Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1990 [PAGE 423]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1991]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

411

I recommend approval, subject to further action by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

On motion of Ms. Reese, this recommendation was approved.

Establishment of M.S. and Ph.D. Programs in Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Urbana

(7) T h e Urbana-Champaign Senate recommends the establishment of M.S. and Ph.D. programs in materials science and engineering in the College of Engineering. T h e Department of Materials Science and Engineering was formed in 1988 to bring together within one academic unit the faculty from the Departments of Ceramic Engineering and Metallurgy and Mining Engineering who work with different materials (e.g., metals, ceramics, polymers, and electronic materials), in order to facilitate the research and teaching interaction between these faculty, and to develop an educational program emphasizing both the fundamental physical science and the engineering aspects of a wide range of materials. This comprehensive approach to the study of materials within a single unit has become increasingly important as the use of different materials in conjunction with one another has become more prevalent and as our society has recognized the need to make knowledgeable choices in the use of one material rather than another. T h e proposed M.S. and Ph.D. programs and degrees in materials science and engineering present the broad educational and research activities of the department in many areas of materials science and engineering. T h e degrees will enhance the department's ability to attract top quality graduate students as well as faculty in certain areas. Of the 184 students currently enrolled in graduate programs of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 57 have academic interests in line with the new degree programs and are expected to want to enroll in the new programs once approved. Establishment of the new M.S. and Ph.D. programs will have very limited budgetary impact because the field is well developed and enrollment in the department's other programs will be reduced when the new programs are available. T h e M.S. program will normally require 8 units of course work, including a thesis and including one course in each of two areas of concentration within materials science and engineering that are outside the student's primary area. T h e r e will also be a nonthesis, 9-unit option. T h e Ph.D. degree will require, in addition to the requirements for the M.S. degree, an additional 6 units of course work, and 10 units of thesis credit. Course work includes graduate courses in the student's area of concentration and in other materials areas as well as other science and engineering subjects. A student must pass departmental qualifying examinations covering materials science in general, as well as meeting additional requirements in an area of concentration. A preliminary examination covering the student's thesis research is also required. T h e chancellor at Urbana and the vice president for academic affairs concur with the senate recommendation. I recommend approval, subject to further actions by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

On motion of Ms. Reese, this recommendation was approved. Naming of Buildings, Urbana

(8) On October 11, 1991, the University of Illinois Foundation announced an $18.7 million gift from the Grainger Foundation in memory of William Wallace Grainger, a 1919 U. of I. alumnus, to build the Grainger Engineering Library Information Center at the Urbana campus. Further, the Foundation announced a $1 million gift from Lawrence J. Plym to