Department of Meteorology and Climate Science
College of Sciences
Program Planning Committee Report to the Provost
May 3, 2013
The Department of Meteorology and Climate Science offers undergraduate and graduate degrees
in Meteorology, as well as minor in Meteorology and several interdisciplinary minors with other
departments. Recently, the name has been changed to the Department of Meteorology and
Climate Science. It introduced a new BS Concentration in Climate Science (120 units) in addition
to the BS in Meteorology (125 units). The average enrollment has been between 30-46 FTEs each
year over the past five years. The 30-unit MS in Meteorology program admits between 6-12
graduate students each year. The Department is aiming to double its undergraduate and graduate
majors in a five-year period. Currently, the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science
offers the following programs:
● BS in Meteorology (125 units, reducing to 120 units Fall 14)
● BS Meteorology, Concentration in Climate Science
● Minor in Meteorology
● Interdisciplinary minor in Atmospheric and Seismic Hazards with Geology (14 units)
● Interdisciplinary minor in Climate Change Strategies with Environmental Studies (18
units)
● MS in Meteorology (30 units)
Strengths of the program
As noted in the program plan and external review report, the Meteorology and Climate Science
program is a small, but very strong and high quality program with a research and grant productive
faculty, multiple interdisciplinary connections, and a unique graduate program. Below is a
summary of program strengths:
● Practical hands-on programs
● High employment rate of students both in BS and MS
● Highly productive faculty in research and fundraising
● Moving in interdisciplinary direction with other departments within and outside college
● Its location in Silicon Valley and only meteorology, atmospheric science or climate
science program in the CSU
● Students involved in faculty research
● Innovative outreach to general public through the development of online resources
Challenges of the program
New program development, inadequate faculty, lab, and administrative staff and resources, and
inadequate physical and personnel infrastructure have resulted in a number of challenges. These
include:
● The high attrition rate of faculty members
● The retirement of two senior full professors
● Increased administrative and advising work with new programs not adequately resourced
● The Chair needs more administrative support.
● No access to the 8th floor and the roof-top weather observatory for disabled students
● No large classrooms
● No professional IT staff with experience in Meteorology data
Assessment
The program should be commended for their ongoing efforts to assess student learning and meet
as a faculty to regularly evaluate the effectiveness of program curriculum. Goals and
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measureable student learning outcomes were developed for each program, the curriculum was
mapped onto specific learning outcomes at one of three levels (Introduced, Reinforced,
Advanced), and Program Outcomes were aligned with the University mission and goals. The
assessment process utilized during the period of review involved the full faculty and resulted in
carefully considered modifications to the undergraduate curriculum. For example, data regarding
knowledge level and performance in several key upper division courses suggested that students
were entering these courses underprepared. The faculty restructured and/or re-sequenced several
courses to increase exposure to essential concepts earlier, and more frequently, in the major and
data is being collected to determine the impact of these changes on student learning. It is
expected that these data will be addressed in the department’s next annual assessment report.
Less formal assessments of program effectiveness have been conducted by tracking education and
work outcomes for graduates at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It is recognized that
resources make it difficult to do so more formally
The final step in the program planning process is developing an Action Plan and scheduling a
final meeting with Provost Junn (or her designee), AVP of Undergraduate Studies Jaehne, AVP
of Graduate Studies and Research Stacks, Dean Parrish, and Department Chair Bridger. The
Chair may invite directors of programs within the department. The department should contact
staff in the Office of Undergraduate Studies (408.924.2447) to schedule the final meeting, once
the department. The following topics are recommended for discussion:
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Action Plan for faculty recruitment and retention to sustain the quality of programs.
Action Plan for enhancing the visibility of the department.
Action plan for effective use of the department’s space on the 7th and 8th floors.
Review of the undergraduate curriculum based on the 2010 American Meteorological
Society standards.
The Program Planning Committee recommends acceptance of the Program Plan. The Program
Plan provided a thorough examination of the issues and explanation of plans for subsequent
reviewers. The next Program Plan Review for all programs in the department will be due to the
College Dean in Spring 2015.
