New Programs Approved

During the 2008-09 academic year, we held an open house during which we announced plans for some very significant program changes, both in the EE and CMPE programs. These are now official! Faculty Senate approved the program and course changes and we will start implementing most of them Fall 2009.

As with any transition, there will be many questions and we will need your patience as we work through various problems when they come up. Here is our first attempt to anticipate your questions and provide some answers. You can find generic 4-year programs (so-called “blue sheets”) on the MCECS Undergraduate Forms page. In the near future, we will provide electronic versions of these for you to download and fill in so that you can see at a glance what else you need to do before graduating.

You will note that our new programs have tracks. We are currently planning to have 5-6 tracks in the EE program and two in the CMPE program. Blue sheets that spell out exact requirements for each track will be posted on our website by early September.

What does all this mean for you?

• If you are a senior, this won’t affect you, except that ECE 411 will be taught as a 4-credit course instead of the previous 2-credit version. This will help prepare you better for your Capstone project which will start in Winter 2010. Graduation requirements will remain the same and you should follow the blue sheets for 2008-09 (or earlier). When checking your DARS, make sure that you select the appropriate academic year (catalog year)!
• If you are a junior, then you are probably just now joining the department. If that is the case, you will have to come for advising. You can come and see either Dr. Hall or Dr. Brano (the academic advisors in ECE department) during the summer, or you can come for a group advising session which will be held the week before Fall term starts. You should be following our new blue sheets for 2009-10. One decision that you will have to make no later than Winter 2010 is which track to pursue.
• Juniors will have to select one of the tracks as their “specialization” within EE or CMPE program. There are 5 tracks in EE and 2 in CMPE. More information will be announced soon. This decision will have to be made some time during the winter quarter.
• Freshman and Sophomore students should simply follow the new 2009-10 blue sheets.
• There are going to be many of you that fall somewhere in between – if so, please come for advising with either Dr. Brano or Dr. Hall. You can send e-mail to our Undergraduate Coordinator, Jay Penev (zpenev@cecs.pdx.edu ), who will schedule you an appointment.

We will maintain a list of FAQs related to this transition. If you have a suggestion about what should be included in there, please let Jay know by e-mail.

Finally, we will hold one more open house meeting during the week of September 21 – 25. Please check the news page for the announcement.