Minutes of Physical Sciences Department

September 3, 2004

Meeting Place: RGC 326

Meeting Time: 9:30 am

Participants: Sal Valastro, Peter Boone, Paul Nacozy, James Friedrichsen, Paul Williams, Dean Becker, Jan Smith, Tom Langley, Elliot Richmond, Tom Bird, Laura Tacheny, Saad Eways, Jim Heath, John Cise, Chris Cavalli, Jeff Bechtold, Ron Johns

1.) Approval of Agenda

2.) Approval of Minutes for 5/7/04 meeting

3.) Information items presented:

a.) New Faculty - We have two (count ‘em two) new full-time faculty this semester. Paul Nacozy comes to us well-recommended by the Computer Studies department, and Paul Williams is filling the vacancy left when Paul Williams resigned. He looks oddly familiar.

b.) Laptops at NRG – The antiquated desktop PC’s at NRG will be replaced by 6 laptops and 2 new desktop PC’s. We will also establish a wireless network to facilitate change-outs between classes.

c.) Prerequisite Waiver – Ron has written a sample prerequisite waiver (based on one originally written by Sarah Strong) for his GEOL 1404 (Historical Geology) students to sign if they have not had GEOL 1403, the prerequisite. Copies were distributed if anyone wants to do likewise for their classes.

d.) Engineering Program Review – Like obnoxious political ads, the quadrennial exercise of program review has once again reared its ugly head. Saad Eways has bravely agreed to serve as the Program Review Chair and solicited names of faculty also willing to serve.

e.) Capital Equipment Replacement – For the second year in a row, the Tech Committee has approved our request for physics equipment replacement. We have received $30,000 to purchase much needed new equipment for our labs and demonstrations.

f.) Tufts meeting about SACS – Elliot met with Andrew Fraknoi at Tufts, and they discussed the SCS credential situation. Elliot gave him a copy of the survey we conducted.

4.) Items presented for discussion

a) Classroom Observation – A suggestion was made that a classroom observation be done as part of a faculty member’s 3-year evaluation. After some discussion, it was decided that such an observation was: 1.) largely meaningless since anyone can prepare a good presentation, and 2.) very burdensome for the evaluation committee members who would have to do observations for a large number of faculty. The idea was discarded.

b.) Staffing Priorities – With as many faculty as we now have, some prioritization is necessary to decide who gets what sections. Some of these are laid out in administrative rules, but some are not. It was decided that the faculty assignments be done as follows:

1.) All full-time faculty choose their regular loads

2.) Any full-time faculty who wish can then choose their overloads up to 21 LEH.

3.) MSTA’s and HPTH’s choose their sections.

4.) Any full-time faculty who wish can then choose additional overloads.

5.) Other adjunct faculty may then make their selections.

It is worth noting that any full-time faculty assignments over 21 LEH require the approval of the Dean and Associate Vice-President.

4.) Action Items

a.) Honors Physics class – Judy Sanders, head of the honors program, asked John Cise to develop an honors physics course. At her urging, he has drawn up some preliminary ideas, but this is something that the department as a whole needs to discuss and develop. After some discussion, it was decided that the department should offer a PHYS 1401 honors course. John volunteered to teach it, and a time and room have already been found. Several folks volunteered to serve on a committee to develop the curriculum: John Cise, Saad Eways, Laura Tacheny, Jim Heath, Paul Nacozy, and Paul Williams.

b.) New Whiteboards at RGC – The suggestion that we need new whiteboards came up. It was agreed that we need a new whiteboard in RGC 320 and a new chalkboard in RGC 108.

c.) Committees – Committees were drawn up. Their membership is in an accompanying document.