MATH & SCIENCES DIVISION--MEETING SUMMARY FLEX DAY – AUGUST 21, 2009 Present: Boyd Benson, Robert Bethel, Robert Botello, Ryan Bronkar, Amtul Chaudry, Justina Chen, Fran Cummings, Gary Curtis, Dimetros Dammena, Faye Daryoush, Gary Duran, Jerry Earley, Ray Esquivel, Michael Forrest, Hank Fung, Jack Gill, Lynne Graham, Nanci Gralapp, Leah Griffith, Linda Hawley, Elaine Hemenway, Ernie Hernandez, Dewayne Highfill, Theodore Hsu, Irene Huang, Steve Katnik, Terry Keller, Karen Koos, Mathew Koutroulis, Jan LaTurno, Rehwa Lee, Allen Leung, Mark Littrell, Joyce Low, Hoa Ly, Krysia Mayer, Aimee Mindes, Clifton Morris, Firouz Mosharraf, Lydia Okelberry, Ann Pham, Lucy Pomerantsev, Vann Priest, Yolanda Ramirez, Jay Ribaya, Skip Ricarte, Shelly Spencer, Gisela Spieler, Nguyen Vu, George Wang and Jennifer Wilcox Absent: Cameron English and Matthew Pitassi Karen Koos called the meeting to order at 10:00am Ted Martinez and Paul Parnell spoke briefly about budget, Rio Hondo programs, community involvement and helping the students with their education. ANNOUNCEMENTS Media on Campus—Susan Herney, Director of Marketing, has said that faculty should not let news media come into their classrooms. They need permission to come into a class. Course Repeats—Karen gave out the wrong info on the number of times a student can take a course for a letter grade or a W. A student can take a course two times for a grade. If students try to take it a third time, they must fill out a Course Repetition Form, state their reason for taking again and document extenuating circumstances. Access Rio—Faculty will be trained in October on how to use the new Banner system. This system will allow faculty to retrieve their own rosters and electronically turn in their grades. Faculty will receive Add Codes to give to students who want to add their class. There was some discussion on whether to have Wait Lists or not and should be discussed further in department meetings. Corrected Class Hours—There were many class times that were incorrect in the printed class schedule for Fall 2009. Students should check online for the corrected class hours. The times might be off by five minutes or so. Students should not have any two classes that overlap. Program Plans and Program Review—Physics is the only program review this year. Math and Biology will have three separate programs each that will be addressed as one program review in the same year. Math will be in the year 2013-14 and Biology in 2014-15. Everyone will be working on program plans this year for 2010-11. Math Graduation Requirement & New Math Course—Effective for Fall 2009 new and returning students will be under a new graduation requirement for Math. The new requirement will be Math 070 Intermediate Algebra. The Math Department is establishing a new course to meet the graduation requirements. White Boards—Do not use dirty towels to clean the boards. Clean them with water and let dry before writing on the board. Karen has some spray bottles in her office that can be used to fill with water. BUDGET AND SCHEDULE Rio Hondo gets money from the State for categorical programs and for general apportionment. We are cutting back unfunded FTES and looking to eliminate low enrollment classes for fall. The MSC will be closed on Friday. All classes are full. Our division will not offer any courses during Intersession. Based 1 on the amount of money the college received, there will be cuts to the spring 2010 schedule. Don’t over enroll your class. The college will probably offer only one session of summer school. It would start at later time and maybe be for six or eight weeks. Evening classes would still be six weeks. We need to spend only what is needed for this year. Turn off classroom lights and lock doors when there is no class that follows your class. Room schedules will be posted in every classroom so you know who was in the room before and after you. In general, there will be no substitutes unless out for extended period of time or on jury duty. Do not trade classes among yourselves. Send any cost-cutting ideas to Karen. FALL ENROLLMENT All courses are bursting out at the seams. Do not let students sit on floor or stand against the wall. Only students that are registered in your class should be in the classroom. Check students’ registration slips if need be. Do not over enroll. NEW ENVIRONMENTAL TECH COURSES Steve Katnik presented two new courses for the Environmental Technology Program. The courses are ET 281 