Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of September 5, 1989, the first meeting of the fall semester. Attending: R. Alexander, Bishop, Loeb, Muncaster, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The Committee will meet this semester weekly at 1 P.M. on Tuesdays. Student members will be Mark Gockenbach, graduate student and winner last year of the department's graduate student teaching award, and Jeffrey Douglas, undergraduate math major and last year's winner of the Selma Wanna award. A subcommittee, henceforth known as the D-calculus committee, was appointed to implement the changes required by creation of the new sequence 121-131. The membership will be Weinberg(chair), Armstrong, Janusz, Sherbert, and Peressini. R. Bishop, course captain for Math 242, reported that there are complaints about the omission of topics from the new syllabus for the course. The committee agreed to modify the syllabus to include Kepler's Laws and Lagrange Multipliers as optional topics. The committee began a discussion of the charge by the Department Chair to formulate a response to LAS with regard to the impact due to curriculum requests by other colleges. At this point the committee was joined by Associate Chair Appel. The first such request will likely be from the College of Commerce which may change its mathematics requirement from 125&134 or 120&132 or 135 to 120, 132, and 125 (or 225). Appel said that preliminary estimates of changes in enrollment patterns predict startup costs at $12,000 and recurring annual costs of $102,000; this includes the need for 2.25 FTE graduate students and one new faculty member. Many in the committee felt that many weaker students, particularly LAS General students hoping to get into Commerce, would be forced to take the calculus. The discussion is to be continued. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of September 12, 1989. Attending: R. Alexander, Appel, Bishop, Loeb, Muncaster, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The student members are not able to attend at this time because of schedule conflicts. The committee continued the discussion of the implementation of the probable College of Commerce mathematics requirement change to Math 120, 130(132), and 125 or 225. There seems at this point to be a consensus that absorbing these students is possible provided they meet departmental standards (satisfy the course prerequisites and make the appropriate score on the Mathematics Placement Exam). An optional alternative for 130 is possible but creates problems of advancement into higher courses. Advising students on placement into 125 before calculus or 225 after calculus could be handled on the basis of placement exam scores. The discussion is to be continued next week. Jane Leuthold, Associate Dean for Academic affairs of the College of Commerce and Business Administration has been invited to attend. It was called to the committee's attention that a third edition of Edwards and Penney, the calculus text, has a publication date of Dec. 29, 1989. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of September 19, 1989. Attending: R. Alexander, Appel. Bishop, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb, Muncaster, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The chair introduced the two student members of the committee: David Hunter, a student in the combined Science and Letters/Mathematics Secondary Education curriculum; David spent last year studying mathematics at Manchester and is an applicant for a Marshall Scholarship for 1990-'92. Tamara Hummel, Fellow in Mathematics, former winner of the department's Graduate Student Teaching Award. Joining the committee to discuss the proposed revisions in the College of Commerce mathematics requirements were Jane Leuthold (Associate Dean in Commerce), Bill Williamson (Director of Undergraduate Studies in Economics), and Larry DeBrock (Economics). The proposed requirements are (1) Either Math 135(5 ), or Math 120 and Math 132(8 hrs), and (2) Either Math 125 or Math 225. Mathematics committee members mentioned the possible need for a special section of 132(130) for commerce students, but the commerce people emphasized that they want their students in the mainstream calculus sequence. It was suggested that 135 was not a reasonable alternative to 120-130; Commerce will reconsider this item. Professor Peressini outlined how Commerce might use mathematics placement scores to determine which students would be placed in Math 125 their first semester (score of 18 to 20) and which would take 225 after completing 132 (score of 20 or higher). The complicating factor of LAS General students trying to follow the Commerce pattern was a matter of concern to the committee. In general there was agreement on the content of the proposal. It remains for the interested parties to supply the resources to implement the program. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of September 26, 1989. Attending: R. Alexander, Bishop, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb,, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The committee formally agreed to accept the Peressini proposal concerning implementation of the calculus requirement for commerce students. 1. No special sections of the calculus (120, 130, 121, 131) be created for commerce students. 2. The mathematics entrance requirement for students in commerce curricula must include one-half year of trigonometry. 3. The Advanced Mathematics Placement Test cutoff score should be the same as for all other students seeking placement in the calculus. 4. If Math 125 is prescribed as the linear algebra component of the commerce mathematics requirement, then entering students should be placed in Math 125 rather than Math 120 during their first semester if their Advanced Mathematics Placement Test score is in the range 18-20. A committee was appointed to review the new edition of Edwards and Penney's Calculus. The members are R. Alexander, Bishop, Griffith, Hummel, Janusz, Weinberg, and Wetzel. Emily Peck will be invited to the next meeting to discuss transition courses. The chair pointed out that an inquiry has been sent from Professor Wetzel to the Honors Committee concerning the use of Satisfactory/Not Satisfactory rather than letter grades in Math 149. It was reported that the Math 121/131 proposal will likely be approved by LAS Courses & Curricula next Tuesday, subject to a decision on effecting an orderly transition and communication with other colleges and departments. A discussion of the effect of the changes on this department ensued. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of October 3, 1989. Attending: R. Alexander, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb,, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. Dean (and colleague) Emily Peck visitied the committee to discuss the transition program. The program admits about 100 students per year and helps students in their transition to university life for two years, at the end of which they transfer into the college of their choice. A large number of these students are involved in mathematics courses. Special transition sections now exist in Math 112, the students taking a twice a week tutorial (0 credit hours) in addition. The question is how and whether to offer additional transition courses. Some such support might be offered through the first semester of calculus, for example. Two suggestions arose from the committee. Both envisioned two hour addons as in 112 and standard final exams. One proposed that 121 be offered in a special 5 hour version with a pace that increased thru the term so that at the end of the term the students would be dealing with the material at the standard pace. There was considerably more support for a policy that placed these students in the regular courses but offered them an additional two hour tutorial/quiz session. The Merit program would also be able to absorb some of these students Appel raised the related question of whether we should provide some oversight in the way of a TA to the math tutoring done by the Minority Student Affairs Office. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of October 10, 1989. Attending: R. Alexander, Appel, Bishob, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb,, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The minutes of the meeting of October 3 were approved with one correction. The membership of the committee to evaluate the new edition of Edwards and Penney (Calculus) is R. Alexander, Bishop, Griffith, Hummel, Janusz, Weinberg. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 17 at 1 PM in 241 Altgeld Hall. Sherbert presented detailed statistics on grades in Math 134 in the preceeding four semesters according to the students's curricula. Contrary to popular opinion, grades of students in LAS were both above the average and above those of students in the College of Commerce. A committee composed of Sherbert, Wetzel, and Miles proposed the adoption of the text "Complex Variables and Applications" by Wm. Derrick as the 346 text. The UGA approved the adoption for a one year trial. Sherbert and Brown's Linear Algebra (125 text) is going out of print. A committee with suggested membership of Appel, Sherbert, and Weichsel will seek a new text. There is some concern about the current text for Math 285. A subcommittee consisting of Bishop, Muncaster, and Peressini was appointed to survey existing texts. To meet the request to Pat Coombs by several faculty member to substitute their own lecture notes in basic courses for the approved text, the committee proposes the immediate adoption of the following resolution: Instructors of all multi-section courses are required to use the prescribed textbook and follow the syllabus for the course. The use of supplementary materials is acceptable. Exceptions to this rule must be approved by the Undergraduate Affairs Committee. A final vote on this resolution will be taken at the next meeting on October 17. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of October 17, 1989. Attending: R. Alexander, Appel, R. Ash, Bishop, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb,, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The minutes of the meeting of October 10 were approved. The proposed motion to set policy concerning adherence to syllabus and textbook in multisection courses was discussed. Griffith and Weinberg were directed to reword the motion. After a discussion of the need for feedback to students in core courses, Peressini proposed the following motion: Every undergraduate math course should include regular feedback to students in the form of homework, quizzes, oral presentations, and/or exams so that each student can evaluate his/her progress. Both proposals will be discussed at the next meeting on Tuesday, October 24 at 1 P.M. in 241 Altgeld Hall Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of October 24, 1989. Attending: Appel, Bishop, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The minutes of the meeting of October 17 were approved. The following two motions concerning educational policy were approved. Every undergraduate math course should include regular feedback to students in the form of exams, graded homework, quizzes, and/or oral presentations so that each student can evaluate his/her progress. Lack of such feedback constitutes a failure to fulfill one's teaching duties. Instructors of all courses should make every effort to complete the course syllabus (if one exists). Normally, this means following a prescribed textbook which accompanies the syllabus. While teaching aids such as supplemental material are quite acceptable, significant departures from these standards should be brought to the attention of the Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Proposals for educational development and experimentation in undergraduate activities should be coordinated through the area chair or course captain (whichever is appropriate) with the guidance of the Undergraduate Affairs Committee. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 31 at 1 P.M. in 241 Altgeld Hall Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of October 31, 1989. Attending: Appel, Bishop, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The minutes of the meeting of October 24 were approved. Bishop reported that the calculus subcommittee agreed to retain the current calculus text in its third edition. This edition is to be phased in beginning Fall, 1990. The full committee approved the decision. The motion of the previous meeting concerning the use of prescribed texts and syllabi was revised to read: Instructors of all undergraduate courses should make every effort to complete the course syllabus (if one exists). Normally, this means following a prescribed textbook which accompanies the syllabus. While teaching aids such as supplemental material are quite acceptable, significant departures from the the prescribed text and text and/or syllabus should be brought to the attention of the Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Proposals for educational development and experimentation in undergraduate activities should be coordinated through the area chair or course captain (whichever is appropriate) with the guidance of the Undergraduate Affairs Committee. An informal request of the Department of Material Science and Engineering to institute a sophomore course for their majors to cover a variety of topics that are needed in various undergraduate courses was discussed. The committee felt that such a course had no coherent structure and was an inapproriate offering by the department. Weinberg called attention to a peculiar problem relating to the honor's program. Normally Math 198 has problems with underenrollment. But this semester Math 198 proved so popular with students in the Chancellor's Scholars program (who seem to have priority at preregistration) that they filled the course before anyone else had a chance to register for it. The question of how to deal with such matters in the future was referred to the Honors Committee. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 7 at 1 P.M. in 241 Altgeld Hall Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of November 14, 1989. Attending: Appel, Bishop, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb, Muncaster, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. (There was no committee meeting on November 7.) The committee reviewed a redraft of the CBA proposal for revision of the mathematics requirement for Commerce undergraduates. Several suggestions for rewording of the proposal were approved. In particular, CBA is urged to include the sentence: "Students who have completed Math 120 or its equivalent should take Math 225 rather than Math 125." Commerce is also to be asked to reconsider whether Math 125 should be allowed, since we believe that this course is too weak for any calculus based program . The committee discussed the Diamond proposal for a uniform Course Information Statement to be distributed at the beginning of each semester. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 21 at 1 P.M. in 241 Altgeld Hall Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of November 21, 1989. Attending: R. Alexander, Appel, Bishop, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb, Muncaster, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. As directed by the faculty, the committee reconsidered its policy statement concerning the content of undergraduate courses. The following motion was adopted. In undergraduate courses that are service courses or are prerequisites for other mathematics courses, the instructor should cover the topics listed in the course syllabus. These topics should be covered in such a way that the prescribed text serves at least as a reference for most of the course. Significant departures from these standards, in particular, changes involving educational development and experimentation in undergraduate courses should be coordinated through the course captain, the area chair, or the Undergraduate Affairs Committee. The chair announced that Bruce Reznick would be present at the next meeting to discuss the experimental course Math 213. Appel suggests that the committee reconsider the question of how to handle the elementary linear algebra courses Math 125(3 hours) and Math 225(2 hours). Both courses are currently taught as large lecture courses without any recitation sections, although tutoring rooms are available for each. A number of points were raised in the ensuing discussion. There is the pedagogical question of whether it is advisable to offer them without recitations, the questions of cost and availability of teaching assistants should such a switch be made, the matter of whether Engineering would accept a 3rd hour in 225, and even whether 125 should be continued. Appel pointed out that the tutoring program run by the Minority Student Affairs Office has problems concerning the quality of its tutors and asked whether we should not get involved at least in the monitoring of their mathematics staff. It was pointed out that this is a campus wide problem involving more than mathematics. Peressini gave a brief interim report on the Merit program. Participants have showed a sharp increase in their grades since the beginning of the semester and now have average grades above the class average in Math 120 Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of November 28, 1989. Attending: R. Alexander, Appel, Bishop, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb, Muncaster, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. Bruce Reznick discussed the new course Math 213, Introduction to Discrete Mathematics Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of February 6, 1990. Attending: S. Alexander, Appel, Bishop, Hunter, Loeb, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. A subcommittee consisting of Griffith(chair), Sherbert, and Weinberg was appointed to review the new edition of the 315 text by Leon and prepare a syllabus. Weinberg presented a syllabus for the 120 portion of the calculus to accompany the new edition of Edwards and Penney that is being used for the first time this semester. It was decided to remove the discussion of differentials and linear approximations from 132 and return it to 120. In addition the topic of hyperbolic functions is to be included in 120 at the option of the instructor. A discussion of the management of large lecture sections ensued. A subcommittee consisting of Peressini(chair), Sherbert, Alexander was appointed to review the new edition of Edwards and Penney' Calcullus and prepare a syllabus for 132-242. A subcommittee consisting of Sherbert(chair), Alexander, and Loeb was appointed to review the new edition of the 135-245 text by Salas -Hille and prepare a syllabus. Appel asked the committee to consider whether this text is taught at too high a level for the course. Sherbert asked for and received permission to seek a new text for 134. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of February 13, 1990. Attending: S. Alexander, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The next meeting will be held on February 27, 1990 at 11AM in 245 Altgeld Hall. A discussion began concerning the population of Math 135- 245, why the courses exist and who should be recommended to take them. The chair pointed out that the Math 124 text is going out of print. Existing textbook committees were not prepared to report. The Undergraduate Affairs Committee approved the following motion: "The requirements for admission to Mathematics majors should include three and one-half years of high school mathematics, including trigonometry." Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of March 6, 1990. Attending: S. Alexander, Appel, Bishop, Hummel, Hunter, Loeb, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. There has been no meeting since February 13, 1990. There were syllabi reports on 135, 245, and 315. Syllabi for 132, 242 will be forthcoming. The chair appointed a committee consisting of Griffith, Weinberg, Hummel, and Bishop to search for a new Math 124 text. The next meeting will be a joint meeting with the Executive Committee and Joe Miles concerning the new General Education requirements for courses in Quantitative Reasoning. A discussion ensued. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of March 13, 1990. Attending: Bishop, Hummel, Loeb, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The joint meeting with the Executive Committee and Joe Miles concerning the new General Education requirements for courses in Quantitative Reasoning has been rescheduled for after the spring break. Peter Loeb submitted a proposal that the Undergraduate Affairs Committee present to the next departmental faculty meeting a resolution rescinding the requirement that the course and section announcements which faculty are supposed to distribute to their students near the beginning of each term be also turned in to the department office. The committee declined to place its imprimatur on the proposal. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of March 27, 1990. Attending: S. Alexander, Appel, Bishop, Hummel, Loeb, Sherbert, Weinberg, Diamaond, Henson, Grayson, Miles, Peck and the Chair: Griffith. This was a joint meeting with the Executive Committee and Joe Miles concerning the new General Education requirements for courses in Quantitative Reasoning . Miles presented and the meeting discussed the most recent draft for a proposed Guidelines for Meeting the Quantitative Reasoning Category of the Undergraduate General Education Requirements. We have the opportunity to provide input to this statement, and must as well set our own standards for having mathematics courses approved for satisfying the requirements. This committee has been instructed to formulate its recommendations on the matter. The discussion was too free wheeling to summarize accurately, but there were at least two not necessarily opposing currents in the stream of ideas. One argued that there be a sufficient number of these courses which are accessible to the general university student, and the other argued for nonremedial, nonmanipulative courses which required background at the level of students preparing to enter the calculus. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of April 3, 1990. Attending: S. Alexander, Appel, Bishop, Hummel, Loeb, Peressini, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. A text has been chosen for Math 285: Differential Equations by Edwards & Penney. A final decision for adoption will be delayed until a syllabus is provided. Appel brought a proposal from Teri Jo Murphy to revamp 112/103 for the summer with one section to involve collaborative work ala Treisman. This was approved. Discussion of the statement on General Education requirements continued. Stephanie Alexander was commissioned to provide a revised statement based on the tenor of the discussion. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, Secretary Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of April 10, 1990. Attending: S. Alexander, Appel, Bishop, Hummel, Loeb, Sherbert, and the Chair: Griffith. The UAC opted by consensus to submit a written response prepared by Stephanie Alexander to Ward Henson. P. Loeb was directed by the UAC chair to meet with R. Muncaster concerning the Math 285 text and syllabus. A general discussion of "non-standard", i.e., non MWF teaching schedules was raised by K. Appel. Respectfully submitted, P. Griffith, Chair Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of April 17, 1990. Attending: S. Alexander, Appel, Bishop, Hummel, Loeb, Sherbert, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The UAC approved a revision prepared by S. Alexander to the statement by the Subcommittee on Quantitative Reasoning for the new general education requirements. The changes included a statement to the effect that courses offered by the mathematics department to fulfill this requirement "should not primarily cover material included in high school courses in algebra, geometry and trigonometry used to meet the entrance requirements." Approval was given to the change of text to Edwards and Penney in 285 without seeing the syllabus. Muncaster presented plans for evaluating syllabus changes in the course. A discussion ensued as to the format of presentation of Math 134, 125, and 225 prompted by a request from Dean Peck who needs to assess the cost of changes in the CBA mathematics requirements. Brown and Ullom are to be asked to seek a new text for Math 383 Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg