Letter from the Chairman

Dear Alumni and Friends,

We are planning to host the Second Annual Chemical Engineering Reunion in September of 2003. Last year we gave tours of our undergraduate laboratories to highlight recent improvements. This year we plan to highlight on-going research projects in the department as well as have the labs open for everyone to tour. We want this to be a fun day for the family and give alumni an opportunity to visit with old friends, faculty, and staff.

In other news, we welcomed our third new faculty member at the start of the spring semester, Jerry Spivey, and you will read more about him in this issue. The third meeting of the Alumni Advisory Committee will be held August 15, 2003 to continue the work of helping the department define educational objectives and assessment tools to evaluate those objectives. And, we are scheduled to undergo two reviews later this year: one for ABET accreditation and the other as part of the University’s SACSCOC accreditation. Also, we will undergo a Program Review as part of our priority department status in February of 2004.

We continue our efforts towards improvements and modernizations to ensure that our program, on both undergraduate and graduate levels, meets the needs of local industry and produces graduates of the highest caliber. As always, if you have any questions or comments regarding our program and the direction in which we’re headed, please do not hesitate to stop by the department. The faculty and I would be most interested in speaking with you. We hope to have more information on the building in the next newsletter.

Sincerely,

F. Carl Knopf
Anding Professor and Chairman