Minutes

of the Physics Department meeting held Monday October 28, 2002 in GO313.

Present: Constantinescu, Frandy, Menningen, Rybski, Sahyun, Stepanov

Absent: Arriola

I. Meeting called to order at 2:25 pm.

II. Rybski/Frandy moved to approve the minutes of the 10/21/02 meeting. Motion passed.

III. Announcements

A. ASTRONMY 114 (J. Constantinescu) and PHYSCS 210 (S. Sahyun) have been approved as summer 2003 courses.

B. Dr. Bob Benjamin has confirmed he will come at 3:00pm Friday November 1 to give a 3:30 pm presentation on REU opportunities at UW-Madison this summer. He will then stay to watch the televised colloquium.

C. Administrative Council 10/23/02 report

i. Faculty complained about the quality of the ad for searches in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

ii. Summer session course requests have been sent to Dean Lee. He will approve them by early next week.

iii. Deb Heiber provided an advising update. She reminded faculty that new advisors must be given access to WINS advisor role by Jodi Hare.

iv. The Provost search committee has narrowed the field of applicants to ten and will next meet on November 12 to begin preliminary interviews.

v. Susan Matulis resigned her post as College Advancement Officer as of July 1, 2002. Parameters for her replacement are currently under negotiation.

vi. Procedures for probationary review of faculty and academic staff were reviewed.

D. Menningen and Sahyun attended the Wisconsin Association of Physics Teachers meeting in Eau Claire October 25-26, 2002.

E. Renovation of the observatory darkroom to make it handicap accessible is in the planning stages. HVAC renovation is also planned for the large meeting room at the observatory.

IV. Old Business

A. Curricular matters

i. Discussion of how to alter the intermediate lab course to include computer data acquisition skills was postponed.

B. At this point there are 8 confirmed attendees to our department advisory committee on November 16, 2002. Suggestions for additional participants are welcome.

C. Advertisement for the department searches is underway, with the Chronicle of Higher Education, AIP web job posting, and local web page ads already available. A posting was made on the women in physics listserv. A posting will shortly be made on the PHYS-L listserv.

D. J. Constantinescu has contacted NASA and is in the process of negotiating red tape to bring Bonnie Dunbar as the Physics Day speaker for April 17 or 25, 2003. Katy Coleman is another possibility.

E. Plans regarding an equipment auction have been postponed until the future status of the surplus department is known.

V. New Business

A. Curricular matters

i. Rybski/Sahyun moved that "The Multimedia minor presented by the College of Arts and Communication does not seem to overlap the L&S curriculum very much and should be considered by the L&S Curriculum Committee before being approved as an L&S minor." Motion passed.

B. Discussion of the departmental promotion standards for possible revision was postponed. Discussion may also include possible revision of the merit procedures as well.

C. Evaluation and approval of the purchase of a digital oscilloscope using department service & supply funds was postponed until Menningen evaluates the department budget.

VI. Rybski/Constantinescu moved to adjourn 3:17 pm. Motion passed.

Respectfully Submitted, cc: Chancellor Miller

Provost Prior

Dean Lee

Dean Ross

Kenneth L Menningen University archivist

Department chair