Physical Sciences Task Force
Meeting Minutes
February 9, 2001
The Physical Sciences Task Force met at 1:30 PM Friday, December 8, 2000 in room 328 at RGC. Members in attendance: Pedigo, Blodgett, Staff, Smith, Johns, Cavalli, Rao, Underwood, Becker, Cise, Bechtold, Valastro, Pirnia, Heath, Stege, Williams, Prahovic and Fulton.
1. Approval of Agenda – approved as amended to put Astronomy Lab discussion in the general session..
2. Approval of Minutes- The Minutes of the Decenber 8 meeting were approved.
3. The following information items were presented: (1) The status of staffing for Summer 2001 was discussed. (2) It was reported that adjunct portfolios were submitted to the evaluation committee, and that the ASTR/ENGR/PHYS group would begin the review immediately. (3) The Chair asked that any faculty member not evaluated by students in Fall 2000 please request an evaluation for Spring 2001. (4) The new E-self staffing system for Fall 2001 classes was briefly discussed. (5) The group was reminded that reporting of Professional development activities has been slow. (6) The group was reminded that a new full-time physics position is available for Fall, along with an Environmental Tech position, and adjuncts were encouraged to apply immediately. (7) The group was reminded of upcoming Task Force Chair elections. The current Chair announced he would likely leave ACC by the Fall. Ron Johns indicated willingness to run for Task Force Chair. (8) It was announced that textbooks for Fall should be decided at the next meeting. (9) The new proposed "Learning Communities" were briefly discussed. (10) The new Associate Dean positions were briefly discussed, and the consensus was that they are the wrong solution to the problem.
4. The following items were discussed: (1) The proposed new Alternative Teacher Certification Program was discussed, and considerable interest was expressed by the group. Among those willing to participate in some fashion were Jan Smith, Paul Williams, Jim Heath, John Cise, and George Staff. (2) SACS assessment data for our classes were briefly discussed. The consensus was that we had produced data over several years, and that last year the college stopped asking for it. Nevertheless there are some data that we can pass on if asked. (3) The new Draft Hiring Procedure for Full-time faculty was discussed. The group was very concerned with the requirement for separate committees for each position, and with the splitting of applications into arbitrary groupings. The Chair agreed to forward these concerns to the Faculty Senate Policy and Procedures Committee. (4) The Chair shared a proposal for new Assistant TF Chairs based on a call to review the size and structure of Task Forces. After discussion, a modified proposal was agreed to, and will be forwarded to the Dean.
5. The following action items were dealt with: (1) The proposed new Environmental Technology Program was presented to the group by Ron Johns, and approved in its entirety. This includes course descriptions and degree plans which will be submitted to the Curriculum Committee next week. (2) The group also approved the suggestion that we change the name of the Physical Science discipline to Environmental Science and Technology. This change will help to reduce confusion between the discipline and the entire Physical Sciences Task Force. (3) Paul Williams presented the plan for the new Astronomy lab course, which was approved.
6. New business: none except as discussed above.
7. Breakout sessions- begin at 11:15 AM.
GEO/PSC – (1) Tom Stege had suggested adopting Feynman's book ("Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman) for PSC 1643. It has numerous examples of how one can apply scientific thinking to everyday situations. A discussion of the book followed, and a decision was made to adopt it for his section in the fall semester. (2) Ron collected information on office hours for distribution to the other faculty. (3) Since all the members of the GEO/PSC adjunct faculty evaluation committee were present, agreement was reached to do the process in toto, on Friday, March 2. We will meet at RVS at 8:30 and continue till we're done.
AST/ENR/PHY – (1) Possible textbook needs for Fall 01 were discussed. Chaisson (Astronomy) is the only book know for sure to be coming out in a new edition, though it was suggested that we ask about Giancoli as well. (2) With Paul going on sabbatical and Daryl leaving ACC, what to do about Conceptual Physics? Jeff Bechtold volunteered to assume responsibility, at least at NRG. (3) The Required Topics list for Statics (ENGR 2301) was approved. (4) An e-mail offer to link to a Career Management website for our students was discussed, and it was decided to ignore the offer. (5) John Cise passed out copies of the new UT Transfer Guide for Engineering students. (6) John Cise announced a tour of Tokyo Electron facilities after our April 6 meeting. (7) Paul Williams volunteered to offer professional development workshops on AAPT Physics Lab Guides and also on using Logger Pro in the lab.
The meeting was adjourned at noon.
Submitted by Daryl Pedigo, TF Chair.