Home Energy Management and Auditing and ET 282 Industrial Energy Management and Auditing. A motion was made to approve ET 281 as a new course for the ET curriculum (Hawley/Benson). Motion passed unanimously. A motion was made to approve ET 282 as a new course for the ET curriculum (Hawley/Bethel). Motion passed unanimously. MESA Gisela Spieler presented an update on the progress of the MESA program. There are 197 total students in the program. Not sure if there will be a budget. Academic Excellence workshops will be offered. The MESA Center will be open from 10:00am to 8:30pm Monday thru Thursday. It will not be open on Fridays. A MESA Club has been established to help with fundraising ideas. Faculty are encouraged to come to the center to mingle with their students. Candy donations are always welcomed. Gisela has established a trade-up procedure for books where students would buy their first book and then trade that in for their next book. The MESA program can always use more funds so if you see any information on grants, let Gisela know. MESA students have priority registration. SLOs software Matt Koutroulis did a presentation of the SLO program he has developed for faculty. The program will soon be available. The website is: rio.slolutions.com. This new program allows one to view course SLOs, the guidelines for evaluating the SLOs, and enter and change the assessment results. COMMITTEES Academic Senate—the senators for this year are Gisela Spieler, Lydia Okelberry, Matt Koutroulis, Mathew Pitassi, Shelly Spencer and Vann Priest. Curriculum—Yeah, Fran is back! Our general studies degree with four areas of emphasis have been approved by the Chancellor’s office. Statewide Senate is working on definitions of AA and AS degrees. Any new courses or course changes need to go through curriculum a year in advance for it to be printed matter. OTHER BUSINESS Make sure you have the new parking sticker. You can get it from Yolanda Ramirez or Parking Services. 2 The division meeting was adjourned at 1:00pm. Nanci Gralapp Instructional Division Secretary Karen Koos Dean, Math & Sciences 3 MATH & SCIENCES DIVISION--MEETING SUMMARY MARCH 6, 2009 Present: Robert Bethel, Robert Botello, Ryan Bronkar, Cameron English, Ray Esquivel, Michael Forrest, Hank Fung, Nanci Gralapp, Leah Griffith, Linda Hawley, Elaine Hemenway, Dewayne Highfill, Theodore Hsu, Irene Huang, Steve Katnik, Karen Koos, Mathew Koutroulis, Jan LaTurno, Mark Littrell, Krysia Mayer, Aimee Mindes, Lydia Okelberry, Matthew Pitassi, Vann Priest, Shelly Spencer, Nguyen Vu and George Wang Excused: Fran Cummings and Firouz Mosharraf (both on sabbatical leave), Jay Ribaya and Gisela Spieler Absent: Faye Daryoush, Terry Keller and Allen Leung Karen Koos called the meeting to order at 10:00am ANNOUNCEMENTS Party at Gary’s house—Gary Curtis will have an end-of-the-semester party at his house. It will be on May 30. There will be more details to come. Accreditation—The College has received the official notice from the Accrediting Commission that the Commission has placed us on “warning”. The Accreditation Team will be back in the middle of October 2009. There were quite a few things we had to fix in the catalog, ongoing things with SLO’s and how the Board conducts themselves. The Accrediting Commission will make decisions in January 2010. There is an “Accreditation Update” link on the main page of the Rio Hondo website. Board Meeting, March 11, 2009—Gisela will make a presentation on the MESA program, introduction of the newly tenured faculty and faculty that have moved up in academic rank. Speakers and Media Experts—Marketing & Communications department is developing a list of faculty and/or staff who are willing to be speakers or media experts in the community. If you are interested, contact Susan Herney. Lab Safety—Karen is generating a lab safety committee within the division. Starting with Chemistry faculty and eventually will include Biology and Physical Science. Under no circumstances is anyone allowed in the Chemistry prep area at any time unless authorized to enter the area. People who are not supposed to be in the area are a hazard. Governance Manual—There is a new Governance Manual out. It explains the organizational structure of the college. This will be updated yearly. It soon will be on the college website. Course Repeats—There is a new Title V update on Credit/No Credit. It will now be called Pass/No Pass. Right now a student can repeat a class if they