UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES COMMITTEE MINUTES
2002:Feb 5, Mar 5, Apr 2, Sept 23, Oct 30, Dec 4
2003: Feb 19, Mar 26, Apr 23, Sept 17, Oct 22
10 February 2004
Members Present: Geller, Larson (chair), Lewis, Lima-Filho, Pilant, Sivakumar, Stecher
Special Guests: David Manuel
The meeting began at 10:00 a.m. There were five topics put up for discussion: Changes to BS Degree Plan, Spring Career Fair, Spring Scholarship Report, Recruiting Presentation, and Other Business. Below is a summary of each.
Changes to BS Degree Plan. Dr. Larson proposed three changes in the BS degree plan for the Fall '04 catalog. For the first change, he circulated a handout that proposes a new version of item (6) in the Undergraduate Catalog under the BS degree plan. It states:
Fifteen hours must be chosen from the list of Math 4XX courses, Stat 414, and Math 6XX courses, excluding Math 401, 403, 601, 602, 603. Permission from a departmental advisor is required to include Math 485 (directed studies). Departmental permission is required to enroll in a 6XX course. Students who plan to go to graduate school in Mathematics are recommended to take the "graduate feeder" courses Math 416 and Math 447, and at least one Math 6XX course.
Dr. Larson explained to the committee that this proposed change would give BS majors more options including the ability to take graduate level courses without having to substitute them for electives. This change should facillitate those wanting to pursue the FastTrack Program. After a discussion it was agreed to exclude 401, 403 (with private agreement to substitute for BS teaching certifiation majors), and 601. Math 602 and 603 will be permitted. The second proposed change is to expand the current requirement of Math 423 to Math 423 or Math 416. This change would allow BS majors to take Math 416 in preparation for graduate school. Dr. Larson will discuss this with Drs. Pilant and Boggess before making the change in the fall catalog. The third change to the BS degree plan is to expand the current requirement of Math 410 to Math 410 or 446. This change would help streamline requirements so those applying to graduate school can take more “graduate feeder” courses, such as 446.
Spring Career Fair. Dr. Larson asked committee members to refrain from administering tests on Thursday, March 4th, the date of our 3rd annual Career Fair. Presentations will take place in Blocker 156 to better facilitate attendance from students. Booths will be set up by companies in the hallways outside Blocker 156.
Spring Scholarship Report. Dr. Larson reported that the department granted a total of 26 scholarships for this spring and next fall. Eight Robert Walker scholarships were awarded to honors students who have declared math as their major for fall '04. These were awarded as a recruiting mechanism based upon their high SAT scores and high school transcripts. Also awarded were seven Academic Achievement scholarships, three Actuarial Achievement scholarships, and four Walker scholarships to current freshman.
Recruiting Presentation. Dr. Stecher announced that he along with Drs. Walton and Rojas are in the process of developing a short 5-10 minute powerpoint presentation to be used as a recruiting mechanism at the High School Math Contest each November. He is looking for additional volunteers to serve on this subcommittee.
Other Business. There were three topics brought up, Math 451, Math 436 and GPR deviations in Math 171 and 172. Dr. Larson addressed the previously discussed issue of revamping Math 451. He proposes that Math 451 be the second course in Differential Equations with Math 308 as a prerequisite. Math 451 would become a math elective course. Dr. Larson asked for volunteers to serve on a subcommittee to work on implementing changes to course content of Math 451. Mike Stecher volunteered to head the committee, and will invite Drs. Peter Kuchment, Don Allen and Mike Pilant to serve as well. Dr. Larson informed the committee that any wording in the catalog that is NOT in bold print can be changed, including the prerequisite. To allow for ample time to implement these changes to Math 451, the course will most likely not run in Fall 2004 and perhaps Spring 2005. Dr. Lewis suggested that the Math 451 subcommittee also look at the catalog description for Math 308 at the same time, and compose a more acurate description. The subcommittee will report back at the March 9 meeting. Dr. Lima-Filho addressed the previously discussed issue of reviving Math 436. He reported that he has not yet found a suitable text, but still hopes to get the course up and running for Fall 2005. The goal of the March and April meetings this spring will be to finalize plans for course changes for Fall 2005. Dr. Mike Pilant addressed the new issue of GPR deviations in Math 171 and 172. At the request of the Dean's office, Dr. Pilant reviewed the GPR's of each section of Math 171 and 172 over the past five years to determine the standard deviations. He distributed handouts to each committee member and after a discussion, it was decided that the deviations are very small and he will report this to the Dean.
The meeting adjourned at 11:20 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna L. Hoffman