Report on the Fall ’07 ABET Board Meeting

Arnie Peskin, IEEE Representative Director, ABET Board of Directors

Nov. 17, 2007 Boston, MA

ABET Annual Meeting

75th Anniversary Event Program was much better than usual,

i.e. : Todd Nissen, US Trade Representative

(on accreditation and globalization) Charles Vest, Pres. of NAE, past pres. of

MIT (on attributes of future engineers)

Board Meeting---Major Topic Was Financials

ABET Reserves are perilously low (estimates are from under $100k to $191k projected year-end).

ABET Leadership team expect to add an additional $177k in 2008.

Have made operational changes in financial management

No imminent cash-flow problem. Goal is to reach goal of 30% reserves

within next three years.

Details added in Executive Session

The numbers are not confidential My opinions are not confidential Specific causes and remedies may

be.

How did this happen?

IEEE has been warning ABET of this danger for at least two years.

Budgets are set early, changed capriciously during the year.

Systemic flaws in budgeting, reporting and analysis.

Transitions to new model & software mishandled.

Actions Now Being Taken

$350k in additional expense reductions and revenue increases identified for 2008.

Changes to forecasting and reporting.

Staff consolidation due to attrition.

Longer Term Measures

Strategic and governance issues, current structure ineffective.

Staff changes, new external auditor. A management consultant will be

retained in 2009.

Reaction of the Board

Mixed: some see a crisis, others are more ambivalent.

IEEE/CSAB Directors are skeptical that the worst is behind us.

EAB should be prepared for an assessment increase despite assurances to the contrary.

Other Major Issues

Board Operations Task Group PAVE International Accreditation

Board Operations Task Group

Staff has partially implemented the prior recommendations on transparency and engagement.

They expect full implementation in the coming year.

Next interim Board teleconference scheduled for Feb. 6, 2008

PAVE

Society survey and Society Summit helped capture best practices.

PEV Training fully implemented; usable application expected this year

Should go into maintenance mode within one year.

Financial ramifications: there are additional economies to be derived by scaling down training plans

International Accreditation

Full implementation is ramping up. Trend is to blur the distinction

between domestic and international But apparently this is not a culprit in

budget shortfall.

Other Noteworthy Actions

Liabilities associated with the word ‘safety’ in EAC criteria

NCOSE voted onto ABET Board with shared responsibilities in Systems Eng.

ABET will levy a fee for Observer attendance at meetings.

Establishment of an ABET Foundation to support special projects

2007-2008 BOD

Skip Fletcher new ABET President; Joe Sussman new President-elect

Bruce Eisenstein succeeds Arnie Peskin as IEEE Director

Departed from custom by conducting some business before adjournment

Report on Strategic Management Initiative

Governance, Globalization and Education

Just getting organized Developing guiding principles and

postulating possible outcomes

Likely Strategic Outcomes

Add academic and industrial Board representation, yet making Board smaller

Establish authentication and portability of credentials

Accommodate alternative course delivery systems.

The future of campus visits???

Next Meetings

Inter-meeting teleconference, Feb. 6 Next meeting scheduled for March 28

in Baltimore May be cancelled in favor of another

teleconference as a cost saving

Personal Reflections

This is a critical moment for ABET ABET would have been far worse off

without the activism of IEEE ABET is worth preserving.