Minutes of Physical Sciences
Task Force
March 1, 2002
Meeting Place: RVS 2221
Meeting Time: 9:30 pm
Participants: Jeff Bechtold, Dean Becker, Dale Biggs, Chris
Cavalli, John Cise, Dan Dewberry, Saad Eways, John Fulton, Jim Heath, Ron
Johns, Tim Jordan, Helen Nelson, Mostafa Pirnia, Martin Prahovic, Elliot
Richmond, Jan Smith, George Staff, Laura Tacheny, Allen Underwood
1.)
Approval of Agenda
2.)
Approval of Minutes for 2/01/01
3.)
Information items presented:
a.)
Hiring Freeze As part of the budget crisis, HR has instituted a hiring
freeze. Supposedly, hourly employees
are not affected, nor are the two physics positions that are vacant.
b.)
Budget Cuts These are detailed below and were sent to Donetta on Feb.
25. They are less than we feared, since
David Fonken absorbed a bigger cut.
Unit |
Account Number |
Object
Code |
Amount
to be Cut |
Astronomy |
55501 |
6300 |
$395 |
6500 |
$46 |
||
6700 |
$24 |
||
Engineering |
55505 |
6300 |
$100 |
Geology |
55504 |
6300 |
$155 |
6400 |
$1003 |
||
Physics |
55502 |
5410 |
$1500 |
6300 |
$1000 |
||
Total |
$4223 |
c.)
Time Sheets Due to spring break, these will be due March 5.
d.)
Web Workshops Jim Heath detailed the upcoming Web workshops on March 8 and 29
for Front Page, and on April 19 for Dreamweaver.
e.)
Hiring Committee Progress The committee is continuing to review the
applications received so far.
f.)
FY '03 Budget There will be an estimated $2 million deficit for FY '03. The result is no new initiatives and the
same number of sections as this year.
The college is creating an expanded Budget Review Committee this
month.
g.)
South Austin Campus ACC recently purchased the ol' Albertson's on Manchaca and
William Cannon. The purchase is
supposedly financed by bonds and building fees. The administration is planning to go before the voters to raise revenue
for renovation. If this fails, they
will sell the property, no doubt for a huge profit. The campus offers the potential for creating a Science Center,
and idea with some support from the higher-ups.
h.)
Service Center The new dandy Service Center is up and running at 9101 Tuscany
Way, just off 290 E and 183. HR and the
administration remain at HBC
i.)
Volunteer Teaching Some of the sections cut this summer will be added back in if they
are taught by volunteer instructors.
Those interested must still meet several criteria and be assigned by
March 18. (Some heated discussion followed this item regarding the merits of
teaching and serving the students versus sending the message that what we do
isnt worth anything. In the end, we
agreed to disagree).
j.)
MSTA Process Applications are due in HR by March 20. All adjuncts are encourages to apply. Based on conversations from the last
meeting, MSTAships will be regarded as an award for superior teaching and given
to the best adjuncts that apply (if possible).
Some shifting of the MSTAships may occur in terms of what disciplines
have what MSTAships to offer. No one
should assume that because they are an MSTA now, they will automatically be
reappointed. Likewise, no one should
think that they cant be appointed.
k.)
Catalog Changes Changes can be made through March.
The TFC should be notified if anything needs a-fixin'.
l.)
Safety Training The safety training on 2/22 went well, but was not able to be
finished. The remainder will be
rescheduled for later in the semester.
The changes and procedures proposed by the Safety Committee are an
attempt to progress towards safety rather than an attempt to impose safety from
the top down.
4.)
Items presented for discussion:
a.)
Undead Classes What are we to do with PSC 1613 (interdisciplinary Science) and SPS
1603 (Space Science)? Neither has been
offered in years? The TF decided that
we should offer them in a year or two, say, Fall, '03.
b.)
