UNDERGRADUATE
STUDIES COMMITTEE MINUTES
2001:Apr
10, Sept
12, Nov
13
2002:Feb
5, Mar
5, Apr
2, Sept
23, Oct
30, Dec
4
2003: Feb
19, Mar
26, Apr
23, Sept
17, Oct
22
2004: Feb
10, Mar
9, Apr
13, Oct
12 , Nov
9, Dec
7,
2005: Jan
27, Mar
10, Oct
26, Dec
9
2006: Feb
15 , Apr
5 , Oct
25 , Nov
15 ,
2007: Jan
30 , Feb
27,
Apr
10,
May
1
Oct
1
Nov
1
2008:
31 January 2008
Members Present: Geller, Howard, Larson
(chair), Mogilevsky, Stecher
Members Absent: Allen, Petrova
Ex-Officio Members Present:
DeBlassie
The meeting began at 3:30 p.m. There were six topics put up for
discussion: Topics
– Aggieland Saturday, Changing Math 415/433 Requirement in BS Plan,
Math 491 Writing Course, Horizons in Math, Increasing 4xx Course Enrollment, and Capstone
Courses.
Below is a
summary
of each.
Topics-
Aggieland Saturday.
Dr. Maurice Rojas is giving the keynote talk at this year's event to be held
on Saturday, February 16th. His talk is titled, "Most Hard Equations Are Easy,"
and it is scheduled from 1:30pm - 2:00pm that day. We will man only one
resource table in the CHEM building and forego the one in the MSC. We will
have math majors and advisors working the table with handouts and a sign-in sheet.
This year, the college plans to serve a light breakfast and lunch to volunteers.
A list of registered participants will be sent out by the college in the coming
week.
br>
Changing Math 415/433
Requirement in BS Plan.
Currently our BA in Math with certification, the BS APMS with no option, and the BS
Math degree plans allow student to take either Math 433 or 415. Dr. Larson proposed
a change in the BS Math plan only, to require Math 415. The rationale is that students
pursuing a BS in pure math need Math 415 for graduate school and others who do not plan
to attend graduate school have the option to switch over to an APMS degree plan that
prepares them for work in industry. After a discussion, the committee voted to accept
the change in the BS Math degree plan to require Math 415. Change will be made for
the Fall 2008 catalog.
Math 491 Writing Course.
The syllabus for a 3-credit Math 491 W course has been submitted by Dr. Geller to the
Writing Programs office. The Writing Programs Office has asked that we also submit a
syllabus for a 1-credit and 2-credit course. Dr. Geller will attend the April 7 meeting
with the Writing Program Office and begin work on the other two syllabi this spring. A Course
Coordinator is typically assigned to multiple sections, but the committee decided that it would
not be necessary to assign a Course Coordinator at this time.
Horizons in Math.
The committee agreed to go forward with creating a new course titled, Math Horizons (Math 100), at the
November 2007 meeting. Dr. Larson received permission from Associate Head, Dr. Allen, to run the course
in Fall 2008 with the following stipulations:
" Taught by the Associate Head for Undergraduate Studies (Dr. Larson)
" Must be a required course
" Must be taught as an overload
The idea of creating a Math 400 and 600 was also discussed. This would be a "stacked" Research Topics course
with both graduate and undergraduate students and taught by Dr. Limo-Filho, with Dr. Larson the instructor of
record for the 400 course. The idea is to require all majors to take one a seminar type course and the choices would be:
Math 100, Math 400, Math 285 (Actuarial Study Lab), Math 289 (Math Biology Seminar) or Math 482 (Research Seminar.)
Requiring this 1 hour seminar credit would require the degree plans to forfeit another hour of free electives. The
committee did not reach a definite decision on this change and will discuss further at the February meeting.
Increasing Enrollments in 400 level Courses.
Dr. Larson reported to the committee that certain 400 level courses are being cancelled due to low enrollments. Some examples are
Math 427, 451 and 471. Other 400 level courses such as Math 431 and 447 are requiring extensive recruitment of students to have the
course meet the minimum enrollment requirements. Several ideas were mentioned to help with this problem, including restricting the
400 level math elective choices, and lessening the BS in Math's science requirements and increasing the math requirements. Due to
time constraints, this topic will be revisited at the February meeting.
Capstone Courses.
Tabled.
/p>
The meeting
adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna L. Hoffman