Meeting Minutes: Committee on Chemistry
January 12, 2001
The meeting was called to order at 9:10 a.m. in K-building on the campus of Macon State College.
Present: Tom Richardson (N. Ga. Coll. & St. U.), Ken McGill (Ga. Coll. & St. U.), Andrea Wallace (Coastal Ga. Comm. Coll.), Olarongbe Olubajo (Savannah St. U.), Mark Cunningham (Atlanta Metro. Coll.), William Wysochansky (Ga. Southwestern Coll.), Tom Crute(Augusta Coll.), Victoria Guarisco(Dalton St. Coll.), Allan Gabrielli (So. Poly. St. U.), Ron Williams (Armstrong Atlantic St. U.), Garry McGlaun(Gainesville Coll.). Granville Wrensford (Albany St. U.), Harvey Moody (Floyd College, Bill Fisher (Clayton Coll. & St. U.), Allan Gahr (Gordon College), Tom Moran (Ga. Inst. Of Tech.) Chris Wozny (Waycross College) Jesse Spencer (Valdosta St. U.) and David Dever (Macon St. Coll., Chair),
Dr. David Bell, President of Macon State College, offered greetings and made the committee welcome.
Dr. Dorothy Zinsmeister, Board of Regents liaison, briefed the committee on the following:
- Reported on USG admission goals for 2001; over the last five years, reported an increase in average SAT scores, increase in CPC rates and a reduction in the % of traditional freshmen in Learning Support
- Pointed out that in section D.II.b of the core: Health Profession students now have the option of taking biology in addition to chemistry and physics
- Reported that there is $40M more for HOPE in the Governor's proposed FY Î01 supplemental budget
- Announced Math requirements for secondary science education majors
- Mentioned that other requirements for secondary science education majors are being proposed
- Described the new Georgia Encyclopedia and distributed brochures
- Reminded us that money is available for teaching/learning faculty development; we should apply
- Announced that summer salaries are up to local control
- Reported that e-CORE had 80 students registered fall semester
- Also joined in e-CORE discussion with the committee
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Jesse Spencer reported on continued planning with Dr. Rascati (Chair of Biology Advisory Committee) on cooperation between our two groups regarding faculty development programs.
Andrea Wallace reported on efforts at freshman placement exams. The A.C.S. Toledo Test is being calibrated for placement at Macon State; initial data predict that a score below 31 on this test leads to an 80% probability of a D, W, or F in CHEM 1211. Gordon College uses this test for admission to the course; it predicts a 70-80% rate. This test is used at Augusta State University and Coastal Georgia Community College for assessment. Committee members from these institutions are glad to share experiences with correspondents.
David Dever received a report from the floor that the reason U. Ga. no longer picks up spent chemical residues and other hazardous materials is because there is no longer a vehicle available licenced to transport such substances. Chris Wozny recommends www.wag.peachnet.edu as a good source of MSDS information.
OLD BUSINESS
It was moved and seconded to state again as part of our minuted Item #1 of the Recommendations of the March 24, 2000 meeting, to wit:
IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE GUIDELINES ESTABLISHED BY THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, THE CHEMISTRY ACADEMIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS THAT CHEMISTRY FACULTY COURSE-LOAD BE MEASURED IN CONTACT HOURS FOR THE PURPOSE OF WORKLOAD ASSIGNMENT.
NEW BUSINESS
The question of the wet-labs for the CHEM 1211 specified for e-core having been an active topic for discussion by e-mail among the members for several weeks previous to our meeting; further discussion was attenuated. A sub-committee (Moody(chair), Richardson and Wallace) was charged to interview, seek and compile the sense of the committee-as-a-whole into resolution. Two resolutions were proposed:
THE CHEMISTRY ACADEMIC COMMITTEE HAS SERIOUS RESERVATIONS CONCERNING THE LABORATORY SCIENCES BEING OFFERED IN THE E-CORE. WE SPECIFICALLY BELIEVE THAT CHEM1121K/1212K SHOULD BE OFFERED IN THE E-CORE WITH THE LABORATORY BEING TAKEN AT A GEORGIA SYSTEM INSTITUTION.
RATIONALE:
THIS WOULD ALLOW STUDENTS TO RECEIVE AN EQUAL LABORATORY EXPERIENCE. IT IS IMPORTANT TO ENSURE THAT STUDENTS RECEIVE SUPERVISED, HANDS-ON INSTRUCTION. THESE CONCERNS ARE BASED ON PEDAGOGICAL AS WELL AS SAFETY AND LIABILITY ISSUES. PASSED..
THE COMMITTEE BELIEVES THAT NON-SCIENCE MAJOR COURSE CHEM1101 COULD BE DEVELOPED WITH AN ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE OFF-SITE LAB- ORATORY COMPONENT, CONSISTING OF PAPER EXERCISES, COMPUTER SIMULATIONS AND HANDS-ON LABORATORY. THE HANDS ON LAB COMPONENT MUST BE INCLUDED IN ALL LABS. DEFEATED.
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
Chris Wozny demonstrated the CDAS system, a laboratory utility for data acquisition to the committee. It featured portable laboratory equipment in communication with a lap-top computer, recommending itself to portable demonstrations.
CHAIR-ELECT
Chris Wozny's name was placed before the committee by members of the nominating committee (Tom Moran and Jesse Spenser) and he was elected to this office.
The meeting was then turned over to Allan Gabrielli, the incoming chair and the meeting was adjourned.