Minutes

of the Physics Department meeting held Monday April 8, 2002 in UH134.

Present:  Constantinescu, Menningen, Ramalingam, Sahyun, Watchorn,

Absent:  Rybski (excused)

 

I.        Meeting called to order at 2:23 p.m.

II.      Sahyun/Ramalingam moved to approve minutes of the 3/18/02 meeting.  Motion passed.

III.    Announcements

A.     Update on the tenure-track searches.

B.      Update on the UW System budget and its implications.

C.      Volunteers are needed for the National Conference on Undergraduate Research coming to UW-Whitewater, April 25-27. Contact Linda Long (1938 or longl@uww.edu) with            specific questions or to volunteer.

D.     The Whitewater High School physics class will be unable to join us for workshops and seminars this May.

E.      The Project Kaleidoscope Summer Institute workshop "Building Undergraduate Physics Programs for the 21st Century" will be held June 2-5, 2002 in Williamsburg, VA.  We are encouraged to send a team of two or three to this workshop.

IV.    Old Business

A.     Discussion of the following curricular matters was postponed.

i.         Discuss curricular action to require the General Science ń Broadfield Physics Emphasis majors to take Senior Seminar. (Menningen)

ii.       Discuss computer science prerequisites for PHYSCS 221 and PHYSCS 303. (Rybski)

iii.      Discuss proposal to adjust requirements in the Industry track to reflect the changes made in the Economics 211 and 212 series. (Rybski)

iv.      Discuss altering the intermediate lab course to include computer data acquisition skills. (Sahyun and Menningen)

v.       Discuss modifications to the 170 course sequence.

vi.      Discuss adding COMPSCI 173 to the required courses for the graduate emphasis in order to satisfy the computer proficiency requirement. (Menningen)

B.      Discussion of our approach to a revised merit procedure was postponed.

C.      Sahyun continues to work on improving the machine shop.  There would be a $116 charge to have FP&M haul the scrap material away.  Sahyun/Constantinescu moved to pay the expense from the departmentís operating budget.  Motion passed.  A plan is still being developed to spend the $1000 donation.

D.     Approval of the modified student course evaluation instrument was postponed.

E.      Update plans to convene the department advisory committee.

F.      Update about advertisement plans for the National Physics Day Celebration on Thursday April 25, 2002 and report of progress toward inviting Sally Ride for April 15, 2003.

V.      New Business

A.     Watchorn/Sahyun moved to establish a policy that all press releases from the physics department are to be approved by the department chair before submission to a news agency. Motion passed.

B.      Selection of award candidates for this year was discussed.

VI.    Constantinescu/Watchorn moved to adjourn 2:54 p.m.  Motion passed.

Respectfully Submitted,                                                       cc:   Chancellor Miller

                                                                                                     Provost Prior

                                                                                                     Dean Lee

                                                                                                     Dean Ross

Kenneth L Menningen                                                                 Susan Matulis, L&S Development

Department chair                                                                         University archivist

VII.  Attachments:       none