Minutes of Physical Sciences
Task Force
Meeting
Time: 10:00 am
Participants: Paul Williams, Lala Guerra,
James Friedrichsen, Ron Johns, George Staff, Karl Trappe, John Cise, Allen Underwood, Saad Eways, Paul
Nacozy, C.D. Rao, Chris Cavalli, Bob Blodgett, Jim Heath, Dean Becker, Michael
McGraw, Hadi Parhikhteh, Jeff Bechtold, Elliot Richmond, Cindy Carr, Leslie
Davis
1.) The Agenda was approved
2.)
The minutes from the October 5, 2007
meeting were approved
3.)
Announcements
a.) Sal
Valastro Update Cindy Carr informed everyone in the meeting that Sal Valastro was doing well and
would be
released from the hospital Saturday or Sunday.
Ron Johns also told everyone that Sals classes
were covered.
b.) Michael Strauss Jim Heath asked everyone if we
were interested in having Michael Strauss, Physics Professor from The
University of Oklahoma to give a talk on using Clickers. Everyone showed interest so Jim
Heath said he would set it up for
February 8, 2008.
c.) New
Initiatives Update Paul Williams announced that three of our new Initiatives
were funded. We were given 24 laptops for Geology, two Sun work stations for Engineering
and a 3D plotter wer also funded for Engineering. There was a discussion on other initiatives that
are being worked on.
d.)
Course Redesign Paul Williams mentioned to everyone that Biology was
funded for a course redesign plan. Paul then explained to everyone what course
redesign was. A general discussion about
course redesign was held.
e.) Evaluation Update Paul Williams announced
that portfolios were due today, November 2, 2007. He
also
mentioned to faculty that if they had not yet turned in their portfolio to either
send the portfolios to him or Lala.
f.)
Assessment Update Paul Williams announced to everyone that our
department had met the deadline for
the
Assessment. He also told everyone that
the Co-Board had moved the report date back a year.
g.) 6
Withdraw Rule Ron Johns informed the department ACC is forming a committee to
sort out issues
concerning
the 6 withdraw rule and to come up with a course of action. Ron also said that we were
pushing for the 6 withdraw rule to not effect developmental
courses, dual credit courses, drops instituted
by the
institution or issues like child care, and military services. There were discussions, suggestions and
concerns
shared.
h.)
Sabbatical Application Deadline - Paul Williams reminded everyone that
the deadline to submit a
sabbatical application
is December 3, 2007
4.)
Discussion & Action Items:
a.) Supplemental
Instructions James Friedrichsen told everyone that the Learning Labs are exploring
the use of supplemental instruction. James explained that supplemental instruction
is similar to peer instruction groups or study
groups. After a lengthy discussion on
the issue, everyone showed interest in
exploring the
use if supplemental instruction for some of our courses.
b.) NISOD
Nominations Paul Williams announced that the NISOD (National Institute of
Staff and
Organizational Development) nominations
are due the first week of December. Paul
mentioned that
he would also
like to find a process on how to nominate faculty. He recommended that the Evaluation
Committee be
put in charge of nominating faculty.
Minutes of PHYS/AST/ENG Subcommittee
November 2, 2007
Participants Paul Williams, Lala Guerra,
James Friedrichsen, Karl Trappe, John
Cise, Allen Underwood, Saad Eways, Paul Nacozy, C.D. Rao, Chris Cavalli, Jim
Heath, Dean Becker, Michael McGraw, Hadi Parhikhteh, Jeff Bechtold, Elliot
Richmond
Review Master Syllabi Paul Williams suggested that the Master Syllabi should
be checked periodically and also rethink how we our objectives are written. It was decided that in our next meeting, we
would have a work session during break session to review the Master Syllabi.
AC
Circuits on GPII Required Topics List It was decided that AC-Resistive
Circuits be required and make AC Reactive elements optional but strongly
encouraged.
Is
Math 1324 a Suitable Prerequisite for PHYS 1401 Everyone agreed that we
would give Math 1324 a try to be a suitable prerequisite for PHYS 1401. It was also decided that if students were not
doing well, we would remove it.
Assessment
Paul informed everyone that the only Assessment not complete
was for PHYS 2426. It was decided to use
the same rubric for PHYS 2426 as for PHYS 2425
PHY
1653 Dean Becker brought up some concerns about PHY 1653. First, the prerequisite were not listed on
the course schedule for PHY 1653. Paul
Williams stated that there was a problem but it would be fixed when it was
listed with the new course name and the new course number, which would eventually
be PHYS 1308. A name for the course was also
discussed amongst everyone but the name was still up in the air. Dean Becker also brought up the issue of maybe
changing textbooks. There was additional
discussion and suggestions on the issue.
Technical
Writing Added to Core James Friedrichsen announced that Technical Writing
was added to the General Education List and to the Core Curriculum List.
Engineering Degree Plan - Paul Williams
told everyone that our Engineering Degree plan was out of line with our transfer
institutes because ACC required more courses in our Engineering Plan then
our transfer institutes. It was decided
that Paul would look into how many degree plans have been completed at ACC.
John Cise was asked to research information on degree plans in transfer
schools. John will report back in our December meeting
with the information.
Minutes of GEOL/ESTE Subcommittee
November 2, 2007
Participants: Ron Johns, George Staff, Bob Blodgett, Cindy Carr, Leslie Davis
Staffing Crisis - The staffing crisis in geology was also discussed, and Nov. 14 and 30 were chosen as the best dates for potential interviews.
Lab Manual - Bob also filled us in on what he had heard from the publisher regarding the lab manual for GEOL 1403.