UA engineering dean to step down, citing cuts to programs
Don Visco said in letter he plans to rejoin faculty.
The head of the University of Akron’s College of Engineering is stepping down, citing cuts that are part of a campus-wide phasing out of 80 degree programs.
Don Visco said his vision of the engineering college is different from that of university leaders, and he resigned in a letter delivered Tuesday to UA Interim President John Green.
The college — which has seen undergraduate enrollment grow significantly in recent years — boasted more than 3,200 undergraduates and about 370 graduate students last fall.
Visco noted in the letter that Green had told him to resign if he couldn’t support “investment and direction decisions” approved by the UA board of trustees last week.
Visco did not specify which decisions. Trustees last week approved phasing out of the 80 degree programs, or about 20 percent of what UA now offers, over three to five years. The programs account for less than 5 percent of overall student enrollment.
Programs to be phased out in the engineering college include the doctorate and master’s in biomedical engineering, the doctorate in computer engineering and the doctorate in electrical engineering.
Visco, who did not return a reporter’s phone calls, said in the letter his resignation would be effective Friday. He plans to rejoin the faculty; his specialty is chemical engineering.
Green issued a statement Wednesday afternoon responding to Visco’s resignation — the first significant fallout from the planned program phaseouts. He said UA’s academic program review — a yearlong process — showed low enrollment in the engineering college’s doctorate and master’s programs that are to be cut.
The review involved faculty members, department chairs, college deans and others. But faculty members have said many of their recommendations were ignored.
Green and Provost Rex Ramsier ultimately recommended to the trustees which programs should be cut.
Enrollment, ability to generate research dollars and growth opportunities were among factors officials examined in the review process.
UA has been facing overall enrollment declines in recent years. The changes, which involve no layoffs, will allow the university to bolster “key areas of strength and opportunity,” school officials say.
Brian Davis, chair of the biomedical engineering department, said the review process doesn’t reflect the department’s success in attracting graduate students.
Eight doctoral students are expected to complete their research and graduate in the coming semester, and beginning next year about five Ph.D. students are expected to graduate in each of the following four years, he said.
This rate is higher than that at most other biomedical engineering doctoral programs in the state, he said.
The undergraduate biomedical engineering program enrolls about 400 students. Many look for research opportunities and are usually mentored by students in the master’s and doctorate biomedical engineering programs — both of which are to be phased out.
Davis noted the biomedical engineering department has received more than 20 federal grants totaling more than $6.6 million over the past six years.
Visco, Davis, said “solicited input from multiple people . ... I think he’s a very fair person.”
Green said Visco had requested that UA hire 18 tenure-track faculty members, which would have cost about $2 million annually in pay and $9 million in research startup costs over the first three years.
This amount “would have made it impossible to invest in other areas of strength, distinction and opportunity” Green said.
Green said UA plans to hire four engineering faculty members. Two of these are joint faculty positions, those which are shared with programs outside the college.
“I respect Dean Visco’s decision to join the faculty,” Green said, “and thank him for his service as dean.”
Visco, who joined the UA faculty in 2011, was named interim dean in 2016 and became dean in 2017. At the time his salary was $225,000.