UNION COUNTY COLLEGE ACADEMIC PROGRAM REVIEW. Engineering/Environmental Science. Associate in Science Degree

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1 I. Program Objectives UNION COUNTY COLLEGE ACADEMIC PROGRAM REVIEW Engineering/Environmental Science Associate in Science Degree The Environmental Science Option offers the first two years of a bachelor s degree program with a major in environmental science or environmental engineering. It is designed for students who seek a career in some field of environmental protection, waste management, and pollution control. Students who plan to transfer to an engineering program should take PHY in lieu of PHY Other course substitutions may be appropriate and students are encouraged to consult with a faculty advisor regarding appropriate course selections. Because of the diversity of undergraduate environmental programs, it may be necessary for students to take one or more second-year courses at their transfer institutions. Applicants for the Environmental Science Option must present two years of algebra and one year of geometry, trigonometry, chemistry, and physics, as high school entrance credits. Students deficient in any of these subjects must take appropriate preparatory credits. All students are required to take a mathematics placement test. The specific objectives of this program are that the graduate must be able to demonstrate: critical thinking and problem-solving skills in chemistry, physics, calculus, statistics, and economics; an understanding of ecological and geological principles and their relationship to problems involving environmental quality control; the ability to apply knowledge of computer science, including computer programming skills, using an appropriate programming language (e.g., C++); the ability to perform laboratory experiments and measurements, and to graph and analyze experimental data; the ability to work as a team member; the ability to write and communicate effectively. II. Departmental Organization and Administration The ENES program is beneath the umbrella of the ETA (Engineering/Technology/Architecture) department that also includes physics and astronomy. Department communication is informal with no strict constraints. Frequent department meetings are held, although attendance is sometimes low due to time conflicts with laboratory teaching schedules. and mobile communication devices are used extensively among department faculty.

2 III. Faculty During the academic year the ENES program consisted of three, full-time, tenured faculty members who taught courses within the Engineering/Physics department. The only courses within the Engineering/Physics department that are offered under the ENES program of study are Intro to Fundamental Engineering and Physics. Professors Gilbert taught courses within the Engineering/Environmental Science department during both the Fall 2006 semester and the Spring 2007 semester. Professor Garcia taught courses within the Engineering/Environmental Science department in the Fall of 2006 and Professor Nathanson taught courses within the Engineering/Environmental Science department in the Spring of Professor Garcia taught 15 contact hours during the Fall semester and of those contact hours, 3 were within the Engineering department. Professor Gilbert taught 13 contact hours during both the Fall and Spring semesters all of which were within the Engineering department. Professor Nathanson taught 17 contact hours during the Spring semester, 6 of which were within the Engineering department. There were no part-time faculty who taught courses in the Engineering/Environmental Science department in the Fall of 2006 or the Spring of IV. Curriculum Mathematics (17 credits): Science (26 credits): Communications (6 credits): Humanities/Social Sciences (12 credits): Technical (3 credits): Programming (3 credits): Health (2 credits): Total (69 credits) MAT 148 Intro to Graphics Calculators/Derive MAT 171 Unified Calculus I MAT 172 Unified Calculus II MAT 127 Elementary Statistics MAT 271 Unified Calculus III CHE 125 General Chemistry I CHE 112 General Chemistry II CHE 221 Organic Chemistry I PHY 111 Mechanics with lab PHY 201 Electricity & Magnetism with lab GEY 101 Physical Geology GEY 102 Historical Geology ENG 101 English Composition I ENG102 English Composition II Elective in Social Science Elective in Humanities ECO 201 Principles of Economics I HIS 101 Intro to Western Civilization I EGG 105 Intro to Fundamentals of Engineering CSC 101 Computer Algorithms PED 101 Concepts of Adult Fitness The total number of credits required in the ENES program meets the criteria for being awarded an Associate s in Science degree. Foundational mathematics courses are required. The importance of the English communications courses cannot be overemphasized; repeatedly

