Minutes of Physical Sciences Task Force
Meeting
Time: 10:00 am
Participants: Paul Williams, Lala Guerra,
George Staff, Karl Trappe, Saad Eways, Paul Nacozy, Chris Cavalli, Bob Blodgett,
Jim Heath, Jeff Bechtold, Ron Johns, James Firedrichsen, Hadi Parhikhteh, Allen Underwood, Sal
Valastro, Mike McGraw, John Cise, CD Rao, Mostafa Pirnia, Amy Cunningham, Carl
Feierabend, Luis Cuellar
1.)
Approval of Agenda
2.) Approval of Minutes from: There
were corrections made in the May 9, 2008 minutes.
3.) Information items
presented:
a.) Budget
Update It was announced that the budget for the Tech Plan had not been
announced yet but two of our Operating request were funded
including $15,000 for hourly salary in Geology and $5,000 for Engineering
supplies.
b.) Timeline for hiring Fulltime Positions - The Fulltime
Geology and Physics positions should be posted
after
September 12, 2008, per HR. Interviews
will take place January and February.
Both positions
will
be stationed at the NRG campus.
c.) EEO
Assessment A general discussion about assessment was held.
d.) Membership
on IPR Committee The Instructional Program Review Committee seeks a Math and
Science member. Saad Eways volunteered
to be on the committee.
e.) Prerequisite
Rosters - It was brought up that the online prerequisite rosters were incomplete. There was a discussion on the item and
suggestions were shared.
f.) Review
of Degree Plans and Curriculum Maps Information on the Degree Plans and
Curriculum Maps was passed out to
everyone.
g.) Planetarium
Updates and Volunteers Torvald Hessel, Executive President of Friends of the
Austin Planetarium updated
everyone on the Planetarium and also asked everyone to spread the word that volunteers were needed for the Old Pecan
Street Festival on September 20-21 and also future functions and festivals
h.) Scheduling
the Scheduling Committee The Scheduling Committee will meet October 10, 2008
at 10:00am.
i.)
j.)
Reminder about Safety Training Physics faculty was reminded that their
Safety Training was scheduled for that afternoon. Geology faculty was also reminded that their
training would be in January.
k.)
Community College Aerospace Scholars Saad inquired if anyone wished to
take over as contact person for the NASA Community College Aerospace
Scholars. No one expressed an interest, so
Saad Eways will continue as the contact person for this year
l.)
Meetings at RGC - Everyone was informed that the parking wasnt as bad
at RGC as thought to be.
There was some consideration of
holding the November department meeting at RGC.
m.)
Field Safety Training The Field Safety Training is scheduled for
September 13, 2008 from 8:30am to 12:30am
at Austin EMS. If anyone is interested
in participating, please contact Bob Blodgett.
n.)
Geology Orientation - It was reported that the Geology Orientation went
well. There was consideration of Physics holding an Orientation
next year.
o.)
Donald Witt - Everyone was updated on Donald Witts health. He is doing better but still working on his speech.
p.) Official Year of Astronomy -
It was announced that 2009 was the official year of Astronomy. It was suggested
that the 400th anniversary of Galileo be celebrated. Galileo was the first person to use the telescope to view the moon, plants
and stars. Suggestions were shared.
4.) Committee Membership
a.) Evaluation
Committees - Members of the Evaluation Committee for APE are as followed: James Friedrichsen,
John Cise, Allen Underwood, James Heath and Hadi Parkikhteh, Members for GE are
as followed: Ron Johns, Bob Blodgett, George Staff, Sal
Valastro, Leslie Davis and Amy Cunningham.
b.)
Planning Committee Members of the Planning Committee are as followed: Paul
Williams, Ron Johns, Jeff Bechtold, James
Heath, George Staff, Lab Techs and Lab Coordinators.
c.)
Scheduling Committee Members of the Scheduling Committee are as
followed: Paul Williams, Ron Johns, James Friedrichsen, Jeff
Bechtold, George Staff, James Heath, Chris Cavalli and Paul Nacozy
d.)
Adjunct Hiring Committee Members of the Adjunct Hiring Committee for
APE are as followed: Saad Eways, Dean Becker and Chris
Cavalli. Members for GE are as
followed: Ron Johns, Bob Blodgett, George Staff, Sal Valastro, Leslie
Davis and Amy Cunningham.
e.)
Program Review for Engineering Members are as followed: Saad Eways, Chair, Allen Underwood, Paul Williams, James Friedrichsen, CD Rao,
Ron Johns, and a student.
f.)
Physics Standards Committee Members of the Physics Standards Committee
are as followed: Jeff Bechtold, James Friedrichsen, Karl
Trappe, Chris Cavalli, Hadi Parkikhteh, James Heath
Minutes of GEOL/ESTE Subcommittee
Sept. 5, 2008
Participants Ron Johns, George Staff, Bob Blodgett, Sal Valastro
Bob will be going to the convention in Houston. It was decided that the best course of action to get the word out about the geology position was for him to post a notice on the message board at the meeting. George and I can be contact people for anyone wanting to know more.
The course topics have not been reviewed in a long time. Those present looked over the topics for each course and some changes were made. Ron will wrote these up, distribute them for comment, and then they will be posted on the department website.
No one had heard of any further progress on the lab
manual for GEOL 1403.
Core Curriculum
It was decided that GEOL 1345 should not be added to the Core Curriculum.
Minutes of PHYS/AST/ENG Subcommittee
September 5, 2008
Participants Paul Williams, Lala Guerra, Karl Trappe, Saad Eways, Paul Nacozy, Chris
Cavalli, Jim Heath, Jeff Bechtold, James Firedrichsen, Hadi Parhikhteh, Allen Underwood, Mike
McGraw, John Cise, CD Rao, Mostafa Pirnia, Carl Feierabend, Luis Cuellar
Announcement of Upcoming
Physics Meetings/Workshops
TSAAPT, October 17 & 18, 2008 in
Vernier
Software and Tech, September 17, 2008 in
Virtual
Instrument, September 25-27, 2008 in
Advance
Technology Education, Tools for Intro Physics, November 13-15, 2008 in
AAPT
Winter Meeting, February 12-16, 2009 in
Textbooks
Going into New Edition
Conceptual
Physics by Hewitt and College Physics by Wilson, Buffa,
and Lou are going into new edition this year.
Some discussion was had about simplifying the process of searching. The issue will be taken up again at the
January meeting.
Discussion
of EEO Assessment/Revision to PHYS 1402 Assessment
It
was announced that the Reporting spreadsheets had been added to the department
website. It was suggested that the PHYS
1402 Assessment be changed. There was a
discussion and suggestions were made about the change. It was decided that the information would be
discussed in the October department meeting.
C
or Better Rule
Everyone
was asked if they were using the C or Better Rule and how it was going. Everyone responded that the Rule was being
used and was working well.
Institutional
Membership
It
was agreed that we should acquire an Institutional Membership in the Texas
Space Grant Consortium. Allen Underwood
agreed to be the contact person.