get a “D” or “F”. Beginning in Fall 2009, a student can repeat a course up to four times which include a combination of grades and withdrawals. You might want to advice your students who might not pass. Environmental Tech News—There has been some good work going on in the Environmental Technology program this year. One of the students was a speaker at a conference in Pasadena explaining the program and how it has helped her. The program received a small grant of $25,000 from Edison and possibly $196,000 Federal funding for Green jobs in small businesses in South Whittier. Business Cards—If you need new business cards due to the phone number changes, please see Nanci or Yolanda. They will start a list. Deadline to turn in requisitions for business cards is March 20, 2009. 1 Degrees in Math and Science—Keep working on the degrees in the discipline. Dianne Martinez, counselor, is working on a math degree. Degrees should come from the individual department and not from the counselors. PROGRAM PLANS, UNIT PLANS Faculty have been working on the program plans. Keep in mind about personnel issues, equipment, facilities, and big cost issues which are tied to SLOs. If you need help in putting together the program plans, see Vann Priest or Matt Koutroulis. BUDGET Teresa Dreyfuss is keeping a tight reign on the budget. There will be the same number of sections for summer and fall and we will not be increasing any sections. The cut-off date for the yearly spending is sometime in April. If you still need anything, let Karen know. NEW COURSES Math 72 – The math faculty need to meet to get this new course going. There will be new graduation requirements in Fall 2009 for the Mathematics GE. In order to graduate with an AS or AA degree a student will need to have one class past Math 50. Mark Littrell suggested that faculty could join the Yahoo Group sessions online for discussions and voting. MESA course (Vann) – He presented a new course that MESA students must take called Math 085 Introduction to MESA. This would be a course for MESA students only and is not transferable but is degree applicable. There is no prerequisite, but has a corequisite of Math 050 or higher and membership in MESA. It is an orientation course that introduces students to Science-Technology-EngineeringMathematics (STEM) career paths, transfer requirements, internships and scholarships availabilities. A motion was made to approve Math 085 for forwarding to the Curriculum Committee (Koutroulis/Hawley). Motion carries unanimously. FOUNDATION (Terry) Terry Keller is sick today. He was going to announce that the Foundation’s President Gala is coming up on April 18. The cost is $150. If you plan on going, please contact the Foundation Office. COMMITTEES Academic Senate—Senate terms are up for Robert Bethel and Mark Littrell. Nominations were held and Lydia Okelberry and Matt Pitassi both accepted the nominations. A vote was taken and they were elected unanimously. Academic Senate is working on the ethics policy. PFC has made some changes to the policy. Curriculum—Division was not sure if Fran Cummings term was up. A vote was made to re-elect Fran to Curriculum. The vote passed unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS Jan LaTurno was wondering if we will not be adding any other sections to our schedule, how are we going to offer a new Math 72 course. Karen will need to explain that it is needed for graduation purposes. There will not be a division meeting in April unless one is needed. Next meeting is scheduled for May. The division meeting was adjourned at 11:00am. Nanci Gralapp Instructional Division Secretary Karen Koos Dean, Math & Sciences 2 Mathematics & Sciences Division – Meeting Summary Friday, March 5, 2010 Present (Full Time): Robert Botello, Ryan Bronkar, Fran Cummings, Faye Daryoush, Cameron English, Ray Esquivel, Michael Forrest, Hank Fung, Leah Griffith, Linda Hawley, Elaine Hemenway, Dewayne Highfill, Irene Huang, Steve Katnik, Terry Keller, Karen Koos, Mathew Koutroulis, Jan LaTurno, Allen Leung, Mark Littrell, Firouz Mosharraf, Lydia Okelberry, Matthew Pitassi, Vann Priest, Yolanda Ramirez, Jay Ribaya, Shelly Spencer, Gisela SpielerPersad, Nguyen Vu, and George Wang. Present (Part Time): Ted Hsu Absent: Robert Bethel, Krysia Mayer, and Aimee Mindes Karen Koos called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS Karen announced that the Pearson Representative set-up a Book Fair in S120 and she would provide lunch. Robert