Minutes of Physical Sciences Task Force

Nov. 1, 2002

Meeting Place: RGC 326

Meeting Time: 9:30 am

Participants: Dale Biggs, Bob Blodgett, Chris Cavalli, John Cise, Leslie Davis, Saad Eways, James Friedrichsen, Jim Heath, Ron Johns, Tim Jordan, Mostafa Pirnia, Martin Prahovic, C. D. Rao, Jan Smith, George Staff, Laura Tacheny, Allen Underwood, Sal Valastro

1.) Approval of Agenda

2.) Approval of Minutes for 10/04/02

3.) Information items presented:

a.) Meeting with the President — Arrangements have been made to meet with President Fonté on Dec. 6 at 1:00 pm in NRG 2228.

b.) Online Grading — Beginning this semester, all faculty in academic programs will have to enter grades on-line. Faculty will have to get a password and set up an account before they can enter the grades.

c.) New Intranet — The IT people have revamped the intranet to make it more snazzy.

d.) eTime — Starting with the November timesheets, all faculty will have to enter their timesheets online.

e.) New IT Thing — The IT folks have been busy. They are setting up new databases and software interfaces to make the world a brighter and happier place. They are creating a database of adjunct faculty that will merge student and Task Force evaluations, include their employment status, and track employment records. By summer of ’03, eStaffing should allow email confirmation of assignments, prevent overload assignments, and nag adjuncts about deadlines. By the fall of ’03, it should also allow adjuncts to select textbooks from a pre-approved list.

f.) Master Syllabus Revisions — The administration has clarified some of the Master Syllabus Criteria. Beginning in the spring, the TF Chairs and Deans get to review everyone’s syllabi.

g.) Climate Survey — A survey of ACC employees to assess the institutional climate discovered that the overall climate here is good, although organization, decision-making, and people’s sense of influence and cooperation need some work.

h.) Faculty Emergency Fund — There is now a fund to help faculty who are facing a catastrophic situation.

i.) Travel Budget Memo — The administration acknowledges that the travel funds should be divided into distinct subcodes for filed activities, professional development, etc.

j.) Safety Forum — There will be another safety forum for interested persons from 9-11 am on Friday, Nov. 8 at NRG 4136.

k.) Hiring Committee — Saad Eways did a great job in getting the advertisement for the Physics faculty position in Physics Today for the December issue.

4.) Items presented for discussion:

a.) Master Plan and Facilities — The initial ideas for facility improvements have been somewhat refined and were presented. These include developing separate lab spaces for physics and geology at NRG and RVS and CYP, creating a combined lab space at PIN, establishing a new environmental science and technology lab at NRG, and creating a small engineering workshop at RGC. After some discussion, these ideas were approved. There was also consensus that dedicated classrooms are a must for our disciplines since lecture demonstrations often require heavy rocks or equipment.

b.) Changing a Failing Grade — A discussion was held regarding how to handle student requests to change failing grades after the semester is over. The overwhelming consensus was that, under no circumstances, should an “F” be changed to a passing grade. At best, if a student can document compelling reasons why they were unable to pass or to withdraw, the instructor may retroactively give them a “W”.

5.) Items presented for action:

a.) Withdrawing Students — The TF has a policy against faculty-initiated withdrawals. This policy needs to be reassessed in light of the new safety regulations and with respect to prerequisites. A lively but collegial debate ensued. It ended with an agreement that faculty may, indeed are obligated to, drop students who refuse to sign the safety waivers. There were suggestions that the paperwork be minimized by making the student’s registration for the class an automatic waiver. This was later presented to the Safety Committee, where it was pointed out that this would not work from a legal standpoint. The Task Force also agreed that faculty may, at their discretion, withdraw students who lack the necessary prerequisites.

b.) Accountants Anonymous — The EVP sent out a memo saying that the revenues and costs of sections need to be properly assessed. Yay!

Minutes of ESTE/GEOL Subcommittee

Nov. 1, 2002

Participants: Bob Blodgett, Leslie Davis, Ron Johns, Jan Smith, George Staff, Sal Valastro

Several faculty had to leave, so the discussion of course topics was postponed. Ron Johns reminded the participants that the meeting of advisors was scheduled for November 6. If anyone had materials they wished Dean Fonken to present, they needed to get them to him ASAP.

Minutes of PHYS/AST/ENG Subcommittee

Nov. 1, 2002

The regular subcommittee meeting was postponed so that Jim Heath could present a workshop for the faculty.