Minutes of Physical Sciences Task Force
Meeting
Time: 9:30am
Participants: James Friedrichsen, Lala
Guerra, Ron Johns, George Staff, John
Cise, Allen Underwood, Saad Eways, Paul Nacozy, Paul Williams, C.D. Rao, Dean
Becker, Chris Cavalli, Jeff Bechtold, Sal Valastro, Eric Ebner, Michael McGraw, Laura Tacheny,
Mostafa Pirnia, Hadi Parhikhteh, Karl Trappe
1.) Approval of Agenda
2.)
Approval of Minutes from:
3.)
Information items presented:
a.) Scholarship Opportunities –
James Friedrichsen announced that he had received information about three
scholarship opportunities that targeted certain students in our courses and
degree plans. He passed out fliers with
the scholarship information, explained the requirements for each scholarship
and encouraged the faculty to inform their students of these opportunities. The scholarships were as followed: The Peggy Hale Croshaw Endowed Scholarship,
The Pradeau Endowed Scholarship and the Texas Conference for Women Scholarship
Announcement.
b.) FT Faculty Contracts – James
Friedrichsen mentioned to everyone in the meeting that the Fulltime Faculty
Contracts will be done differently starting in the 2008 Fiscal Year. Each Fulltime Instructor will now have to choose
their contract length and pay option online in April. Everyone discussed the issue and shared their
suggestions and concerns.
c.) Program Review Updates – All
Program Reviews have now been submitted.
Everyone was briefed on the highlights of the program reviews in the meeting. There were questions, suggestions and concerns
after the program review presentations.
d.) Field Trip Budget Update –James
Friedrichsen announced that an analysis was done for the Field Trip Budget and
we are on target for the money we have left in the field trip budget.
e.) CYP Update - David Fonken
visited the CYP lab and experienced first hand the noise in the PHSC lab. David told us that he would have the problem fixed. One week later a switch was installed to shut
off the ventilation system in the room and thereby reduce the noise level.
f.) New High School Science
Graduation Requirements – Paul Williams announced to everyone that there will
be new science requirements in order to graduate from Texas High Schools. The three graduation plans will be as
follows: the Distinguished Plan would require 4 years of science, the Recommended
Plan will require 4 years of science and the Minimum Plan will require 3 years
of science. There was discussion on
which science courses would fall under what requirements, when the changes
would fade out as well as other questions regarding the changes. Everyone shared their concerns and
suggestions.
g.) NASA Trip Update –Allen
Underwood informed everyone about this years’ NASA trip and that overall it was
a success. He also mentioned that an
article was published in the American Statesman Newspaper about the NASA
trip. He then showed everyone slides
from the trip. James Friedrichsen then
recognized all of the effort that Allen has put into this project the last two
times that he has assisted it and Laura Tacheny presented him with a framed
certificate of recognition.
h.) iClicker Tryout – Ron Johns announced that Cindy Carr and Paul Williams will
arrange a demonstration on the iClickers for Friday, April 13, 2007 at 9:30am
at NRG. The room number will be
announced later.
4.) Discussion
Items
a.) Pedagogy Discussions for PD Credit - Hadi Parhikhteh
suggested that there should be a
professional development day session on
“How I Teach.” He then shared some
examples of what the topics the presenters might want to cover. It was
decided that it was a good idea and that Jim should work to bring this to
fruition.
b.) RGC Renovations – James Friedrichsen mentioned
to everyone that there is discussion about possibly moving the Fulltime Faculty
and Lab Technicians to another building as part of the RGC renovations. This
issue raises concerns because of the inherent safety difficulties caused by
separating Science Faculty and Lab Technicians from the labs and equipment
storage. John Cise told everyone that
there is no immediate cause for concern due to a lack of money. He
explained that these changes, if they come around, would not happen for another
3 to 4 years. He also mentioned that the
Parking Garage and the Gym renovation were a current priority because the money
was already acquired for these two items.
At the end of the discussion, as a department, everyone agreed not to support
the move of the Fulltime Science Faculty and the Lab Technicians whenever the
issue would come up.
5.) Action
Items:
a.) Department Chair Election - Paul Williams was
elected Department Chair for Physical Sciences.
His tenure as chair will begin once the summer 2007 semester starts.
6.) New Business:
Minutes of PHYS/AST/ENG Subcommittee
April 6, 2007
Participants James Friedrichsen, Lala
Guerra, John Cise, Allen Underwood, Saad Eways, Paul Nacozy, Paul Williams,
Dean Becker, Chris Cavalli, Jeff Bechtold, Michael McGraw, Laura Tacheny,
Mostafa Pirnia, Hadi Parhikhteh, Karl Trappe
Physics Course Standards –
There was continued discussion as to whether or not there should be any changes
to the Departmental Course Requirements.
Some of the items that were discussed were prerequisites, course and
laboratory policies as well as course content.
Everyone decided that a committee should be formed to further
investigate this issue. The individuals
in the committee would be: Paul Williams
as chair, Saad Eways, James Friedrichsen, Laura Tacheny and Michael McGraw.
Engineering Textbook Review
– Each member of the textbook review committee presented a report on their
findings and as we progressed along various points were discussed and
clarifications were made. At the end of
the process due the overwhelming response it was determined after a vote that
both Wolfson as well as Cummings, et all. would be removed from further consideration. At the next meeting we will briefly recap our
findings and then begin the final voting.
Under-used Equipment -
Richard Mauldin, Physics Lab Tech. at RGC displayed under utilized equipment to
the faculty. He reminded the faculty that
the equipment was there for them to use if they ever needed it when teaching at
RGC.