Botello is back and writing left-handed. I. A. RIO MAIL Dean Koos said that too many students still do not know about Rio Mail, and that with approximately 4000 active accounts, it is barely 1/3 of the students. She asked faculty to remind students to activate their accounts. She mentioned other pros to having everyone use the Rio Mail accounts. A) One e-mail can be used to communicate with the whole class at once. B) The summer and fall wait list information will be sent via Rio Mail. C) Information on how to receive and use add codes will be sent via the Rio Mail accounts only. D) It will also be the best way to communicate in case of an emergency. Faculty must encourage students to activate their account and check it regularly or have it forwarded. There was a question as to whether or not Rio Mail would be combined with Blackboard, the answer was no. Karen went on to say that Luminis, a new portal to have students and Faculty Bridge Banner to Blackboard, is in the works. B. BOOKSTORE The Bookstore is offering other Non-Textbook Materials, and they sent a form that will be attached to the book adoption forms, which will be distributed next week. She announced that starting March 8 to March 12 the bookstore will be returning textbook overstock and showed them the Book Rental and Calculator Sale with 25% coupon flyers (see attached). She asked faculty to inform students of these new services. She announced that the bookstore had sent information via e-mail regarding the ordering of Faculty Regalia for Commencement in May, and that order process can be completed online. C. FACULTY EVALUATIONS Dean Koos mentioned that after a negotiations meeting a Sub-Committee was developed with 3 Admin and 3 Faculty staff to work on improving Faculty Evaluation section of the contract. The sub-committee will review, question and bring in proposed changes to improve evaluation forms, questionnaires, and peer review forms. Karen asked those who have gone through the process recently to bring or send any suggestions to her or Adam Westman. Karen congratulated Shelly Spencer and Matt Pitassi who would achieve Tenure this year, and that this would be announced and confirmed at the next Board Meeting. Karen went on to congratulate Lydia, Jay, and Krysia for moving on to their 3rd contract year. D. FIRE DRILL Fire Drills are scheduled in the spring, there will be one day and one evening drill conducted in early April, Gus will notify us when they will take place. Griffith brought up the fact that some of the escape routes are no longer available like the area behind the greenhouse, due to construction. Lydia mentioned the Safety Committee’s intention to walk the paths and Karen said there has been no action on that. The issue of the elevator being out-of-service was brought up and how the south elevator has not been repaired, and that it is a concern to disabled students and faculty. Karen stated that the repairs to the south elevator are estimated at $60,000 and reminded everyone that elevators should not to be used during an emergency evacuation or drill. The main thing to remember about the impending Fire Drills is to evacuate all students anyway possible. E. GREEN PROGRAM Kick-Off Dean Koos announced The Green Program for South Whittier and surrounding areas, supported by Congresswoman Linda Sánchez, will have a Kick-Off celebration on Monday, March 8. The program will provide OSHA Energy, Water, and Storm Water training to small and medium sized business free of charge. II. APPROVAL OF CURRICULUM ITEMS A. AP PROGRAM ADVANCED PLACEMENT ADDITIONS Dean Koos asked for a motion to approve the Math Exam: AP Statistics, Score: 4 or 5, RHC Course Equivalent: Math 130, Units: 4 Linda Hawley motioned to approve the Math 130 AP Statistics Exam. Jan LaTurno seconded the motion. 29 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Opposed, 0 Abstentions—the motion passed unanimously. Dean Koos asked for a motion to approve the Physics Exam: Physics B, Score: 3, 4 or 5, RHC Course Equivalent: Natural Science with Lab, Units: 4 There was a question and clarification that this exam would be given for area NOT course credit. Gisela Spieler motioned to approve the Physics B Exam. Allen Leung seconded the motion. 28 Ayes, 0 Nays, 1 Opposed, 0 Abstentions—the motion passed. Dean Koos asked for a motion to approve the Physics Exam: Physics C – Mechanics, Score: 3, 4 or 5, RHC Course Equivalent: Natural Science with Lab, Units: 4 Gisela Spieler motioned to approve the Physics C – Mechanics Exam. Allen Leung seconded the motion. 