This exploratory project will develop preliminary economic models that give universities the tools to understand and quantify the value of faculty accomplishments in teaching, mentoring, and advising. This understanding will provide the rationale for properly rewarding excellent faculty accomplishments in student interactions. There is great value to the school and institution in faculty who provide excellent student services in and out of the classroom, but it is difficult to quantify these accomplishments economically. This difficulty often means high achieving faculty in research funding are given much greater rewards by the school than high achieving faculty in the area of student experiences. The result of this disparity of rewards is to develop a faculty culture which undervalues faculty accomplishments for undergraduate students. This project will also develop preliminary economic models for the true impact of extramural support. Preliminary validation of these models will be done by surveying selected engineering institutions across a spectrum of funding scenarios. The models will be used to estimate the relative contributions of faculty in teaching, research, and service. Comparisons will be made to what the institution?s deans and department heads perceive as the relative contributions.
Improvement of engineering and science education and the appropriate rewarding of engineering faculty who deliver the undergraduate program is expected to result in improved student retention, increased enrollments, and improved quality of graduates. All of these factors should then result in a positive impact on the career success of our graduates. The model results will also enable development of a better understanding of the economic impact of the various activities in which faculty engage, which will help university administrators make more informed decisions about allocation of resources.
