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

15 November 2006

Members Present: Geller, Larson (chair), Petrova, Rojas, K. Smith, Stecher

Ex-Officio Members Present: Bergstresser, DeBlassie, Mogilevsky

Members Absent:  Allen

The meeting began at 10:30 a.m. There were ten topics put up for discussion: Topics – Honors Program Update, Recruitment Update, Continuation of Mentor Program, Freshman Majors Meeting in Spring, and Math Education Course Review, Math Area of Emphasis for University Degree, Requirements for Double Majoring in Math, Dropping Technical Writing Requirement.  Below is a summary of each.

Topics-

Honors Program Update. Dr. Geller reported on the new Honors Mentor Program.  Current honors students are mentoring selected honors courses.  Attendance in the honors review sections is good in the ones that Dr. Geller knows about, and she will check on the others.  The sessions that are best attended are the ones held immediately following the class period.  There will be an honors luncheon at the end of the semester in honor of the Honors Mentors and their efforts.

Recruitment Update.  Dr. Larson reported on the High School Math Contest.  There were just over 200 student participants and about 16 that attended the Junior/Senior Luncheon.  Discussion was held on how to improve attendance next year, such as looking for funding for all students to attend.  Dr. Stecher plans to look for a different date for the contest next year to in an effort to boost attendance.  The location in the Wehner Building has proven to be very successful and enjoyed by all involved.  Also, photos from the 2006 Career Fair are now posted on the web at Career Fair Photos.  Another new recruiting  tool is online registration for advising.  The page has been coined and promoted as the "Contact" webpage.  The web link is:  Contact Webpage .  This page allows current math majors, current non-math TAMU students, and non-TAMU students from other colleges, to email the advisors with requests for online advising and in-office appointments.  It has already proven to be a useful tool and generates about 3-5 emails per week.  The online form for high school students to use to request information on our program was also tweeked to include a comment section which allows to be more personal in our email response to the students.  Our records indicate that approximately 40% of high school students that request information on our program eventually attend TAMU, and 20% attend as math majors.  Efforts were continued this fall to recruit top students (those making A's) in a range of math courses.  For the first time the letters were sent via NEO email to over 300 students in various majors.  Emails will be sent again after mid-term grades are posted.  Next spring the Program Office will mail out about 200 of our Undergraduate Departmental posters to various high schools across Texas. 

Continuation of Mentor Program.  In previous years, faculty mentors were assigned to all students up through U3 status to help with retention.  Dr. Geller suggested waiting until the spring semester and see if there is a need to continue this program based upon data collected this fall.

Freshman Majors Meeting in Spring.  Tabled. 

Math Education Course Review.  Tabled.

Math Area of Emphasis for University Degre.  Tabled.

Requirements for Double Majoring in Math.  Dr. Stecher reported that most Engineering double majors follow the APMS degree with the Applied Math area of emphasis.  This degree plan currently requires both STAT 211 and 212 and two semesters of CPSC.   The question is whether we want to require all of these courses, or make some allowances/substitutions, or lessen the requirements.  After a discussion it was decided that Dr. Stecher should not worry about the CPSC requirement and reduce the year requirement for STAT to a one semester course, e.g., STAT 414.  Overall, he is to continue to establish degree plans for ENGR double majors on a student by student basis, using his best judgement on substitutions to make sure the degree plan is solid and deserving of our BS in Applied Mathematics.

Dropping Technical Writing Requirement.  Dropping this requirement has been discussed, but no ruling officially has been made pending further discussion.

The meeting adjourned at 12:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Donna L. Hoffman