Resource 25 This software is designed to ease the scheduling and identify
the rooms available for certain classes at certain times. No one could think of any special needs for
lectures in any of our disciplines that would need to be identified.
5.)
Items presented for action:
a.)
Off-season Evaluations Geology and Env. Science have been
encouraging faculty to have student evaluations done on classes that they do
not normally teach in the fall.
Otherwise, an instructor's teaching in such a class is never evaluated. The TF approved the idea of this, and
encourages faculty in all areas to do so.
b.)
Eligibility Lists There has always been an implicit assumption that faculty must
be quality instructors and follow TF guidelines and policies if they wish to
remain on the eligibility lists. It is
a good idea to explicitly state such guidelines and requirements. Biology has already created such a list of
rules. The TF discussed this issue for
some time, and numerous suggestions were made.
The TFC will draw up said guidelines and present them for a vote at the
next TF meeting.
6.)
New Business:
a.) Predicting Student
Performance John Cise presented the results of the survey performed
at the last TF meeting. Not surprisingly,
the faculty were able to predict student performance with amazing
accuracy. The results show a clear
correlation between a student's previous performance in classes and their
performance in a physics class.
Minutes of ESTE/GEOL
Subcommittee
March 1, 2002
Participants: Dan Dewberry, Ron Johns,
Jan Smith, George Staff
1.)
The
item on service projects for the ESTE program was postponed until the next
meeting.
2.)
Jan
Smith and Alan Keenan have already cleaned out the lab prep room at RGC, so there
is no need for further clearing at this time.
3.)
Jan
Smith has received the geology adjunct applications and is processing them.
4.)
The
Geology/ESTE Evaluation Committee agreed to meet most Fridays this month to
review the portfolios and student evaluations.
5.)
The
ACC Board has recently passed a draft administrative rule regarding student
travel. In looking over this policy, it
has numerous self-contradictions and protocols that are, to put it very mildly,
impractical and absurd. Since we cannot
follow the policy as defined, and since not following the policy will expose us
to undue liability, it puts us in an impossible situation with regard to field
trips. The Safety Committee is meeting
to work out how to handle this situation and will provide details as they
become available.
Minutes of PHYS/AST/ENG
Subcommittee
March 1, 2002
Participants: Jeff Bechtold, Dean Becker, Dale Biggs, Chris
Cavalli, John Cise, Saad Eways, John Fulton, Jim Heath, Tim Jordan, Helen
Nelson, Mostafa Pirnia, Martin Prahovic, Elliot Richmond, Laura Tacheny, Allen
Underwood
1.) Phys 1407 curriculum
issues were discussed briefly. Most importantly Laura Tascheny asked for
volunteers to work with her on a curriculum committee. Jim Heath, John Fulton,
and Dale Biggs volunteered immediately and the committee was set. They will
report back to the task force with the results of their work at a future date.
2.) John Fulton and a
learning lab tutor asked the task force for feedback on the learning lab. The
quality and type of the tutoring was discussed. In general, most physics
faculty were satisfied with the tutoring, but were very curious as to how the
tutoring took place. Specifically, whether or not group work should or could be
done. The tutors told us that group work was not very practical in the learning
lab since the questions being asked are so specific. The discussion closed with
an invitation from the learning lab for instructors to sit in on tutoring
sessions to see first hand what is going on.
3.) Jim Heath brought us the
results of our required topics vote taken at a prior meeting. The absence of
gravity as a required topic was mentioned. The task force took an immediate
vote, and gravity was moved up to a required topic. A discussion of waves in
the curriculum ensued and will be resolved at the next task force meeting.
4.) Finally, assessment
issues were discussed. Jeff Bechtold passed out copies of the force concept
inventory (FCI). The task force debated whether or not to use this assessment
instrument as part of a SACS program assessment. The task force decided to
recommend that General College Physics I instructors give the FCI to their
classes this year, but others still held the view that the PHYS 1653 tracking
was a superior form of assessment. A final decision will be made at a future
meeting.