UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES COMMITTEE MINUTES
23 September 2002
Members Present: Allen, Hensley, Larson (chair), Lowe, Mogilevsky, Pilant, Stecher, Straube
Members Absent: Boggess
Special Guests: Dr. Bart Childs, David Manuel
The meeting began at 2:00p.m. There were eight topics put up for discussion: Math Minors, Recruiting, Math "Areas of Emphasis" and "Options", Fall Major's Meeting, High School Math Contest, Spring Career Fair, Summer Math/Science Camps for High School Students, Other Business. Below is a summary of each.
Math Minors. Dr. Bart Childs, representing the Computer Science Department, opened up the meeting by discussing the Computer Science curriculum and their desire to reorganize in the future. He passed out the "Minoring in Mathematics" handout used in Computer Science and commented that the minor is being promoted and he will check with other advisors to ensure that there are no miscommunications regarding the benefits of a math minor. Dr. Childs also mentioned a desire for a more theory-oriented Linear Algebra course. After a brief discussion, the committee decided to investigate various options that would benefit both Computer Science majors and our own majors. Dr. Larson brought up the possibility of an area of emphasis in Computer Science for our majors and Dr. Childs welcomed the idea. He will let us know who becomes the new Chair of their Undergraduate Program so that so he/she can attend future meetings.
Recruiting. Dr. Bruce Lowe reported that he has been invited to speak at the Harris Community College Math Club on October 16. He will speak about Math Finance. Dr. Larson has been invited to speak at A&M Consolidted High School at a later date this fall. It was agreed that the best recruiting approach is a simple talk rather than a big production.
Math "Areas of Emphasis" and "Options". Dr. Larson discussed the desire to make our degree plans more flexible by adding areas of emphasis. The "option" route requires extensive background research, but the "area of emphasis" can serve as an alternative. Areas of emphasis do not appear on transcripts, so a certificate would need to be developed for graduates.
Fall Major's Meeting. Dr. Stecher announced the Fall Major's meeting on Wednesday, October 23rd and encouraged committee members to attend and support our undergraduates.
High School Math Contest. Dr. Stecher announced that the annual High School Math Contest will be on Saturday, November 16th in the Zachary Building. Dr. Hensley will conduct the popular Buzz Contest again this year and Dr. Boggess will head up the grading of exams. Dr. Stecher asked committee members who were not busy on the 16th to consider helping with grading, etc. Dr. Larson suggested getting each participants e-mail address for future contact purposes.
Spring Career Fair. Dr. Larson reported that the Math Department's booth at the Engineering Fair was a success. Their career fair is strictly booths with representatives from industry manning the booths. After a discussion, it was recommended that our career fair remain a presentation style event with booths as well. The committee was queried on whether to host the career fair on the weekend or a weekday. No decision was reached on this issue, but will be addressed again at the next meeting.
Summer Math/Science Camps for High School Students. Dr. Stecher discussed his proposed Summer Math camp for high school students who have completed Algebra I and II, and Geometry. His hopes is the enrollment will grow to 300-400 students over the next three years. He plans to run two and four week courses geared toward enrichment, rather than reinforcement of high school curriculum or preparation for college level courses. He asked committee members to consider teaching a course for the camp. An official letter to faculty is being composed to solicit teachers for the camp. Some suggestions for class topics included, Dots and Lines, and Chess. Dr. Stecher asked committee members to also consider including some funding for outreach in any NSF grant proposal they may write. He also suggested that committee members alert him of their contacts at MAA and AMS in an effort to solicit funding for the camp. Dr. Stecher reported on his trip to the University of Michigan last summer. Included in his data was the overwhelming statistics involving the number of camp students that applied and were accepted to the University of Michigan.
Other Business. David Manuel made the committee aware of a new College of Science program called "2+2". The program is similar to the TEAM program, but is geared towards students seeking teacher certification. Students participating in the program attend Blinn College for 2 years and then transfer to TAMU. David circulated a semester-by-semester degree plan that he devised for the program. In his plan, Math 220 and Math 222 would be taken here at TAMU rather than Blinn. He voiced a concern with students not taking those two pivotal courses here at TAMU. He will submit his plan to the Dean of College of Science for approval/revision. The committee agreed with David's idea on Math 220 and 222 and supported his plan. Dr. Larson passed a demographic handout covering data on our majors over the past 3 years. The figures show we are getting good students transferring and losing less students. Our goal is to reach 440 majors (about 1% of TAMU student body) in three years. For the second year in a row, a math major has been awarded the College of Sciences John Beckham Award. This year's winner is Leigh Cobbs. The AMS is sponsoring a workshop at LSU on November 7-10. The focus of the workshop is junior and senior level curriculum. It was recommended that we try to send a team of four to the workshop. Information will be circulated to committee members.
The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna L. Hoffman