Enhancing Specialized Course Offerings
- Conference
- Location
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Vancouver, BC
- Publication Date
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June 26, 2011
- Start Date
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June 26, 2011
- End Date
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June 29, 2011
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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International
- Page Count
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9
- Page Numbers
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22.620.1 - 22.620.9
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--17901
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/17901
- Download Count
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340
Paper Authors
Zsuzsa Balogh Metropolitan State College of Denver
Richard Pozzi Metropolitan State College of Denver
Professor Richard Pozzi is the Chair of the Engineering Technology Department at Metropolitan State College of Denver. He has served Metro State since 2002 in adjunct and visiting professor positions for the Electrical Engineering Technology Program. In 2008, he became tenure track faculty and Chair of Engineering Technology. Professor Pozzi brings to the position of Chair over thirty years experience in various management and engineering positions from employment with Nortel Networks, Bell System that was spun off into U.S. West, and Western Electric Corporation. While at Nortel he developed a Managed IP Voice and Data Product solution for California School Systems. Some of Professor Pozzi’s various job titles have been: Director of Systems Engineering and Sales Support, Senior Systems Engineer, Acting Director Network Architecture, Senior Network Architect, Project Manager for Electronic Library, Director Mechanized Information Systems, Director Planning and Administrative Services, Director Inventory Management, Manager Business Services, and Field Engineer. Mr. Pozzi enjoys golf, his grandkids, and running in his time off.
Jeno Balogh Metropolitan State College of Denver
Peter Ivanyi University of Pecs
Richard Matthew Gutkowski Colorado State University
Dr. Richard M. Gutkowski, Ph.D., P.E., is Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at Colorado State University (CSU). He earned B.S.C.E. and M.S.C.E. degrees from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has memberships in Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, Chi Epsilon, and is a Life Member in the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was CSU’s Program Director in the Mountain Plains Consortium for Transportation Research and Continuing Education for 18+ years, managing research, graduate education, technology transfer and student internship programs. He helped develop the Transportation Learning Network (TLN), a regional telecommunications network for research and graduate education, managed CSU's site and served on the TLN Board of Director since its inception over a decade ago. He was Interim Director of the Colorado Transportation Information Center from 1991 - 1994. He proposed and was Interim Director for the Technology Transfer and Training Program for Native Americans, a national transportation center created by the FHWA/BIA and based at CSU. In 2004 and onward, he cooperated in teleconferenced-based education with Budapest University of Technology and Economics in Hungary. In 2006, he was a charter inductee as an Honorary Member of the Hungarian Club of Colorado at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
Abstract
Enhancing Specialized Course OfferingsAcademic institutions throughout the world face budgetary constraints due to downturn in theeconomy. In the US, most state funding for higher education was reduced considerably.Although Recovery Act funds were awarded to ameliorate the effect of these budgetaryreductions, this funding expires in 2011. To balance higher education budgets, a strategy adoptedby many universities is to increase the minimum student enrolment required for a class to beoffered. While the new minimum enrolment numbers aid in reducing operating costs and assistswith balancing the budget, they may negatively impact a student’s education opportunitiesbecause senior level specialized courses will be cancelled due to minimum class enrollmentrequirements or will only be offered sporadically.This paper describes how utilization of existing academic cooperation nationally andinternationally and use of technology could allow universities to offer such courses whilereducing operating expense. Many institutions have built extensive partnerships for student andfaculty exchanges or research collaborations which now could be utilized to jointly offer thesespecialized courses. The joint course offering would allow the expert professor the opportunity toteach the course while ensuring the enrolment quotas are met. The paper details how such joint-courses could be organized when the cooperating institutions are located in different states orcountries. Experience shows, that such courses provide for a more diverse course both in contentand in student body, and are appreciated by the students. The methods outlined in the paper, suchas teleconferencing and ‘visiting’ courses, not only allow for continuing the offering of thespecialized courses but also allow the campus to offer preeminent educational opportunity forstudents regardless of the economic conditions.
Balogh, Z., & Pozzi, R., & Balogh, J., & Ivanyi, P., & Gutkowski, R. M. (2011, June), Enhancing Specialized Course Offerings Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--17901
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