28 Ayes, 0 Nays, 1 Opposed, 0 Abstentions—the motion passed. Dean Koos asked for a motion to approve the Physics Exam: Physics C – Magnetism, Score: 3, 4 or 5, RHC Course Equivalent: Natural Science with Lab, Units: 4 Vann Priest motioned to approve the Physics C – Magnetism Exam. Linda Hawley seconded the motion. 25 Ayes, 0 Nays, 1 Opposed, 3 Abstentions—the motion passed. Approval of Curriculum Items (continued) Dean Koos asked for a motion to approve the Math Exams: AP exam scores of 3, 4 or 5 on AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics to be submitted for completion of the Mathematics Graduation Requirement. Nguyen Vu motioned to approve the AP exam scores of 3, 4 or 5 on AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics to be submitted for completion of the Mathematics Graduation Requirement. Jan LaTurno seconded the motion. 29 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Opposed, 0 Abstentions—the motion passed unanimously. B. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE DEGREE Dean Koos asked for a Division Vote and a motion to approve: New A.S. Degree: Environmental Science (31-32 units) Steve Katnik motioned to approve the New A.S. Degree in Environmental Science. Jay Ribaya seconded the motion. 29 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Opposed, 0 Abstentions—the motion passed unanimously. C. MATH 072 - NEW MATH COURSE APPROVAL Dean Koos asked Division faculty to approve the new Math 072 course description pending the last of many discussions and the decision that would be made by the faculty in the Math Department meeting. Dean Koos asked for a motion to approve the course description for Math 072 – The Mathematics of Money 3 Units/54 Total Hours - New Course for the graduation requirement (Associate degree), pending the final discussion and decision of the Math Department. Math 072 – The Mathematics of Money is designed for students pursuing an associate's degree who do not plan to transfer to a four-year school. Students will consider the mathematics of exponential growth and decay and the use of logarithms as they relate to investing and borrowing money including compound interest, credit cards, and installment loans. Other topics include probability and statistics, especially related to gambling and insurance. 3 Units / 54 total Hours - New Course for the graduation requirement (Associate degree) There were comments that the course description read like a great class, but it might need revision to change the units to 4. Nguyen Vu motioned to approve the New Math 072 Course description pending the decision of the Math Department. Terry Keller seconded the motion. 29 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Opposed, 0 Abstentions—the motion passed unanimously. D. MATH 072 – TO MEET GRADUATION REQUIREMENT Dean Koos asked for a motion to approve the Math 072 – The Mathematics of Money 4 Units 72 Total Hours as a course to meet RHC graduation requirements. There was a question if the course would be in lieu of Math 070 and it was made clear that the course was in addition to Math 070 to meet RHC graduation requirements. Vann Priest motioned to approve Math 072 as a course to meet RHC graduation requirements. Terry Keller seconded the motion. 29 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Opposed, 0 Abstentions—the motion passed unanimously. E. NEW BIOLOGY 205 & BIOLOGY 206 COURSE APPROVAL Dean Koos introduced Jay Ribaya to discuss the course descriptions for Biology 205 – Molecular Biology and Biotechnology a 4 Unit course and Biology 206 – Principles of Genetics a 3 Unit course. Approval of Curriculum Items (continued) Jay Ribaya stated that both would be Biology Major Courses which have been processes through a comprehensive articulation process for undergraduate preparation for UCLA’s molecular genetics program. Bio 205 has a prerequisite of Bio 200 which in turn has a prerequisite of Chem120. Matt Koutroulis voiced his concern of having only Chemistry 120 as a prerequisite for a high-level class, and Gisela Spieler asked if the classes would be offered sequentially. Jay replied that Dorali Picardo-Diaz, Articulation Counselor was checking all the details. Dean Koos asked for a motion to approve the course description for Biology 205 – Molecular Biology and Biotechnology 4 Units / 54 Hours Lecture & 54 Hours Lab for a total of 108 hours. Gisela Spieler motioned to approve the Bio 205 – Molecular Biology and Biotechnology course description. Allen Leung seconded the motion. 