Undergraduate Affairs Committee. 1990-91 Minutes for the Meeting of September 5, 1990, the first meeting of the fall semester. Attending: Appel, Dornhoff, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster, Peressini, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The committee will meet this semester weekly at 2 P.M. on Wednesdays. It was observed that the subject of differentials has been inadvertently omitted from both the 120 and 132 syllabi. Section 4.2 of Edwards and Penney should be covered in 120. The current instructors of Math 313 are to be asked to prepare a syllabus for the course. The committee decided to reconstitute the course Math 352. Since some course in symbolic computing has been taught in many consecutive semesters, it was decided to ask John Gray and Dan Grayson whether there should be a regular course offering rather than continually offering it as a topics course in analysis. The course Math 213 came under discussion. Computer Engineering has adopted it as a requirement for their majors. That department also wishes to participate in its instruction. To maintain control over enrollment the committee agreed to continue this semester's policy of restricting enrollment to freshmen and sophomores, to delay allowing any instructors to come from outside mathematics until the syllabus and text are firmly set and then to require that our syllabus and text be followed, and to investigate the possibility of limiting credit in overlapping courses. To investigate the latter question a subcommittee consisting of Peressini (chair), Dornhoff, and Weinberg was appointed. A discussion of the sequence Math 247, 344, 347 was begun. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, secretary. Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of September 12, 1990. Attending: Dornhoff, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Peressini, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The next meeting is scheduled for 2PM Wed September 19 in 449 Altgeld Hall. Esther Portnoy presented a proposal to restrict enrollment in the Actuarial Science curriculum. The committee suggested some revisions of the language, but accepted the proposal in principle for forwarding to the College. Tony Peressini and Larry Dornhoff reported on their investigation of courses with significant overlap with Math 213. On the basis of their conclusions the committee proposed that credit not be given in Math 213 to students with previous credit in CS 173, CS 273, or Math 313. In addition, the committee authorized the department to continue the policy of restricting admission to students with freshman or sophomore standing unless they have a demonstrated need to take the course. Peter Loeb and Joe Miles were requested to provide a statement to accompany the syllabus for 247 indicating the philosophy of the course. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, secretary. Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of September 19, 1990. Attending: Appel, Dornhoff, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster, Peressini, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. The committee approved a revised proposal from E. Portnoy to control enrollments in the Actuarial Science Curriculum. The committee approved a descriptive statement prepared by P. Loeb and J. Miles to be added to the syllabus for Math 247. In response to a request for guidance from a course captain, the committee gave its approval for empowering the course captains to encourage uniform grading standards in different sections taught by teaching assistants. A committee tentatively consisting of Muncaster (chair), Palmore, and Newton was appointed to consider a request from Computer Science to cross-list CS 350, a new course in numerical analysis. This would be the fourth cross-listed undergraduate course in numerical methods and could conceivably serve as an upper level substitute for Math 257 for our applied mathematics majors. A discussion of a policy for maintaining suggested syllabi and texts in upper level courses while simultaneously allowing flexibility in the choice of texts by faculty ensued. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, secretary. Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of September 26, 1990. Attending: Appel, D'Angelo, Dornhoff, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster,Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. John D'Angelo was invited to comment on the proposed statement of purpose to be attached to the Math 247. He took strong exception to the philosophy it expressed, arguing for a course more rigorous in its approach. He was asked to present an alternative written statement for evaluation at the next meeting. A graduate student's request to place the instructor answer books for a course bookstores was refused. The question of how officially recommended texts and syllabi for upper level courses should be handled without infringing on the right of individual faculty to plan their own courses came up again. This "Fixed Text Conjecture" will be discussed at the next meeting. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, secretary. Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of October 10, 1990. Attending: Appel, Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Newhauser, Peressini, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. CS 350 was approved for crosslisting with Mathematics The discussion of an adequate description for Math 247 and the structure of our related offerings for Mathematics majors was continued. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg, secretary. Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of October 17, 1990. Attending: Appel, Dornhoff, Jeff Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster, Judy Newhouser, Peressini, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. A request to have a transition section for Math 125 was presented. Although there was a consensus to reject the request, it was decided to consult with Teri Jo Murphy before a final decision was reached. Appel apprised the committee that there has been concern from outside of the department about the grading of Math 112 since both last fall and this fall grades seem to be very low. He expressed confidence in the instructor and has encouraged her grading policies as responsible, the low grades being a reflection on the work habits and abilities of the students, a conclusion reflected by the fact that similar testing and grading policies applied last spring resulted in higher grades. The committee was supportive. Discussion ensued concerning the matter of official texts for upper level courses. It was agreed that individual instructors should retain the freedom to choose their own texts and plan their own courses within the general framework the department committees suggest, but they should be made aware of the existence of departmentally chosen texts and syllabi. To this end, such instructors should receive, at the time they are asked to select texts, a departmental syllabus, if it exists, and the name of the designated text. