Undergraduate Education Committee
22 July 2001
Rochester

Minutes

Present: Present: Juan Burciaga(Chair) , Alan van Heuvelen, Paul Stanley, Gordon McIntosh, Ernie Behringer, Gerald Taylor, Edwin Jones, Bill Wehrbein, Mark Lottery, Ruth Howes, Charles Holbrow, Karl Mamola, Joan Mackin, Duncan McBride, Ken Heller*,Fred Becchetti*

* met with the Chair in a separate session

The meeting was called to order and after a few minutes of introduction we turned our attention to a request from the AAPT Board.

Karl Mamola, the new editor of the Physics Teacher, speaking for the board requested that we weigh the matter of the possible demise of the Professional Concerns Committee due to lack of members. He asked if the Undergraduate Education Committee would be willing to take on the work of possible accreditation of the undergraduate physics program and also careers possible with undergraduate degrees. The committee quickly affirmed that both topics were part of our charge. However, Alan van Heuvelen pointed out that we could and do discuss these issues but he argued we most likely did not do as thorough a job as the Professional Concerns committee. After a spirited discussion the committee requested Karl Mamola take back the message that though we would undertake any task needed, but that we value the Professional Concerns Committee and recommend that the committee be given the support it needs to continue its work while it rebuilds its membership.

Yet another issue that was raised from the Board was the possibility that the Announcer would no longer carry the abstracts for the talks in the sessions. This action was being considered as a way to save mailing and other costs but also to allow the deadline for abstract submission to be moved back. This proposal caused considerable controversy, particularly when it was announced that this was almost certain to happen soon. The major concerns raised by the committee members included the difficulty if citing an abstract once it was no longer part of the Announcer even if the abstracts were in a separate listing at the meeting and that presenting papers at AAPT meetings may no longer be seen as valid "publications" if the abstracts were no longer published in the Announcer. The committee wanted to send the message back to the Board that this action should be delayed if possible, or reversed if not. And that further consideration be given to addressing the concerns raised by the committee.

Juan Burciaga passed out hard copies of the Committee’s web site and solicited feedback. Though the site generally met with favorable comments several suggestions were made to improve the site. Ernie Behringer requested that the role of the committee in promoting the physics major be added. And several at the meeting warned that the resource page should not duplicate others that were being developed.

Juan Burciaga also passed a sample brochure of the kind being considered as a way to promote the AAPT national meetings. Criticisms of the brochure included the high text/graphics ratio. But the idea of finding an alternative way to highlight the activities at the national meetings met with approval. An alternative idea was to publish a poster for the meeting that could highlight the activities in a very visible way.

The committee finally turned its attention to the Rochester meeting.

Since we were meeting early we could not comment on the sessions. Juan Burciaga reported that the workshops he had visited (W13:Successful Grant-Funded Projects, W22: Exploring Black Holes, and W30: Simple Radiation Experiments) had been well attended and had active participation. Others who attended W13 commented that the workshop had been excellent and very useful to new faculty and that we should try and offer it every few years.

The committee picked up its work at the Philadelphia meeting.

Juan Burciaga reported that at the request of Charles Holbrow, he (Burciaga) had organized a session on undergraduate research. In addition, the committee had approved a session on "Getting it Right: Strange and Subtle Ideas in Introductory Physics" where the focus would be on ideas which are difficult to teach, and write about, at the introductory level. But the committee was also listed as a co-sponsor (with High Schools) for a session on summer programs for high school students. No one knew the session or the organizer and so the Chair agreed to look into the matter and report back to the committee. WE had already discussed and approved workshops on Exploring Black Holes (Taylor), Matter and Interactions (Chabay and Sherwood), Teach Physics by Replicating the Process of Science (van Heuvelen and Etkina) but 2 others were unknown to the committee. These were Workshop Tutorials: Student-Centered Learning Australian Style (Sharma) and a Tutorial on Demonstrations (Berner). Again the Chair agreed to look into the matter further.

The committee began long term planning for the Boise meeting.

Ruth Howes propsed a session on the National Task Force. She stated that we could also co-sponsor it with Graduate Education, Two Year Colleges, and Professional Concerns. She agreed to organize the session. The committee approved the idea.

Alan van Heuvelen requested that the committee sponsor a session on Representation. The committee approved his request.

Possible plenary speakers for Boise and beyond included Scot Diddams at NIST-Boulder whose work on high precision clocks was in the news, Carl Wieman also at Boulder, Michio Kaku in New York.

The meeting adjourned but the work continues.