3 employer feedback highlights the need for good communications skills from employees. The science and humanities/social science courses help contribute to developing students wellrounded general education. The sequence of science courses consists of ten credits in Chemistry, eight credits in Physics and eight credits in Geology. All of these courses have the appropriate content and level as indicated by the course descriptions in the UCC course catalog. All of them also have sufficient laboratory hours that are essential for application of techniques learned inside the classroom. V. Articulation Agreements or Joint Admission Agreements Students who wish to pursue a four-year degree in ENES and enroll in the joint admission program between UCC and NJIT are guaranteed entry at junior level status into a parallel program, provided they have completed an associate s degree and fulfill the necessary criteria of the dual admission program. NJIT programs include Management, Architecture, Computer Science, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Engineering Science, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Construction Engineering Technology, Electrical Engineering Technology, Manufacturing Engineering Technology, and Mechanical Engineering Technology. VI. Students a. Program Enrollment Analysis The proportionate change in total ENES majors enrolled over the past five years shows that the number of students fluctuates. The total enrollment in the academic year included 11 ENES majors, most of whom were continuing (6) or former (3) students. Table 2 details ENES enrollment patterns over the past several years. Table 3 further details fall enrollment patterns by attendance status. As can be seen in this table, the number of students enrolled has decreased each Fall from 2003 which had 13 students enrolled to 2006 which had only 6 students enrolled. Table 4 shows the number of transfers into the ENES program. The number of transfers into the ENES program increased from 1 to 2 from to and remained at 2 in It then decreased to 1transfer from and remained at 1 in before decreasing to zero in and remaining at zero in Student attrition throughout the ENES program has hindered students academic success. As Table 5 depicts, there was 1 first time ENES student in the Fall 2005 semester who was enrolled for 3 semesters before changing their major. There were no graduates of the ENES program over the four semesters from the Fall 2005 cohort. Table 6 shows the number of graduates from the ENES program over the past five years. There were no graduates from the ENES program from the to the academic years. Credit hours generated from ENES students increased 235 hours to 367 credit hours from fiscal year (FY) 2001 to FY 2004 and then decreased 202 hours to 165 credit hours from FY 2004 to FY Table 7 contains this information.

4 The ENES direct instructional cost has increased about $60 between the 2001 and 2006 fiscal years, to $17,950.55, while the cost per full-time equivalent (FTE) student has also decreased around $220, to $3, Table 8 has figures since FY2001. There is one similar Certificate program in the area, 1 Associate in Applied Science degree program, 2 Associate in Science degree programs, 15 Bachelor s degree programs, 3 Graduate Certificate programs, 7 Master s degree programs, and 6 Doctoral degree programs. Table 9 lists these schools and programs. b. Core Course Scheduling and Enrollment Table 10 depicts the distribution of students among core ENES courses from the to academic years. Overall, 6,704 (duplicate) students enrolled in 348 sections of core ENES courses with an average class size of 19.3 students. A total of 1,017 (duplicate) students enrolled in the core ENES courses in academic year There were 43 sections that ran, with an overall average class size of 23.7 students. During the academic year, 851 (duplicate) students enrolled in 42 sections for an average class size of 20.3 students. It should be noted that there is no course that is run specifically for ENES majors and students in other disciplines are included in these enrollments. It should also be noted that all of the core courses in the ENES program were offered and ran at least once during the to academic years. Additional required course enrollment is presented in Table 11. Table 12 contains core course scheduling information. There were a total of 397 core courses offered, of which 348 ran, over the seven year time period. Most ENES major courses were offered (and ran) on the Cranford campus. Tuesday/Thursday courses dominated the schedule, with 88 of the 92 offered courses running. Apart from Tuesday/Thursday courses, the most popular days for courses were Unknown (online or other) (59 that ran) and classes that started between 8:00am - 8:59am (48 that ran). c. Student Outcomes The Office of Assessment, Planning and Research conducts an annual survey of UCC graduates. There were no responses received from ENES graduates over the past five years. See Table 13. An analysis using the CCbenefits occupational projections tool revealed that the job forecast for students graduating from ENES programs in the Newark-Union Labor Area is not a big concern. The area fell short of the expected change by 67 jobs but still resulted in an increase of 146 jobs over a ten year period. Highlights of this analysis can be found in Appendix I. VII. Summary and Conclusions The obvious weakness of the ENES program is low enrollment. Enrollment in the ENES program was 9 students in Subsequent enrollment increased to 11 students in and continued to increase to 18 and then 19 students in and respectively. Enrollment then decreased to 13 students in and decrease again to 11 students in both FY 06 and FY 07. The number of first-time students in the program in FY

5 2007 was only 2, which is a relatively small number for an entering class. Given the low retention rate in the program, the number of students surviving to the second and third semesters will likely be small. Another weakness of the ENES program is that there are no courses offered specifically for the ENES major. The curriculum should be adjusted to focus more on environmental science. The cost per FTE of the ENES program, i.e., $3,005.66, exceeds the median cost per FTE of programs at UCC which was $2, in FY The occupation employment projections for Environmental Scientists and Environmental Engineers show zero annual average job openings from 2004 to 2014 for Union County. 1 However, over the next decade, an increase of 10% is projected in the region for Environmental Scientists and Environmental Engineers. 2 The ENES Program was not designated as a regional program because it is not unique among community colleges in the State, e.g., Essex, Ocean and Sussex offer programs. Multiple 4-year institutions in New Jersey offer the program as a bachelor s degree, master s degree and doctoral degree. An analysis of the curriculum shows that the ENES Program is lacking courses in environmental science. The curriculum needs to be revised and updated to address current topics and developments in the field. It is recommended that the program be closed to new students until such time as a new curriculum has been submitted to the curriculum committee for approval by the faculty. 1 Source: State of New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development 2 Source: CCbenefits

