Minutes

Physical Sciences Task Force Meeting

Friday, February 6, 1998

____________________________________________________

 

Attendance:

Daryl Pedigo

Paul Williams

Robert Blodgett

Dean Becker

John Cise

Jan Smith

George Staff

Saad Eways

John Allen Underwood

Mostafa Pirnia

Jeff Bechtold

Chris Cavali

Nathan Hardee

Ronald Johns

Jim Heath

Anne Walton

Wendi J.W. Williams

George Staff

Christine Cavalli

Scott Gainer

 

 

General Items:

 

  1. Submission of minutes of the 12/5/97 meeting for review and approval.
    Action: Minutes approved.
  2. Presentation by John Caporusso on faculty evaluations. As part of new evaluation process, task force subcommittees may need to be formed to evaluate the adjunct faculty.
    Action: Subcommittees to be formed at the next meeting Friday, February 13, 1998.
  3. Discussion of the faculty evaluation process. In particular, the relationship between grades awarded and the emphasis on faculty evaluation by students. A good reference here is an article in the January 16, 1998 Chronicle of Higher Education.
  4. Jeff Bechtold will discuss his requests for detailed and useful centralized accounting of departmental purchases. In conjunction, we will attempt a mid-year accounting of all budget expenditures by signature authorities.
    Action: Accounting postponed. Saad Eways suggested speaking to Juanita Mendez (223-7637).
  5. Recently, a pattern has been set by the college of canceling weak sections at the last minute. Daryl Pedigo has an idea to improve this way of managing the number of sections that he would like to propose, namely, limiting regular registration enrollment to about 80%.
    Action: Subcommittee of Daryl Pedigo, Paul Williams, and Jeff Bechtold will prepare a memo requesting the committee working on computer registration programs allow for the possibility of implementing such a system.
  6. Need for additional full-time faculty in GEO/PSC.
    Action: Faculty will develop criteria to be used in determining need for additional full-time faculty.
  7. Bob Blodgett adds: a requirement for all faculty to have e-mail accounts to receive task force information.
    Action: Jeff Bechtold will circulate a memo encouraging all faculty to obtain e-mail accounts. The majority of the task force correspondence will be carried out by e-mail. The Task Force will paper-mail only a sub-set of all information discussed to the entire faculty.

 

GEO/PSC

 

  1. 1998 Textbook Changes
  2. Common Course Objectives in Geology Courses
  3. Establishment of Final Budget Allocations for FY98

 

PHY/ENR/AST

  1. Daryl Pedigo would like to get Task Force approval to list Tutorials in Introductory Physics by Lillian McDermott et al (Prentice Hall) as an approved supplement for PHY 2614 and 2624 beginning as soon as possible. He will bring a copy to show around.
    Action: Postponed to the next meeting.
  2. Discussion of attendance at upcoming professional meetings.
  3. Web presentation by John Cise.
  4. In light of the short deadline on adjunct faculty lists, we will revisit some of the other unresolved issues previously discussed by the task force. One issue that could prove very important, and difficult to manage on a short deadline, is the "common course syllabus" idea.
    Action: Postponed to the next meeting.