29 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Opposed, 0 Abstentions—the motion passed unanimously. Dean Koos asked for a motion to approve the course descriptions for Biology 206 – Principles of Genetics 3 Units / 54 Hours course. Jay Ribaya motioned to approve the Bio 206 – Principles of Genetics description. Shelly Spencer seconded the motion. 29 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Opposed, 0 Abstentions—the motion passed unanimously. F. AP PROGRAM ADVANCED PLACEMENT EXAM Approval of Curriculum Items (continued) Dean Koos asked for a motion to approve the Chemistry Exam: AP Chemistry, Score 3, 4 or 5, RHC Course Equivalent: Chemistry 120 (score of 3) or Chemistry 130 (score of 4 or 5), Units: 5 Allen Leung motioned to approve the AP Chemistry Exam Exam. Irene Huang seconded the motion. 27 Ayes, 0 Nays, 0 Opposed, 2 Abstentions—the motion passed. BUDGET ISSUES Dean Koos mentioned we are all aware of the Budget cuts, and that the college has prioritized expenditures, and that the college’s end-of-the-year cut-off is in April. Any requests should be submitted to her as soon as possible. III. Karen mentioned that TI-84 calculators ran out very quickly this semester and we might need to purchase more. Leah Griffith brought up the fact that there is money in the Foundation account allocated to support calculator purchases. Karen asked Terry to look into it. She ended budget discussion by stating there was no more news about the State Budget. OUTSTANDING STUDENT AWARDS There was a proposal by Vann Priest and Terry Keller to institutionalize the Outstanding Student Awards ceremony and to increase the amount of money awarded from $50 to $100 to outstanding students through the Foundation. There was discussion on six awards given in previous years and how funding to the Foundation for this particular cause could be rolled-over to increase or decrease the amount of the awards as needed. IV. V. COMMITTEES A. ACADEMIC SENATE Dean Koos asked Lydia Okelberry to report. Lydia reported that the Academic Senate decided that AS President’s decisions should have more weight than the Planning Fiscal Council (PFC). She reported the Senate had questions on how many times students are allowed to repeat a course. It was stated that 15 pages of permutations were calculated to account for letter grades and W’s. The Senate requests language to clarify this issue. 1. ELECTIONS Vann said that Senate Elections were scheduled for the April or May meeting to elect two senators to replace Shelly Spencer and Vann Priest. He said an e-Vote will be conducted or the item will be in next meeting’s agenda. B. CURRICULUM Fran Cummings stated that the Math degree is scheduled in the Agenda and should be discussed, and that Monday was the deadline for submission of items that would become active in the fall. OTHER BUSINESS Terry Keller reported on the Foundation Committee. He gave information on the Gala and thanked everyone in the Division who bought tickets or contributed to the baskets so they can be in the catalog. He said the Gala is set to raise funds for Vets, Arts and Nursing, and he would like to set up a task force to generate ideas and find out costs for a future Gala for Math & Science. Send him details or ideas on programs needing this type of support. VI. Gisela mentioned the STEM program is a good candidate for fundraising support and she mentioned that she wants to move MESA Center to the 2nd floor of the library. Matt Koutroulis was asked to discuss the progress of the new SLOs software, SLOlutions, which faculty will use to enter data. He said it would be easier to produce reports and that he needs to know who is in charge of MATH SLOs. People in charge were listed as follows: Math 020 Math 030 Math 050 Math 060 Math 070 Math 072 Math 120 Math 130 Math 140 Hawley – Daryoush Griffith Wang Hemenway Pitassi Griffith English Esquivel Griffith Math 141 Griffith Math 160 Math 170 Math 175 Math 180 Math 190 Math 191 Math 250 Math 260 Math 270 Mayer Esquivel Botello-Griffith Pitassi Okelberry Wang Littrell Bronkar Bronkar Karen announced that the next Division Meeting would be on April 9, 2010 10:00am. The Division Meeting was adjourned at 11: 35a.m. _____________________________ Yolanda Ramirez Secretary ____________________________ Karen Koos Dean, Math & Sciences