6 Table 1 Faculty Profile Academic Year Number of Number Credits Taught Fall 2006 Full-Time Faculty Part-Time Faculty 0 0 Spring 2007 Full-Time Faculty Part-Time Faculty credits were not in the Engineering Department 2 11 credits were not in the Engineering Department

7 Table 2 Program Enrollment Five Year Summary 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 Continuing First Admits Former Transfers (2 yr) Transfers (4 yr) Total Students % Change

8 Table 3 Full-Time/Part-Time Status Five Year Summary (Fall Enrollment) % change 2002 % change 2003 % change Full-Time Part-Time Total Students % change 2005 % change 2006 % change Full-Time Part-Time Total Students

9 Table 4 External Transfers Five Year Summary Academic Year 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 Number of students % change 100.0% 0.0% -50.0% 0.0% % n/a

10 Table 5 Attrition / Retention First Time in Fall 2005 # % Enrolled for 1 semester Enrolled full-time for 1 semester 0 N/A After 1 semester Enrolled for 2 semesters Enrolled full-time for 2 semesters 0 N/A After 2 semesters Enrolled for 3 semesters Enrolled full-time for 3 semesters 0 N/A After 3 semesters 0 1 N/A Enrolled for 4 semesters 0 N/A Enrolled full-time for 4 semesters 0 N/A After 4 semesters 0 N/A 1 student changed major

11 Table 6 Degrees Conferred Five Year Summary Academic Year 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 Number of degrees % change N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

12 Table 7 Credit Hours Generated The unadjusted student credit hours generated for the Engineering/Environmental Science program is as follows: FY FY FY FY FY FY Program Engineering/Environmental Science (ENES)

13 Table 8 Direct Instructional Cost (in dollars) FY 2001 FY 2002 FY 2003 FY 2004 FY 2005 FY 2006 Direct Cost 18, , , , , , Cost per FTE 3, , , , , ,005.66

14 Table 9 Local Engineering Programs Institution Program Degree Engineering/Environmental Science Essex County College Environmental Science A.A.S Ocean County College Environmental Science A.S. Sussex County Community College Environmental Science A.S. Ramapo College of New Jersey Environmental Science B.A. Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Environmental Science B.A. Rowan University Environmental Science B.A. Stevens Institute of Technology Environmental Engineering B.E. Rutgers University/New Bruswick Environmental Policy/Institutions & Behavior B.S. Fairleigh Dickinson University Environmental Science B.S. Ramapo College of New Jersey Environmental Science B.S. William Paterson University of NJ Environmental Science B.S. Monmouth University Environmental Sciences B.S. Rider University Environmental Sciences B.S. Rutgers University/New Bruswick Environmental Sciences B.S. Rutgers University/Newark Environmental Sciences (w/njit) B.S. New Jersey Institute of Technology Environmental Sciences (w/rutgers-nwk) B.S. Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Environmental Studies B.S. New Jersey Institute of Technology Environmental Engineering B.S. Felician College Environmental Science Certif. Fairleigh Dickinson University Environmental Science Grad. Cert. Rutgers University/New Bruswick Environmental Resource Monitoring Grad. Cert. Stevens Institute of Technology Air Pollution Technology Grad. Cert. Montclair State University Environmental Studies M.A. Stevens Institute of Technology Environmental Engineering M.E. Rutgers University/Newark Environmental Science (w/njit) M.S. New Jersey Institute of Technology Environmental Science (w/rutgers-nwk) M.S. Rutgers University/New Bruswick Environmental Sciences M.S. Fairleigh Dickinson University Systems Science: Environmental Studies M.S. New Jersey Institute of Technology Environmental Engineering M.S. Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Environmental Science P.S.M. Rutgers University/Newark Environmental Science (w/njit) Ph.D. New Jersey Institute of Technology Environmental Science (w/rutgers-nwk) Ph.D. Rutgers University/New Bruswick Environmental Sciences Ph.D. New Jersey Institute of Technology Environmental Engineering Ph.D. Stevens Institute of Technology Environmental Engineering Ph.D. * Source: New Jersey Commission on Higher Education

