Minutes of Physical Sciences Task Force
Meeting
Time: 10:00 am
Participants: Paul Williams, Lala Guerra, Saad
Eways, Paul Nacozy, Chris Cavalli, Jim Heath , James Friedrichsen, CD Rao, Elliot
Richmond, Bob Blodgett, Jeff Bechtold, Dean Becker, George Staff, Hadi
Parhikhteh, Luis Cuellar, Mike McGraw, Karl Trappe, Sal Valastro, Ron Johns,
David Froehlich, Allen Underwood, Anne Turner, Dale
Biggs, Saad Eways, Chris Thron
1.)
Approval of Agenda: A couple of more items were added to the
agenda.
2.) Approval of Minutes from: March
6, 2009 minutes (Postponed until May)
3.) Information items
presented:
a.) Reminder of Assessment
Paul Williams reminded faculty of the need to carry out Course Assessment
b.) eStaffing Timeline for fall 2009 -. It
was announced that the 2nd round of eStaffing was beginning on
Wednesday, April 17, 2009 for faculty that are NOT MSTAs, IAs and Highest
Priority to Hire. The time table can be
found at http://www3.austincc.edu/afs/misc/calendar209f.html
c.) Summer
Overloads It was announced that overloads would be assigned to adjunct
faculty for
summer
2009 after May 1, 2009.
d.) International
Year of Astronomy Events James Heath reminded everyone that 2009 was declared
the
International
Year of Astronomy. An event has
been scheduled fro April 24, 2009 at CYP at
7:00pm to celebrate the IY, consisiting of a public talks and a Star Party to
follow. Fliers pertaining to
the events will be posted at every
campus.
e.) Discussion
of new Department Chair starting May 1, 2010 Paul Williams announced that he would
no
longer be the department chair
after May 1, 2010. Paul also recommended
that voting for a new
department chair should be done sooner so the
individual could receive training prior to becoming
department chair in May of 2010. There was a discussion about the item.
f.)
The Quality Enhancement Plan Ron explained that the Quality
Enhancement Plan is a study where the
College picks an area that has a
weakness or a problem and investigates, gathers data and develops a
plan to improve student learning. Ron Johns recommended that our department
should choose an area
that the college might focus on. Everyone suggested Smart Boards.
g.)
Science Forum It was announced that our Dean, David Fonken suggested
that next year all of the
Science departments should do some
science forums at ACC that are of interest to our students.
There
was a discussion on the item and everyone shared their thoughts and
concerns. If anyone is
interested in participating, please
contact Bob Blodgett
h.)
John Cise Appreciation Day Paul Williams announce that there would be
a dinner for John Cise
Appreciation Day on April 17,
2009. A John Cise scholarship will also
be set up. Any contribution can
be send to the ACC Foundation.
i.)
CAS Saad Eways informed everyone that the trip to NASA was a success.
5.) New Business:
Minutes of PHYS/AST/ENG Subcommittee
April 10, 2009
Participants Paul Williams, Lala Guerra, Saad
Eways, Paul Nacozy, Chris Cavalli, Jim Heath , James Friedrichsen, CD Rao,
Elliot Richmond, Jeff Bechtold, Dean Becker, Hadi Parhikhteh, Luis Cuellar,
Mike McGraw, Karl Trappe, Allen Underwood, Dale Biggs,
Saad Eways, Chris Thron
Discussion and Final Decision
on textbook for PHYS 1401
There was a discussion on which
textbook would be adopted for PHYS 1401 for fall 2009. It was agreed upon that Giambattista was the
textbook to be adopted