Case Study 2: Advisory Committee
The EHS Department at MyTown University, in search of ABET accreditation, needs to develop an Advisory Committee. The first question that comes to mind is “what process will Dr. Laport use to select advisory committee members”. Dr. Mandell (the Dean) suggests using new blood, meaning those most recently hired to the department and suggests they include safety professionals from corporations who have given them large donations over the years.
Dr. Laport thinks about the Dean’s suggestions and tells him he is concerned about alienating the more senior faculty members in the department. She also comments that she thinks it would be wise to include people from companies that do not necessarily give them donations, but when Dr. Laport asks ‘why’ she doesn’t know what how to respond. She also poses the question “would it be wise to only invite alumni or should she seek any viable safety professional regardless where they received their safety degree”?
Dr. Mandell replies, “well, the most important thing is that you are careful about whom you select – especially when it comes to strong personalities…you know what I mean don’t you?” Dr. Laport says “I’m not sure I follow”. Dr. Mandell replies “ we want a group of people that are going to eventually reach a consensus and not argue just for the sake of arguing, as effective leaders we need to anticipate the need for consensus and pick some folks who not only know their subject material but who are also flexible and committed to MyTown University’s vision and core curriculum beliefs.”
Dr. Laport leaves Dr. Mandell’s office and thinks to herself that they are not totally on the same page. She knows she needs to select people that are committed to the EHS department’s success, does that mean to eliminate any safety professional that did not get their safety degree from MyTown, as only alumni would really care about MyTown? ….and wouldn’t having opposing perspectives (or personalities) be a good thing?
The next question that arises is the charter of the Advisory Committee. Considering that ABET accreditation is the goal, how can the Advisory Committee help reach this goal?
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Consider the following questions:
- What would you put on your agenda for the first meeting?
- What process should you use in selecting members? Would you take Dr. Mandell’s advice?
- Who would you select? Big companies, small companies, representative from around the country or the world, faculty members?
- How can the Advisory Committee help you deliver a high quality curriculum?
- How many members would you choose?
- How often would you meet?
- How will you honor the contributions of the members? For example if on member feels strongly that a course is missing from the curriculum and later discovers no such course was developed, is there a process for informing committee members why their idea was not pursued?
This case study is a modified version of the case study provided in the book Curriculum Leadership: Strategies for Development and Implementation, page 326. The authors of the book are Allan Glatthorn, Floyd Boschee, Bruce Whitehead and BonniBoschee. The modifications included shifting the tone of the case study from a school setting to an industrialized setting specific to safety.