Southern Polytechnic State University

MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT

¾ MINUTES ¾

January 23, 2007

Note:  At times, issues of confidentiality may require that some items discussed in meetings be excluded from these minutes.

Present:

Absent: 

            -0-

Meeting began:   2:00 p.m.

Handouts:  Proposed New Course Description for Math 4451, The Summer Teaching System Policy, Paul Johnson’s synopsis of Math 1111 Special Sections. 

Topics Discussed:

1.  The Architecture department has expressed a strong desire that their incoming fall freshmen

begin in precalculus and not in college algebra. To help them meet this objective it has been proposed that the mathematics department assemble a sample MAT that incoming students would be able to take online. If a newly graduating high school senior then underperforms on this test that student will then be urged to enroll in a special seven week summer session of math 1111. A high student who scores well on the online test will still be required to take our current (and fully proctored) MAT when they arrive in the fall.

After discussing the above proposal the faculty elected to reject the idea of having students take a sample MAT, primarily to avoid the inevitable appeals coming from students who would pass the sample online MAT and then fail to meet expectations when taking the actual MAT.

Instead of having students take a sample online MAT it was recommended that such students take the already available CLEP exam in College Algebra.

2.  Dr. McMorran raised the issue of making available online materials that one could access to review for the MAT. It was noted that the MAT is a placement test and that students should only be reviewing materials that they have already been exposed to. Dr. Dillon agreed to provide a list of links that would allow students to review specific general areas of mathematics. 

3.  After discussion it was agreed upon that The Summer Teaching Policy shall be updated to include the following changes.

 (i)  Allow someone of Lecturer status to access the system.

(ii)  Replace the phrase “program head” with “department chair”.

4.  Dr. McMorran shared with the faculty the intent of IT not to replace non-functioning classroom monitors with new monitors but with projection systems. After some discussion it was apparent that faculty are quite content in preserving the current set-up. If IT wish to spend money on installing projection systems then let them first upgrade the two classrooms which already contain only projectors. In all other upstairs classrooms the current preference is to continue using only monitors. 

5.   For the remainder of the current academic year –

        (i)  The department peer review committee shall consist of Dr. Deng, Dr. Pace, and Dr. Gordon.

        (ii) Dr. Fowler will serve as the mathematics department representative on the A&S peer review committee.

6.  Faculty members reviewed the proposed new course description for Math 4451. With minor modifications said article will be forwarded to the UCC.

7.  The Swokowski & Cole textbook for Math 1111/1113 will be going out of publication prior to fall 2007. The precalculus committee will be recommending a custom version of this text based upon the following options:

        Hard back or soft cover?

        Number of chapters?

        Color, or black & white?

        How long do we intend to use it?

8.  Mr. Paul Johnson gave an account of his teachings in Math 1111 during fall 2006. Paul taught two special 5 hour lecture sections and two regular 3 hour lecture sections (with recitation leaders). In addition, Paul employed the use of homework graders in two of his four sections and an online homework feature in the remaining two sections. While no one format was found to be superior to the others Paul expressed a slight preference for lecturing for only three hours per week while working in conjunction with a recitation leader. His experience with the online homework service was positive and he fully intends to continue use of this in the spring.

9.  A small amount of travel money remains to be spent. If you have yet to make a travel request then please do so immediately.

10.  The Academic Planning Taskforce has started to meet. One of it’s objectives will be to generate an academic plan for the university. Any academic plan developed by the department will have to mesh with the university's plan. Please give some thought as to what you would like the department to look like in say 5, 10, or 20 years. Will there be a graduate degree? Will there be cross-degree offerings with other departments?

11.  Summer Teaching –  Please let Dr. McMorran know if you are interested in teaching a possible 5 week or a possible 7 week summer course.

Other Business:

-         Lecturer position status - There are currently 16 applications.  The search committee will being review in mid February.

-         New Building - The university’s plan for the math department to move into a new building with the electrical department has been terminated. Looking ahead, SPSU will probably be allocated one new building in the next 5 years. Will that building house engineering or the sciences? Where does mathematics fit in?

-         Books for the Library –  There are monies left in the library fund.  Please send your requests to Dr. Pace.  Please include the ISBN when submitting requests.

-         Faculty Salary Committee – Dr. Edwards reported that the recommended raises for faculty to be effective in January are not yet distributed.  He does not know when or how the monies will be distributed. Raise’s will eventually go out and should be retroactive.

-         Grant Proposal  - Dr. Griffiths announced that he and Dr. Paterson are on a committee that is currently working on bringing in monies for science and math. Everything is going  well.

-         Dead Day – Dr. Wang reminded everyone to submit their comments.

Meeting adjourned 3:18 p.m.