15 Table 10 Core Course Enrollment Number Avg. Number Avg. Number Avg. Number Avg. Total of Class Total of Class Total of Class Total of Class Students Sections Size Students Sections Size Students Sections Size Students Sections Size Course CHE CSC ECO EGG GEY GEY MAT PHY PHYL PHY PHYL Annual Total TOTAL Number Avg. Number Avg. Number Avg. Number Avg. Total of Class Total of Class Total of Class Total of Class Students Sections Size Students Sections Size Students Sections Size Students Sections Size Course CHE CSC ECO EGG GEY GEY MAT PHY PHYL PHY PHYL Annual Total

16 Table 11 Additional Course Enrollment Number Avg. Number Avg. Number Avg. Number Avg. Total of Class Total of Class Total of Class Total of Class Course Students Sections Size Students Sections Size Students Sections Size Students Sections Size CHE CHE ENG 101 1, , , , ENG 102 1, , , , HIS , , MAT MAT MAT MAT PED Annual Total 3, , , , TOTAL Number Avg. Number Avg. Number Avg. Number Avg. Total of Class Total of Class Total of Class Total of Class Course Students Sections Size Students Sections Size Students Sections Size Students Sections Size CHE CHE ENG 101 1, , , , ENG 102 1, , , , HIS 101 1, , , , MAT , MAT , MAT MAT PED Annual Total 5, , , ,775 1,

17 Table 12 ENES Core Course Scheduling (including laboratories) Academic Year to Frequency Offered Ran Campus Cranford Elizabeth Plainfield 1 0 Off Campus Total Days Monday Tuesday Wednesday 9 8 Thursday Friday Saturday 13 9 Sunday 1 0 Monday/Wednesday Tuesday/Thursday Wednesday/Friday 7 7 Monday/Wednesday/Friday d d /F Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday 7 7 Unknown Total Class Start Times 7:00-7:59 am 3 2 8:00-8:59 am :00-9:59 am :00-10:59 am :00-11:59 am :00-12:59 pm :00-1:59 pm :00-2:59 pm :00-3:59 pm 4 4 4:00-4:59 pm 5 4 5:00-5:59 pm 9 9 6:00-6:59 pm :00-7:59 pm 37 36

18 8:00-8:59 pm 1 1 9:00-9:59 pm Unknown Total

19 Table 13 Graduate Survey Information Graduate Survey Information -- ENES Majors n=0 n=0 n=0 n=0 n=0 Accomplished objective Currently employed full-time Currently employed part-time Satisfied with UCC, in general Would choose UCC again Recommend UCC Transferred School CIP Code(s) Credits Accepted

20 Appendix I Engineering/Environmental Science Job Forecast CCbenefits provides data, tools and reports for community colleges to use for occupational projections with respect to specific educational programs. For the purposes of this report, the APR office utilized the economic forecaster module to investigate the occupational projections for graduates of the Engineering/Environmental Science program, Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes and The analysis links the academic program by CIP code to the federal government s Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. CIP code is mapped to SOC codes , environmental scientist and specialists, including health and , environmental science and protection technicians, including health. CIP code is mapped to SOC code , environmental engineers. Environmental Science (CIP ) Mapped to SOC : Environmental scientists and specialists, including health and; SOC : Environmental science and protection technicians, including health. Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering (CIP ) Mapped to SOC : Environmental engineers. For the Newark-Union Labor Area (Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Sussex, Union). Timeframe: (5 years) Over the next five years, a projected increase of eighty-eight engineering/environmental science jobs (6.10%) is predicted for the Newark-Union Labor area. This compares to a 6% increase in New Jersey and a 12% increase nationally. General economic growth throughout the US should create about 125 additional engineering/environmental science jobs in this area over the next five years. An expected 40 engineering/environmental science jobs will be created in the local area over the next five years. However, a regional decline of 77 engineering/environmental science jobs is expected by the year In sum, 125 jobs created + 40 local jobs gained 77 national jobs lost = 88 total projected job gain. The concentration of engineering/environmental science jobs in the Newark- Union Labor area is above the national average but this concentration is expected to decline over the next five years. Throughout the State of New Jersey, areas that specialize in engineering/environmental science jobs are Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon, Union, Salem, Monmouth and Essex counties, since these areas are above the national concentration average in engineering/environmental science jobs. Timeframe: (10 years) The engineering/environmental science job market in the Newark-Union Labor area over the next ten years is projected to have an increase of one hundred and forty-six jobs. Regionally, an increase of 10% of engineering jobs is anticipated over the next 10 years, compared to an increase of 10% at the state and 20% at the national level. The future health of the economy over the next ten years should account for an additional 213 engineering/environmental science jobs in the Newark-Union Labor area. A projected gain of 74 engineering/environmental science jobs in the local area is a result of occupational performance at the national level. Regional attributes are expected to

21 account for the loss of 141 jobs in this labor area. In total, this equates to a job gain of 146 engineering/environmental science jobs over the next ten years.