Minutes

of the Physics Department meeting held Monday May 19, 2003 in GO313.

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

Absent:

I. Meeting called to order at 1:15 pm.

II. Frandy/Constantinescu moved to approve the minutes of the April 28 meeting. Motion passed.

III. Announcements

A. Chair's Announcements:

i. The College of Letters and Sciences has created a new classification of lecture sessions: Jumbo sessions made of two or more large, three-credit lecture sessions. These sessions will count toward faculty/staff workload as two or more three-credit classes. This is particularly relevant for faculty seeking additional time for research and for academic staff to meet their new teaching load.

ii. University Curriculum Committee report: The physics 170, 172, and 174 course revisions passed. The Fall 2003 class time schedule for Physics 170 cannot be changed; so while the call contact hours cannot now be changed from three to four, as mandated in the curriculum change, the pedagogy will change, as best as can be accommodated in the present three contact hours. The new Physics 173 will be taught in S2004; the new Physics 174, in F2004.

iii. The Physics Fall 2003 timetable will be undergoing continual revisions throughout the summer until staffing is finalized.

iv. Currently, the Service and Supplies budget will permit the purchase of a few additional items. Please submit your recommendations to the Acting Chair before June 1.

B. Committee Announcements

i. (J. Constantinescu) Graduate council met and had a short meeting to approve several revisions. The first Fall 2003 meeting will have a discussion on transfer credits for graduate students.

ii. (S. Sahyun) Disability Concerns committee met.

iii. (P. Rybski) An ad hoc ìWriting Across the Curriculumî committee, chaired by English Chair George Savage, has been convened by Dean Howard Ross to solicit and/or generate suggestions about curricular changes that would enhance undergraduate writing skills. Only three meetings occurred in Spring 2003, owing to press of budgetary matters. Tentative proposals included, among others . . . : (1) adding writing-intensive courses to each major to supplement or replace the current departmental writing requirements; (2) adding grammatical/structural grading requirements for all written work in all courses; (3) incorporating a multi-year, for-credit seminar requirement to each major in which excellent writing would be expected; or (4) including an explicit writing component in each course. Extensive discussions occurred concerning the efficacy of the existing writing requirement and the natural tension between the number and length of writing assignments given in a course and the number of students in that course. The first concrete result of this committeeís discussions is the decision by the English division of the Languages and Literatures department to test a common composition handbook for students in Fall 2003ís English 101 and 102 sections. The committee requests further curricular suggestions from the college faculty.

C. From the Floor ñ none.

IV. Old Business

A. Goals for the coming year.

i. Implement recent equipment purchases and modernize the laboratories.

ii. Plan for renovation phases 2A and 2B. Where will the physics laboratories be taught and equipment stored during the Phase 2B renovation?

iii. As the planning for Phase 2 of the Upham Hall renovation begins, the Department of Physics must strenuously emphasize the critical need for a strategically placed Demonstration Setup and Storage Area. Satisfactorily meeting this need has been emphasized by the Physics Advisor Council (see PAC Meeting Minutes for Nov. 11, 2002) Also, plan on where to move the demonstration equipment during the Phase 2B renovation process.

iv. Promote weekly study sessions for students. J. Constantinescu has been holding weekly, voluntary, two-hour problem sessions with her many astronomy students. This idea should be encouraged in other physics and astronomy classes.

v. Develop outreach and departmental social activities physics students to create a community of physics scholars. Examples of such activities include a journal club, brown bag lunches, colloquia, research project status reports, students investigating and presenting personal research projects.

vi. Increase activity in and communication with the Students Physics Society (SPS) at the local, regional and national levels.

vii. Work toward establishing a senior research project curricular requirement, to be coupled with an ìHonors in a Majorî graduation award based on research results.

viii. Work with the University Foundation to establish a scholarship for women students entering and/or continuing in physics.

B. Fall 2003 Schedule discussion.

V. New Business

A. Rybski/Sahyun moved "The physics department commends John Frandy and Eugene Stepanov for their outstanding work for the entire academic year and Shirley Stekel for her outstanding work for the Spring semester." Motion passed unanimously.

B. Stepanov/Frandy moved "The academic staff wish to thank the faculty for their outstanding support during the past academic year." Motion passed unanimously.

VI. Constantinescu/Frandy moved to adjourn at 2:37 pm. Motion passed.

Respectfully Submitted, cc: Chancellor Miller

Provost Telfer

Dean Lee

Dean Ross

Steven Sahyun University archivist

Secretary of the day.