UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES COMMITTEE MINUTES

9 December 2005

Members Present: Allen (chair), Geller, Lewis, Mogilevsky, K. Smith

Ex-Officio Members Present: DeBlassie

Ex-Officio Members Absent: Bergstresser

Members Absent: Pilant, Rojas, Stecher

The meeting began at 1:30p.m. There were two annoucements and nine topics put up for discussion: Announcements – Lunch with a Prof Program Report, Letter to Freshman students. Topics – Biological Sciences Area of Emphasis, Joseph Landberg's Proposed Course, Requirements for Math Minor, STAT 211 Requirement for BS degree, Recruiters in the Classroom, Operation Rescue, Summer Camp for Girls, Revision of Fall Mandatory Meetings, Revisions to Math 433, and Other Business. Below is a summary of each.

Announcements-

Lunch with a Prof Program. Dr. Allen reported that a total of 10 faculty members hosted a total of 4 lunches this fall that reached a total of 21 students. It took some “warming up” but by the end of the lunches, the students were relating well to the faculty. The lunch program will continue in the spring.

Letter to Freshman Students. Taking a cue from the Associate Head at the University of Arizona, Dr. Allen sent personally signed letters to all 80 of our incoming freshmen and transfer students. His hope is for “recruitment through retention.” The committee suggested that this type of outreach would best be handled by a Director of Feshman Majors, and suggested looking into creation of such a position or adding it to duties of an existing position.

Topics -

Biological Sciences Area of Emphasis. Dr. Jay Walton devised a new area of emphasis in Bilogical Sciences for the BS APMS degree. To see the current version, click Undergraduate Biology and Mathematics. Dr. Walton agreed to make the following changes:

*Change Math 3xx (Discrete Math for Biology) to Math 220, special section emphasizing Math Biology

*Change Math 4xx (Math Biology I ) to Math 442, special section emphasizing Math Biology Modeling

*Change Math 4xx (Math Biology II) to to Math 489, Special Topics in Math Biology II

With these modifications, and the addition of 1 hour of free elective (Math 170), the committee approved the area of emphasis.

Joseph Landsberg's Proposed Course. Dr. Landsberg agreed to change the prerequisites for Math 439, “Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces” to be Math 222, and Math 308, or approval of instructor. To see the current syllabus, click here. The title of the course may need to be shortened to “Differential Geometry.” This course is already slated to run next spring as a Math 489 and once approved as a formal course, will run during the spring semester.

Requirements for the Math Minor. Dr. Stecher submitted a proposal to allow Math 220 and Math 222 to count towards the math minor as a 300 level course. His reasoning being that Math 220 and 222 are stronger versions of Math 302 and 304 which count towards a math minor. He also proposed that Math 375 and 376 be eligible courses for the math minor. The committee approved these changes and added it would be a good idea to send a letter to math majors who transfer out in hopes that they will either consider minoring math or better yet, return to math. For a full copy of his report, click here.

STAT 211 Requirement for BS Degree Plans. A subcommittee consisting of Drs. Allen, Stecher and Mogilevsky met to study the issue of STAT requirement for the BS degree plan. The subcommittee agreed that the BS degree plan should have STAT 211 as a requirement. To keep the degree plan within the 128 hour limit, free elective hours will be decreased by 3 credit hours. The change will be made for the next catalog, 129.

Recruiters in the Classroom. A poll was conducted this fall to see if lower division instructors would be willing to host recruiters in their classrooms. Almost all were in favor, so it is planned to invite some recruiters to visit next spring for a pilot study. Recruiters will be asked to give a short 5-10 minute talk on such topics as the relevance of using math in their workplace and importance of having a math degree, etc. Committee members stressed the importance of holding these talks at either the beginning or end of the class period and that they be relevant to the topics covered in the course.

Operation Rescue. Tabled until next spring.

Summer Camp for Girls. Tabled until next spring.

Revision of Fall Mandatory Meetings. Dr. Allen proposed that changes be made to the Fall Mandatory Meeting. Currently the meeting is for all majors except graduating seniors and the students hear the same type of information each fall. The idea is to establish a meeting that will better serve the needs of students at 3 academic levels—incoming freshman, sophomore/juniors and rising seniors. The freshman would continue to meet in early fall for a “Math Summit” type meeting consisting of announcements, a math problem contest, and a focused talk by a motivating faculty member. Sophomores and juniors would attend a separate meeting that is focused on their need for internship and career information. This meeting would be held during the spring semester. Lastly, rising seniors would be given the opportunity to learn about the GRE test, interview skills, and applying to graduate schools, etc. in a fall meeting.

Revisions to Math 433. The subcommittee of Drs. DeBlassie and Smith reported to the committee that the catalog desciption for Math 433 is very outdated and needs to be realigned to the way it is being taught. The proposed text change to the catalog description is: “An introduction to groups, rings, fields with emphasis on modular arithmetic; applications to number theory, coding theory, cryptography, and other areas.” Dr. Lewis mentioned that this drastic change in the course description may require that a “Change in Course Curriculum” form be completed and approved. The desciption change was approved and will be made during the revision process for Catalog 129. If a question is raised, action will be taken at that point to submit a course change request. For a copy of the complete report on Math 433, click here.

Other Business. Dr. Mogilevsky suggested the department consider teaching Math 367 to our own majors, but at a different level. The committee will take up this issue at its first spring meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Donna L. Hoffman