2012 – 2013 PPC members:
Debra Caires (Chair)
Yasue Kodama Yanai
Michael Crump
Pam Stacks
Amy D’Andrade
Anthony Raynsford
Wenbin Wei
Diana Wu
Alaka Rao
Sutee Sujitparapitaya
Jinny Rhee
Linda Main
Dennis Jaehne
Julio Soto
Jeffrey Hummel
Mary Wilson
Mary Calegari
Lynda Heiden
CC:
Alison F.C. Bridger, Chair, Department of Meteorology and Climate Science
Michael Parrish, Dean, College of Sciences
Elaine Collins, Associate Dean, College of Sciences
Shannon Bros-Seemann, Chair, Curriculum and Research
Dennis Jaehne, AVP Undergraduate Studies
Pamela Stacks, AVP Graduate Studies and Research
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Appendix:
Description of the Department and Programs
The Meteorology Department at SJSU was founded in the early 1960’s. In December 2009, the
name was changed to the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science. Thus, the review
period for this self-study encompasses both the old and the new. It is the only
Meteorology/Atmospheric Science/Climate Science program in the CSU, and the department
cherishes its uniqueness. There is a nationwide organization of Meteorology/Atmospheric
Science programs. As a non-PhD-granting university, the Department is an affiliate member, and
of all US affiliate programs, SJSU’s is the only stand-alone Meteorology department west of the
Rockies.
It offers a BS in Meteorology (125 units); a new BS in Meteorology, Concentration in Climate
Science (120 units); a minor in Meteorology (17 units); a minor in Atmospheric and Seismic
Hazards (jointly with Geology, 14 units); a new minor in Climate Change Strategies
collaboratively with Environmental Studies (18 units); and an MS in Meteorology (30 units). The
core BS Meteorology degree program includes a large number (30) of “support units” in math,
physics and chemistry. These, combined with required GE units, make it very challenging to
squeeze enough meteorology curriculum into the remaining units to satisfy BS external guidelines.
The MS degree is the standard 30-unit “in-house” degree. The Department sees more and more
requests for an online MS degree, but currently there are no resources to develop a parallel online
degree option.
Bottlenecks in the Curriculum
Assuming that a bottleneck is defined as a situation where a required class is offered each year to
N students, and required by M students, where M > N, then the Department does not have this
situation due to the small size (majors classes do not fill). The major classes are offered once per
year (i.e., one section per year), so a student who gets a “D” or lower in a major class – and thus
has to repeat the class – is delayed by one full year. One increasing obstacle for our students is
getting into supporting classes in Math, Physics and Chemistry. As budget and staffing (faculty
and technical) cuts have reduced sections of these courses, students with low registration priority
are finding it difficult to get classes. In some cases, frustrated students have taken these courses at
local community colleges. For the students, supporting classes are the bottleneck, especially if
they have to retake.
Department Profile:
As of Spring 2011, there are FTEF = 6.0 (Fall 2010), major FTES = 46.0 (Fall 2010, undergrad &
grad), total FTES (includes GE) = 143.8. In AY 2009/2010, 12 degrees were awarded, both BS
and MS.
Scholarly, University, and Professional Activity
Meteorology faculty scholarship indicates an extensive record of conference presentations,
invited talks, referred journal publications, consulting, book chapters, grants, and leadership in
professional organization.
The research record of the current faculty is impressive. The Department is particularly strong in
fund-raising, as evidenced by the following numbers (from SJSURF) on the dollar amounts
awarded just to current faculty during the period 1/1/06-11/1/10: Professor Bridger - $799,566;
Professor Clements - $873,218; Professor Cordero - $590,638; Professor Jin - $467,256.
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During the period 7/1/04- 8/31/2010, a total of 72 proposals were submitted by meteorology
faculty. The total requested was over $13 million. Of these, 44 proposals were funded for a
total of slightly under $3 million. The largest funded grant was for $590,000.
Use of Technology, Equipment, and Facilities
The program plan mentions an urgent need to have an adequate full-time well trained and
experienced IT staff support this highly computer-dependent program. This is noted in the
external review.
External Review (Key Points)
The external review was conducted by Professor John D. Horel of the University of Utah in
March 2012 with site visit, meetings with department faculty, staff, and students, college-level IT
support staff, and university administrators. The report was very favorable and described the
department as a small but highly productive success with its very small and yet highly productive
faculty. The “elimination or merger of this department with another department would be
shortsighted.” The reviewer made the following recommendations: 1) improve the visibility of
the department in the university, community, statewide, and nationally; 2) improve the physical
and personnel infrastructure; 3) review the undergraduate curriculum in light of the 2010
American Meteorological Society recommendations for B.S. programs; 4) stress the advantages
of completion of terminal M.S. degrees; 5) continue to work towards retention of top faculty and
growth in terms of new faculty hires.
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Draft prepared on March 25, 2013