The female students feel that the department and the ME student body is gender neutral. The department has engaged in a sincere and dedicated effort to assess learning outcomes in all aspects of the curriculum. The existing assessment instruments have been significantly strengthened after rigorous reviews. Several new assessment instruments have been created, e.g., Capstone Design surprise and formal alumni surveys. Feedback loops in many cases have been in place for several years, and new feedback loops have been implemented in the case of more recent assessment processes.
Faculty play a central role in integrating the assessment processes into the curriculum.
ME faculty salaries are low compared to our peer institutions. This salary increase model benefits most of the other colleges at NMSU at the expense of Engineering and Business faculty. This salary increase model results in salary compression in Engineering and particularly in Mechanical Engineering where a more market-sensitive model is desperately needed. The salary model creates a significant barrier for the department to compete in the ME Ph.D. market in recruiting and hiring the best faculty. The noncompetitive salary levels have been a long-term problem for the College of Engineering.