Minutes
of Physical Sciences Department
October 3, 2003
Meeting Time 1:30
pm
Participants: Ron Johns, Lala Guerra, Chris
Cavalli, Saad Eways, Allen Underwood, Laura Tacheny, James Heath, Jan Smith,
Sal Valastro, George Staff, James Friedrichsen, Dean Becker, John Cise, Larry
Wigginton
1.) Approval
of Agenda
2.) Approval
of Minutes
3.) Information
Items Presented:
a.) Departmental Developmental Day – Departmental Developmental Day will be
Friday, October 10, 2003. For the
morning session starting at 10:00, Jim Heath will have a discussion on “How
attendance affects grades”, Judy Hay from OSD will have a presentation on
“Helpful hints to assist Visually Impaired Students” and Lou Barnett from
Chemistry will talk about “Humor in the Lab”.
For the dandy afternoon session, which will start at 1:30, John Cise will be talking about how he uses
common items to demonstrate Physics principles. James Friedrichsen will then have a talk
about Quantum computing. Last but not
least, Jeff Bechtold will bring in various physics assessment instruments for
us to look at and try out.
b.) Travel
Money Shortage – The Dean has very little money for
travel. This will not affect field trip
money, however.
c.) Bond
Effects – The
Process of interviewing faculty has changed.
We will only interview if we are
in need of adjunct faculty.
4.) Discussion
Items:
a.) Purchasing
– A detailed discussion of
this topic was moved to the Purchasing Committee meeting after this
meeting. Therein, it was resolved that
the lab techs should send out to the faculty a notification at the end of each
semester identifying what was purchased in the previous semester and what it
might be used for. It was also decided
that a clipboard should be hung in each lab or prep room for writing down
equipment needs as they arise. Larry
Wigginton was commended for his organizing of the lab exercise and equipment at
NRG. A final decision about what to buy
will be made by December. Also, the
folks at RGC will need to decide soon what sort of computer projection equipment
they wish to buy with the money allocated by the Tech Committee.
5.) Action
Items:
6.) New
Business:
a.) Department
Chair Meeting News - The
meeting did not say much of import, but the administration is trying to create
a job description for full-time faculty.
Ron Johns and George Staff weaseled their way onto the draft committee.
b.) Planetarium
Presentation – Larry Forrest, President of Glass Mountain
Optical and an officer of the Austin Astronomical Society, brought the
participants up to date on the new planetarium initiative.
Astronomy Assessments were not discussed; no
meeting as held.
No meeting was held. Discussion postponed till November.