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of October 24, 1990. Attending: Appel, Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Newhauser, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. Transition Section for Math 125: Teri Jo Murphy presented a proposal for handling a transition section of Math 125 for Spring 1991. Students would enroll for and be tested in a regular section of the course. In addition they would attend "Treisman"-like discussion sections. (The existing course has no discussion sections attached to it.) The committee approved the proposal in this form for one semester with no commitment for future offerings. Math 112: Further discussion of the status of students in the Algebra course. Miles questioned whether there was not a problem if 80% of the students are deemed flunking at midterm. Appel reiterated his confidence in the TA, argued that this percentage would decrease significantly by the end of the term, and recited anecdotal evidence concerning support by other curricula for the standards being set; contrary opinions coming from advisors of football players. Dornhoff mentioned that he is on an ad hoc LAS committee created at the recommendation of Vice Chancellor Berdahl to evaluate the effectiveness of our precalculus offerings. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 7, at 2:00 PM in 159 Altgeld Hall. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of November 7, 1990. Attending: Appel, Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster, Newhauser, Peressini, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. CS has proposed a replacement for the 4 hour introductory programming course CS 121 consisting of a new 3 hour course (CS 125) using Scheme, a corequisite 2 hour course in Discrete Mathematics (CS 173) and a one hour laboratory course introducing C. This has a potential impact on both the Math and Math CS undergraduate programs. Weinberg was designated to draft a reply to be presented to the committee at its next meeting. The College of Education is responding to the State's demand for two general education courses for students in their curricula of Elementary School Education and Early Childhood Education, by specifying that any two math courses except for Math 200 and Math 201 may be used to satisfy these requirements. Moreover there is no immediate requirement for any content specific course. Weinberg reported on contacts with Peck, Manolakes, and Travers on this matter. Braunfeld is drafting a reply of his own. Peressini was asked to investigate the issue and report back at the next meeting. Discussion of the "first course after the calculus issue" continued. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 14, at 2:00 PM in 159 Altgeld Hall. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of November 14, 1990. Attending: Appel, Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster, T. Peck, Peressini, Weinberg, and the Chair: Griffith. Peressini offered a negative report for presentation to the Department Chair on the request from the College of Education for approval of General Education Mathematics requirements which would require any six hours of Mathematics except for Math 200 and 201. The report was approved with a minor change. Weinberg offered a letter to Computer Science questioning the changes in basic Computer Science courses and their impact on the Math/CS program and our other majors. He was authorized to send the letter. T. Peck presented a proposal for a syllabus for his section of Math 247 to be offered in the Spring. The entire question of a syllabus for 247 and a special 200 level course for strong majors was reopened. Jeff Goldman presented the following questions about bridging the gap to advanced courses: Undergraduate majors planning to become professionals but with little previous training find themselves very early on in courses where they compete with graduate students with experience in this or similar material from their undergraduate programs; the professors in these courses may mold their presentation to the graduate students; why aren't we concerned with training the undergraduates? Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of November 28, 1990. Attending: Appel, Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster, Newhouser, Peressini, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. Appros of a discussion concerning the use of calculators in the classroom, it was pointed out that a set of application manuals for the HP28s intended to augment standard texts in the calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra are now available thru Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovitch. The discussion of 247 culminated in two decisions. The Loeb-Miles statement of purpose for the course was retained. It was decided to investigate the possibility of instituting a new 200-level course whose purpose is to serve as a bridge for potentially strong undergraduates to other theorem proving courses at the 300- level. It is intended that students who finish this course will continue into 347; credit will not be given for both this course and 344. A subcommittee has been appointed to evaluate the Calculus&Mathematica project. The members are Loeb (chair), Griffith, Miles, Newhouser, Peressini, and Weinberg. The first meeting is to be held on Wed Dec. 5 at 10AM in 327 Illini Hall. Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of December 5, 1990 Attending: Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster, Newhouser, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. The chair reported that he appointed Dade, T. Peck, and D'Angelo to the committee to consider a new 200 level course to prepare students for higher level mathematics courses. Peplies have already been received with tentative proposals for content. In addition, Peck and Grayson have reported that they will deviate from the text and/or syllabus in teir presentation of 247 this spring. The chair began a discussion of the General Education courses which have been prepared by Brownfeld, Dornhoff, Jerrard, and Tondeur. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of January 22, 1991 Attending: Appel, Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster, Newhouser, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. The Calculus&Mathematica subcommittee reported that it had made an initial recommendation that the course be funded to support an additional four sections (bringing the total to 12) in order to allow work to proceed on all three semesters of the calculus. A general discussion ensued about the size of labs, the transfer to new quarters, and the necessity to ponder the question of whether we can continue to fund this program at a higher level than that of other courses. Robert Muncaster was appointed to take the place of Tony Peressini who is on sabbatical leave for the spring semester. The chair reported on conversations with D'Angelo, Dade, and Peck on the proposed new course. They are seeking more faculty input. The chair reported on conversations with Peck, Peck, & Grayson concerning the current 247. The committee had a general discussion about the preparation of new courses to satisfy the General Education requirements. