faculty advisor

6 Library and learning resources

Describe library and information resources to support the program, including staffing and services

in place to support the initiative.

The NC State Libraries have been proactive in supporting distance education The libraries have established a procedure by which faculty can have material made available to students electronically via the WWW, such as through Electronic Course Reserves For example, there is no limit on the distribution of material that is not copyrighted, and up to 25% of copyrighted material may be distributed in the manner Thus, there is considerable flexibility in identifying materials (e.g., portions

of books, articles, technical reports, etc.) than can be distributed to students The NCSU libraries provide this service using existing staffing and services

The VBEE program provides a service to faculty and students of scanning lecture materials and handouts on a daily basis and posting them to a course web site Thus, all students have access to such materials The VBEE program provides this service using existing staffing

Instructors have the option of developing their own course web sites and posting material For example, if an instructor uses PowerPoint or Word for lecture notes, these notes can be posted by the instructor on their web site for distribution to students in the course The Wolfware system for managing course web sites is an existing service provided by the University

Describe cooperative agreements with other institutions and include a copy of such agreements in the appendix.

None

Relative to electronic resources, describe how students and faculty will access information, training for faculty and students in the use of online resources, and staffing and services available to students and faculty.

Electronic resources are typically accessed via the World Wide Web, such as in the case of electronic reserves at the NCSU libraries, VBEE web site, or course web sites

7 Physical resources

Describe physical facilities and equipment to support this initiative Assess the impact that the proposed change will have on existing programs and services.

The program will use existing facilities In particular, the studios and services of the VBEE program will be utilized There is sufficient studio time available to deliver 3 to 5 courses per semester, as previously discussed

8 Financial support

Describe financial resources to support the change, including the budget for the first year of the proposed program Include projected revenues (including tuition and fees receipts, state

appropriations based on projected SCHs, grants, etc.) and expenditures, as well as amount of resources going to institutions or organizations for contractual or support services.

The financial resources are in place to support the proposed distance education program In particular, support from the State of North Carolina for each in-state distance education credit hour will ensure the viability of the program

First year budget projections assuming that eight courses are offered with an average distance

enrollment of 10 students per class (some of which may be in the VBEE Master of Engineering program) all who are NC residents VBEE tuition rates are used here This budget estimate assumes that 4 of the 8 courses are being offered through distance for the first time and that no TA support is provided

1 st year income

Gross State appropriated enrollment change funding formula: 80 students × $1615/credit hour × 3 credit hours = $387,600

Net program income ~50% of gross income: $193,800

1 st year expenditures

Support to new distance instructors: 4 × $5,000 = $20,000

Support to previous distance instructors: 4 × $3,500 = $14,000

Support to department for new distance courses: 4 × $3,000 = $12,000

Support to department for previously offered distance courses: 4 × $2,000 = $8,000

Total: $118,000

9 Evaluation and assessment

Describe the means used by the institution to monitor and ensure the quality of the degree program and off-campus site(s).

Much of this was addressed in response to question 4 This means used to monitor and ensure the quality of the distance degree program include student course evaluations, review and approval processes for new course actions, review of faculty as part of the promotion and tenure and post-tenure review processes, and period review of individual graduate degree programs by the Graduate School

Summarize procedures for systematic evaluation of instructional results, including the process for monitoring and evaluating programs at the new site, as well as using the results of evaluation to improve institutional programs, services, and operations.

Not applicable

10 Appendices

Appendices may include items such as (1) vitae of key faculty; (2) selected letters of support; (3) copies of library and other cooperative agreements, etc.

Roster of Instruction Staff

Name, title, telephone, and e-mail of contact person to respond to questions:

Richard D Gould, Director of Graduate Programs, MAE Dept., (919) 515-5236, gould@eos.ncsu.edu

This request to establish a new distance education degree program (or program site) has been reviewed and approved by the appropriate campus committees and authorities.

Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs