Minutes of Physical Sciences
Task Force
February 1, 2002
Meeting Place: CYP 1090
Meeting Time: 9:30 pm
Participants: Jeff Bechtold, Dean Becker, Dale Biggs, Bob
Blodgett, Terry Cassady, Chris Cavalli, John Cise, Dan Dewberry, Saad Eways,
Jim Heath, Ron Johns, Tim Jordan, Maurine Poe, , Elliot Richmond, Jan Smith,
George Staff, Laura Tacheny
1.)
Approval of Agenda
2.)
Approval of Minutes for 12/07/01
3.)
Information items presented:
a.)
Timely Timesheets Try to ensure that timesheets are submitted by deadlines. Our areas have been quite good about this.
b.)
Estaffing The timelines for estaffing have been revised again. Only MSTA's and HPTH's will be assigned
before the schedule is sent to the printers.
The other adjuncts get to try to do estaffing over spring break when no one
is here to help.
c.)
Insurance Fees A $2 insurance fee will be added to all classes with labs or
required field trips.
d.)
Load Reduction Requests Requests for load reductions need to get to Ron
Johns by 1/29 for the summer and 2/8 for the fall so he can forward them to the
dean.
e.)
Faculty Online Input Form Still messed up. They'll let us know when it's ready to be used.
f.)
Reduced Tuition Memo the college estimates that the cost of this
fiasco will be about $800,000, for the reasons we outlined in the memo the TF
sent to Dean Fonken.
g.)
Datatel Degree Checks Tomi Welch has written a routine that will
do automatic degree checks, determining what courses students have completed,
etc. Admittedly, counselors should be
doing this. In addition, Saad
Eways expressed some concerns about
degree approval, since the people doing the degree checks are not the ones who
approve the granting of the degree.
h.)
Hiring Committee Progress The committee has reviewed the applications
received so far and is preparing to do interviews.
i.)
MSTA Applications We have the following MSTAships :
Geology One MSTA III, one MSTA II, and one
MSTA I
ESTE One MSTA III
Eng/Phys/Ast Six MSTA III's, one MSTA II, one MSTA
I
HR should inform us soon of any new changes or
procedures for MSTA applications. This
led to a discussion by the TF about MSTA's in general. It was decided that assignments of MSTA's
will be made by the relevant evaluation committee from among the pool of
applicants. It was also agreed that
MSTA's should be a form of award to our best adjuncts, not merely stuffed with
whoever happens to apply, regardless of their overall qualifications or
teaching skill. Unfortunately,
assignments in the past have often been done at the whimsy of previous TF
Chairs, whose primary concern seemed to be to ensure that all MSTAships were
staffed regardless of merit. It was
agreed that vacant positions were better than MSTA's who are not among our best
faculty.
j.)
Lab Asst. Job Descriptions The posted job descriptions did not match
the recommendations of the original committee that wrote them. They have now been revised and should better
match what lab assistants actually do.
k.)
Safety Stuff The college has a new Safety Committee charged with trying to
identify school-related hazards and reduce their risk. Bob Blodgett is the Safety Officer for the
Physical Sciences. There will be a
training session later this month.
4.)
Items presented for discussion:
a.)
Increased Lab Enrollment Limits There was some suggestion that we should increase
the enrollment limit for physics lab classes to 25. This was unanimously rejected as being unsafe. In keeping with past policy, all labs will
have enrollment limits of 24.
b.)
Practical Class Limits Classroom or laboratory size often limit the
number of students that can enroll in a particular section. However, no limits have been set as to what
constitutes a practical upper limit on enrollments due to the nature of the
class itself. After some discussion,
the following limits were set for the courses in the TF:
PHYS 1311 (Stellar
Astronomy) = 30
PHYS 1312 (Solar System
Astronomy) = 30
ENGR 0145 (Statics Tutorial) = 12
ENGR 0147 (Dynamics
Tutorial) = 12
ENGR 1201 (Intro to
Engineering) = 30
ENGR 2301 (Vector Mechanics
Statics) = 20
ENGR 2302 (Vector Mechanics
Dynamics) = 20
ENGR 2332 (Mechanics of
Materials) = 20
All EPCT courses = 12
PSC 1603 (Science and the
Environment) = 36
PSC 1633 (Energy Resources) = 36
PSC 1643 (Science and Social
Probs.) = 24
GEOL 1305 (Environmental
Geology) = 30
PHY 0141 (Math for Physics) = 12
PHY 1653 (Elementary Physics
Methods) = 24
All lab courses = 24
c.)
TASP Requirements Skill prerequisites arent given in Datatel. Student can get an "F" on the
TASP, but possess the necessary skills by taking developmental courses. Since we dont want students without the
necessary skills to take a course, how do we ensure that they have the skills
they need? After some discussion, the
TF decided it wasn't up to us since we dont have the necessary information.
d.)
Conceptual Physics and Sonography The sonography program has recently
accepted PHYS 1405 for meeting the Physics requirement. It was decided that opportunities for
increasing the course's enrollment may exist in similar programs.
e.)
Marketing strategies George Staff and Jim Heath have gone to
great efforts to market the Env. Tech. and Physics programs, respectively. The floor was opened for additional
marketing suggestions, but none were forthcoming.
5.)
Items presented for action:
a.)
Office Hours The FT faculty did an excellent job of inputting their office
hours. This should become regular
practice every semester. Adjuncts now
need to do the same.
b.)
Textbook Problems Surprisingly, there were almost no textbook problems to act
upon. Laura Tacheny commented that
there were insufficient numbers of textbooks for PHYS 1405. Also the optional lab manual in GEOL 1305
was listed as required in some sections in which it was not used.
c.)
"D" Status The TF decided in spring of 1999 to accept
"D"'s as sufficient for completion of electives in any degree program
in the Physical Sciences, but that it did not qualify as passing for any named
or specified course in the program.
This needs to be stated in the catalog.
The TF voted to approve this be clearly stated in the catalog.
d.)
Physics Hiring Freeze A motion was passed to act if the administration
does not allow us to fill the two full-time faculty positions in Physics
vacated last year.
6.)
New Business:
None
Minutes of ESTE/GEOL
Subcommittee
February 1, 2002
Participants: Bob Blodgett, Ron Johns,
Maurine Poe, Jan Smith, George Staff
1.)
AGI
is attempting to get earth science reinstated as a valid science in high school
curricula after the creationists on the Texas School Board got it removed. It was decided that we should talk to
Barbara Mink about drafting a letter on behalf of ACC in support of these
efforts.
2.)
Geology
and Env. Science and Tech. are still working on their program reviews, although
both are nearly completed.
3.)
Env.
tech. enrollments have suffered because of factors beyond our control. We need to redouble efforts to boost
enrollments in the new courses this fall.
4.)
The
cuts in summer sections mean that some of the courses we were planning to teach
this summer will not be offered. Ways
of getting the necessary LEH were discussed.
5.)
The
schedule of the ESTY= courses in the fall has been majorly rearranged. Water Chemistry and Aquatic Biology will be
at RGC, Env. Sampling and Analysis and the Env. Geology lab will be at NRG.
Minutes of PHYS/AST/ENG
Subcommittee
February 1, 2002
Participants: Jeff Bechtold, Dean Becker, Dale Biggs, Chris
Cavalli, John Cise, Saad Eways, Jim Heath, Tim Jordan, Elliot Richmond, Laura
Tacheny
1.) Jim Heath discussed
marketing of Astronomy labs and stressed our help with word-of-mouth
advertising, which has accounted for a significant number of the current
students taking the class.
2.) Discussion turned to the
need to continue assessments of our programs. The engineering data is available
but the last two years have not been entered.
Some astronomy data is ready, but not all data has been reported. The
old physics assessment, tracking of 1653 students, has not been done recently,
but can be done using historical data. The task force will address, at the next
meeting, whether or not to replace this assessment with pre- and post-testing
with the force concept inventory in physics I classes.