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of February 05, 1991 Attending: Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Nicolau, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. Professor Monica Nicolau has been appointed to the committee to replace Anthony Peressini The committee gave tentative approval to a proposal to set up a triad of courses to satisfy the General Education requirements in Mathematics, Math 118, 119, and 201. The 247 question arose again, primarily as a matter of whether students are prepared to take the course. The West-Weichsel proposal concerning the role of Math 213 and the general matter of courses in combinatorics was discussed. The Calculus&Mathematica committees goals were discussed. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of February 12, 1991 Attending: Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, Miles, Muncaster, Newhouser, Nicolau, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. The committee authorized the revision of Math 118 and 119 and is to consider the possible creation of another course to satisfy the General Education requirements, perhaps a Math 317 based on Richard Jerrards introductory course in Creativity and Inventiveness in Mathematics Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of February 26, 1991 Attending: Appel, Dornhoff, Goldman, Jerrard, Loeb, Miles, McLinden, Muncaster, Newhouser, Nicolau, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. The committee approved the creation of a new course, Math 117, Introduction to Mathematics, to be used to satisfy the general education requirements. Dick Jerrard created the course and has successfully taught it once. He will offer it again next spring to fix the content. A report on the Merit Workshop was received from Paul McCreary. Discussion of the proposed problem solving seminar. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of March 5, 1991 Attending: Dornhoff, Loeb, Miles, McLinden, Muncaster, Newhouser, Nicolau, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. With no preassigned instructors for Math 317 and 344 for the summer term, the official texts by McCoy & Janusz and Ross, respectively, will be used. Discussion of the proposed problem solving seminar. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of March 19, 1991 Attending: Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, Miles, McLinden, Newhouser, Nicolau, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. Discussion of independent book choices for 300 level courses. No report from he Calculus&Mathematica subcommittee Discussion of the suggested new problem solving course under consideration by a subcommittee. Although nothing has been formally presented to UAC, a course is apparently being carefully worked up whose nature is different from that originally suggested; it may be content specific and required for all majors and perhaps some others. The subcommittee is to be encouraged to present the course to the full committee, and if it meets with initial approval, to teach it on an experimental basis. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of April 2, 1991 Attending: Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, Miles, McLinden, Newhouser, Muncaster, Nicolau, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. The committee discussing a new course for majors is to be encouraged in their development efforts and asked to present their ideas soon so that such a course can be given a trial run. As a result of discussions within the Calculus&Mathematica subcommittee to control the drop rate in these courses, it was proposed that students enrolled for the first time in such a course be given an extra hour credit. The vehicle for this would be Math 199. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of April 9, 1991 Attending: Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Newhouser,Nicolau, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. The committee examined the course proposal of D'Angelo and West for an alternative to Math 247. The executive committee has given permission that they team-teach the course in a section of 247 as an experiment next fall. The UAC approved this action. A letter from Porta and Uhl was read requesting the action approved at the last meeting to assign an extra 1 hour credit for the first time that a student takes a Calculus and Mathematica section. This will be adjoined to a letter from UAC and forwarded to the executive committee. The UAC considered the problem of monitoring the calculus experiment. It was agreed that some comparison of the success of students in subsequent courses is necessary. Math 315 and 285 were chosen as the courses to use. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of April 23, 1991 Attending: Dornhoff, Goldman, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster,Nicolau, Weinberg, and the Chair, Griffith. The following correction to the minutes of the previous meeting was made: "The UAC considered the problem of monitoring the calculus experiment. It was agreed that some comparison of the success of students in subsequent courses is necessary. Math 315 and 285 were tentatively chosen to be included among the courses to use in such a comparison." The committee approved a letter to John D'Angelo and Doug West accepting their proposal to the Executive Committee to offer an experimental section of 247. A letter from the Executive Committee rejecting this committee's proposal to add an extra hours credit to first time takers of Calculus with Mathematica was read and discussed. Further discussion was held on the status of the review and evaluation of the Calculus with Mathematica courses with emphasis on the criteria for and the time frame of evaluation. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of April 30, 1991 Members Present: Griffith (Chair), Dornhoff, Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster, Nicolau, Jeff Goldman, Weinberg(ex officio) A response to the Executive Committee letter on an extra hour credit for C&M (Calculus with Mathematica) was drafted. Two reviews of C&M from instructors at other institutions and an accompanying response from Porta and Uhl were discussed. In response to a proposal from Joe Miles, it was agreed that the committee as a whole would meet with Ira Langston, Associate Director of the University Office of School and College Relations, on the problem of tracking the performance of students in C&M Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg Undergraduate Affairs Committee. Minutes for the Meeting of May 1, 1991 Members Present: Griffith (Chair), Loeb, McLinden, Miles, Muncaster, Nicolau, Judy Newhouser, Jeff Goldman, Weinberg(ex officio) The committee met with Ira Langston, Associate Director of the University Office of School and College Relations, on the problem of tracking the performance of students in C&M. He has agreed to provide us with data concerning the progress of former students of C&M in their next mathematics course as well as pertinent information on their qualifications on admission (perhaps selection index, high school rank, ACT score) and similar information on a control group. Such information should be available some time next Fall. Respectfully submitted, Elliot Weinberg