President Kennedy appointed Professor Anderson to succeed Dr. Owen as department head. He was followed by Dr. Jorge Raue in September of 1979. Dr. Raue stayed only one year. Professor Michael Cirovic was appointed acting head July 1, 1980. Although Professor Cirovic was considered a master teacher, a good administrator, a technical author, and a highly paid consultant, he was without a Ph.D. degree. As a consequence, he was not acceptable to the President as a candidate for permanent appointment. Dr. James Harris, upon recommendation of the faculty and the dean of Engineering, was appointed head of the department beginning July 1, 1982.
Since Dr. Harris assumed leadership, strong emphasis has been placed on fund raising, new equipment donation, graduate program promotion, and faculty professional development.
The department's 1987-88 annual report to the dean of Engineering provides the most recently available information on the status of the EL/EE Department. The curricula, the student-teacher interrelationship, the success and achievements of the alumni and the unique campus location have each contributed to the exceptional reputation of the department. As a consequence, the Chancellor's Office declared the EL and EE majors as impacted majors. With impaction, an enrollment base is set and admission is granted to the applicants on an academic merit basis as a percent of the allowable spaces. Top academic students will as a matter of insurance ap~ply to several other prestigious schools as well as Cal Poly. Often they are pressured into an early acceptance by one of these schools. This results, amongst other things, in an under enrollment of new students to the department.
Enrollment has been declining since 1985. For the 1987-88 academic year, matriculating freshman students represented 17 percent of the applicants and matriculating transfer students represented 25.5 percent of applicants. This year saw total enrollments of 259 EE's, 595 EL's and 11 graduate students; 17 percent were in the lower division and 83 percent in the upper division. This separation contrasts rather markedly with the 40 and 60 percent mandated by the master plan (Donahue Act) implemented in 1960. Of the total of 239 degrees granted, 97 B.S. in EE, 186 B.S. in EL and 9 M.S. in EE or EL, 14 percent of the seniors had a GPA of 3.5 or higher; 31 percent ranked between 3.0 and 3,49.
To accomplish its mission, the department was allocated 29.5 faculty positions and 8.5 staff and student assistant positions. Propositions 13 and Gann coupled with the burgeoning population limit the resources necessary to provide quality education by Cal Poly, and in turn the EL/EE Department. The creative foresight, enthusiasm, and energy of Dr. James Harris, department head (1982--1989) has done much to not only maintain a quality operation, but also to enhance the level as well. Through his efforts, an endowment fund has been created (currently amounting to $12,000). It is anticipated that alumni and friends will recognize and solve the challenges California and this nation face as we move into the twenty-first century.
For the 1987-88 academic year nonstate funding reached a new high:
In-Kind Equipment $122,200 (6 participants)
Cash
Industry (7 participants) 21,250
Alumni/friends 29,300
Dean's Office 8,000
Grants 8,300
Scholarships/Fellowships 16,300 (10 participants)
Senior Project 10,000
Total $215,350
During the year nineteen faculty and staff received $20,230 toward expenses incurred in attendance at professional meetings or workshops. Starting back in the early 1980's, faculty have been receiving on-campus grants to pursue research and development projects. For 1987-88, six faculty received $82,500 in new grants.
Shortly after his arrival on campus, Dr. Harris became aware of the need to update the physical facilities of the department. He envisioned a faculty office building providing single person offices and laboratories which would accommodate computer facilitated laboratory stations, and interaction between laboratories and offices via local area computer networking. Through his persistent lobbying of officialdom, he has succeeded in his dream. The plans and working drawings are completed and fully budgeted at $4,300,000 to build a two-story office building for the department and remodel the areas in Engineering East (Building 20), which will be utilized by the department's laboratories and support facilities. The office building will be located in the larger quadrangle of Engineering East. The construction is projected to begin with the faculty office building in March 1990. The remodeling of the laboratories is to begin in the summer of 1990, and be completed by the fall of 1991.
Beginning with the 1989-90 academic year, the governance of the department will change drastically by the request of the faculty. The faculty, after a year of study, discussion, compromising and voting adopted a document entitled Policies and Procedures for Governance. The purpose is to provide for full and meaningful consultation between various governance at the pleasure of the dean and/or faculty. This governance will call for much more faculty involvement and responsibility in all aspects of the governance of the department. Time will tell if strong leadership and continuity for the long term can be achieved with decision making by committee. The future reputation of the department rests on the wisdom and successful implementation of this operational decision by the faculty in residence in 1988-89.