Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1968 [PAGE 285]

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1966]

U N I V E R S I T Y OF I L L I N O I S

233

tion). T h e new Department represents the consolidation of two former small departments: the Department of Preventive Medicine and the Department of Public Health. The earlier departments have had quite small staffs and inadequate facilities. When Phase II of the Medical Sciences Addition has been completed, the new Department will have adequate facilities, and funds are requested for the addition of two F T E academic staff members, one nonacademic position, and funds for wages, expense, and equipment (totaling $81,000 for the biennium). 7c. Urbana-Champaign Campus $876 500 (1) International Program in Agriculture ($160,000). The College of Agriculture is planning a new educational and research program in international agriculture, in the expectation that a substantial grant will be forthcoming from the Agency for International Development (under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1966). This will be a highly important program involving several departments within the College, and should have long-range significance both for the University and for the country. T h e funds requested would provide a nucleus of support for administrative purposes and for the guarantee of a few tenured positions. The focus of the work initially would be upon Indian agriculture, and it is hoped that this on-campus program can be coordinated with the University's overseas contract program in India sponsored by A I D . (2) Asian Studies ($140,000). T h e sum of $100,000 was requested for the 1965-67 biennial budget, but this amount was reduced to $45,000 in the recommendation of the Board of Higher Education. With this sum, a small beginning has been made towards the support of the Center for Asian Studies. T h e purpose of the present request is to expand that program, with particular reference to offerings in Japanese and Chinese history and literature. The funds requested would provide four academic positions, two library positions, and two clerical positions. The additional incremental sum requested should make it possible for the Asian studies program to finance future expansion from funds secured from enrollment-increase allotments and from outside grants. (3) Graduate Training for Junior-College Personnel ($89,000). This program is sponsored by the College of Education at Urbana-Champaign and is directed towards the training of administrative personnel and teachers for the junior colleges of the state. Together with staff already provided, the addition of $44,500 on an annual basis would make possible a senior appointment in the field of administration, a specialist in the area of institutional research, a halftime assistant, a secretary, and funds for wages, expense, and equipment. The program is badly needed, and the College has well-developed plans for implementing it. (4) Major Reorientation of the Civil Engineering Curriculum ($200,000). The Department of Civil Engineering at Urbana-Champaign is one of the most distinguished graduate and research departments in the country (ranking second in the recent study of the American Council on Education). T h e purpose of the present proposal is to reorganize and give totally new direction to the undergraduate curriculum in Civil Engineering. Extensive research and development has already been done in several aspects of the methodology that would underlie the new program — particularly through the work of the Civil Engineering Systems Laboratory established last year. The new approach would emphasize the use of computers in courses in structural analysis and in design processes, as well as in the programming of building construction and similar systems analysis related to Civil Engineering problems. Initially, approximately one-third of the Civil Engineering curriculum would be shifted to the new program, and the entire curriculum would be changed as appropriate staff and laboratory facilities could be provided. T h e sum requested for 1967-69 would provide funds for additional staff (academic and nonacademic), and for wages, expense, and equipment. (5) New Program in Geology ($124,000). Recently, a new head was appointed for the Department of Geology with the understanding that steps would be taken to strengthen the Department's work in certain neglected fields that arc highly important in modern geology: structural geology, geophysics, and geochemistry. The Department has had no structural geologists for many years, and