Minutes of Physical Sciences Task Force

May 9, 2008

 

 

 

Meeting Place:            RVS 2266      

Meeting Time:             10:00 am

Participants:                Paul Williams, Lala Guerra, George Staff, Karl Trappe, Saad Eways, Paul Nacozy, Chris Cavalli, Bob Blodgett, Jim Heath, Dean Becker, Jeff Bechtold, Elliot Richmond, Ron Johns, James Friedrichsen, Dale Biggs, Hadi Parhikhteh, Allen Underwood, Sal Valastro, Mike McGraw, Cindy Carr, John Conners, Jeff Bechtold

 

1.) Approval of Agenda

2.) Approval of Minutes from April Meeting

Approval was postponed until September meeting

3.) Information items presented:

   a.)  Documenting Professional Development Hours -   Everyone was reminded that adjunct faculty are

         required to complete 4 hours of professional development and fulltime faculty 12 hours.  They were

         also reminded that the deadline was July 31, 2008.  (Note that the College later changed that date to August 31)

   b.)  Assessment Process -   It was decided that the Assessment Process would be discussed in the Physics

         breakout session                                                      

   c.)  Astronomy Storage at RVS – There was a discussion on finding a location for storage for telescopes at

         RVS.  It was decided that the Astronomy faculty would meet in a couple of weeks to decide where the storage would be located at RVS.

   d.)  Update on Full time Positions -  Laura Tacheny will not be returning back from Italy.  Therefore there are

          now 2  fulltime positions available - one in Physics and one in Geology.

   e.)  New Physical Science Safety Coordinator – Paul Nacozy will be the new Physical Sciences Safety

         Coordinator beginning in the Fall 2008 semester -

   f.)  First Aid Training Session - The Science Safety Committee is scheduling a half-day, field first aid

         training session on Saturday, September 6th or the 13th of 2008 for science faculty and staff.  The training

         will be conducted by Mark Hawkins, EMT from Austin EMS.

   g.)  Environmental Science Awards – Amy Cunningham, Geology and Environmental Science adjunct

         professor received the Rising Star Award from the office of Student Life for sponsoring the students of the

         Environmental Outreach club.  The club also received the Outstanding Club of the year award and the

         Year Award for their 24 hours to Empower bike ride.

   h.)  All Day Fieldtrip – It was announced that the Geology faculty and staff would be conducting an all day

         field trip on Thursday, May 15, 2008 to look for new field trip stops for our Geology courses.

         Participants can count the field trip for  professional developmental hours. 

   i.)   ACColades -  Paul Williams announced that Lala Guerra was awarded the ACColades for Fall 2007.

         

   5.) Discussion & Action Items:

    None

 

   6) New Business:

None

 

 

Minutes of GEOL/ESTE Subcommittee
May 9, 2008

Participants                 Ron Johns, George Staff, Bob Blodgett, Sal Valastro, Cindy Carr, John Conners
                                   
                                    Faculty Field Trip
                                    There was some discussion about what stops to visit and the logistics involved.  John and Cindy will finalize the logistical details and we will meet at RGC and proceed from there on May 15.

Interviews
The timeline for interviews is entirely dependent on HR.  Realistically, we should try to conduct interviews in the fall and hire in the spring for starting in the Fall, 2009.  GSA is in Houston, so setting up a table to meet with potentially interested parties is feasible.

Temporary Full-time Positions

In the absence of an imminent hire, Paul will try to get approval for a temporary full-time position in geology for the fall and spring.  There was discussion about promising candidates to be offered this position.  It was also agreed that one person should have the position in the fall and another in the spring to emphasize that no one person has a “lock” on the full-time position and to prevent anyone from having that perception.

 

Minutes of PHYS/AST/ENG Subcommittee

May 9, 2008

 

Participants                 Paul Williams, Lala Guerra,  Karl Trappe, Saad Eways, Paul Nacozy, Chris Cavalli, Jim Heath, Dean Becker, Jeff Bechtold, Elliot Richmond, James Friedrichsen, Dale Biggs, Hadi Parhikhteh, Allen Underwood, Mike McGraw, Jeff Bechtold

 

 

                                                 Proportion of Conceptual Questions on Exams

                                    James Heath raised a concern regarding the Proportion of Conceptual Questions on Exams, particularly in Conceptual Physics.  He felt that based on review of instructors exams there were too many computational problems on exams in the  Conceptual Physics course, General Physics and Engineering Physics and very little Physics Concepts.  There was a lengthy discussion on the item.  Suggestions and concerns were shared.

 

                                    Reporting Results of Assessment 

                                    Everyone shared their results and discussed the changes, improvements and suggestions of the Assessment.  It was decided that the PHYS 1402 assessment was too specific to the Photoelectric effect and needed to be rewritten to address the broader topic of wave-particle duality.  Everyone was also reminded that the improvement plan was due May 31, 2008. James Friedrichsen offered to draft spread sheets to report assessment results, to be distributed by the Department Chair.

 

                                    Report of Standards Committee

                                    The Standard Committee met again and focused on the labs for PHYS 1405.   A spread sheet was developed with different labs in different formats with names associated with the developer of the particular lab.  The individuals will email Jeff Bechtold with their labs.  A final list should be ready in the fall.