Chapter 5
Resources
5.1
Budget
The following data are from Banner, giving the adjusted budget for each year. The accounts are
assigned thus: B00 is for travel, E00 for office and administrative supplies, F00 for lab supplies,
K00 for equipment, L00 for Maintenance and repair and U00 for computer equipment.
Table 5.1: Department budget
Year
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
B00
1,200.00
E00
1,700.00
1,200.00
675.99
1,226.23
181.50
1,366.00
305.68
F00
4,4.00
4,137.00
5,024.01
3,249.23
8,184.31
3,245.00
3,795.24
K00
2,450.00
1,000.00
1,500.00
4,461.54
294.25
3,961.00
6,413.08
L00
300.00
300.00
0.00
0.00
165.00
0.00
M00
750.00
U00
500.00
2,500.00
1,437.00
total
9,800.00
9,137.00
8,937.00
8,937.00
8,660.06
8,737.00
11,714.00
In 2008 the department was awarded an Extraordinary Budget Request (EBRQ) in account T651340-U07-PROI for $22,470.00 with the following rationalization:
The Physics faculty need to upgrade their PASCO Interphase which will allow more
current and up-to-date laboratories for General Physics I&II and Physical Science I&II.
These interphases will allow us to utilize the ten (10) Apple I-books that are available
to the department.
5.2
Library
Given the limited demand for physics instruction on campus the holdings of the library are
appropriate. Bruce Duncan uses his annual professional development funds in part to subscribe to
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CHAPTER 5. RESOURCES
physics journals that would be prohibitively expensive to the university, especially considering their
small readership. Likewise, he buys physics books which would appeal only to a particular few and
thus likewise not be appropriate for university funding.
Jane Xinxin Zhang requires of her students to find the latitude and longitude of various sites,
which can be done with the good, large atlases of the library (as well as the internet). Furthermore,
she has requested the library to subscribe to the premier journal in GIS; the status of that request
is unknown as of this writing.
In November of 2007 the department met with Robert Foley, Head Librarian, about library
acquisitions for AY2008-2009 primarily for geography and earth science, with some understandably
smaller funds being provided for physics. We mentioned books, periodicals and dvds as possible
purchases. Beginning in September 2008 the library’s liaison with the department is Jennifer
Fielding.
5.3
Space
Ms. Burrill’s office is C-286 in McKay and in Condike 207C is Mr. Murray’s.
physics Physics instruction (including laboratories) takes place in Condike 307, 305 and 303.
Laboratory equipment is stored in 305, the room between 305 and 307, 307 and the room to the
north of 307. Prof. Yu’s office is 310E and Prof. Duncan’s 310C.
geology and geography All geo offices and classrooms are in McKay as of this writing: Prof. Guth
in C-289B, Prof. Zhang in C-270B and Prof. Gordon in C-265. Instruction takes place in C-282
and C-284, with storage in the room between 279 and 299, and in C-279A. Instruction requiring
computers (GIS and Computer Applications) takes place in McKay 165.
5.4
Technology
ArcGIS® software
5.5
Equipment
The following lists were updated in the summer of 2007.
5.5.1
Geography
13 GPS systems (12 Garmin eTrex Summits purchased in 2007)
1 Battery charger (Energizer, Oct., 2008, model CHFH)
Assorted rechargeable batteries
Departmental Map Library of more than 500 maps
5.5. EQUIPMENT
8 Drafting Tables
1 HP Flatbed Scanner
5.5.2
Earth Systems Science
Mineral Library with over 1000 specimens
2 Abbey Hand Levels
1 Anemometer (Portable)
4 Binocular Microscopes
4 Brunton Compasses
1 Jolly Balance
2 LaMotte Water Quality Test Kits
2 LaMotte Soil Test Kits
1 Petrographic Microscope with Oil Immersion Standards
1 Plane Table
1 Rock Saw 24!!
1 Rock Tumbler
1 Salinity Tester
2 Stream Tables
1 Transit with Stadia Rods
1 Weather Station (perhaps inoperable)
4 Weather meter, Kestrel 3500; two Kestrel 4000
6 Refractometers
4 Hydrometers
5 Wave tanks
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5.5.3
CHAPTER 5. RESOURCES
Physics
Astronomy
9 Spectrum Tube Displays
11 Student Spectroscopes in various states of disrepair
3 Spectroscopes
1 Mead 4!! Refracting Telescope
2 Celestron 8!! Reflecting Telescopes
16 star globes (T.N. Hubbard Scientific Co., purchased in 2005)
1 “Solarscope” (Solarscope LLC, purchased 2007) for the observation of the sun
Physics in general
Assorted diffraction gratings
Assorted lenses
Assorted tuning forks
8 Air Tracks (in C305)
7 Beck Ballistic Pendulums (in cabinets in C307)
7 Beck Centripetal Force Units (in cabinets in C307)
9 Breadboards (Heathkit ET-3100 in cabinets in C307)
8 Calipers
1 Cavendish Balance
2 Cloud Chambers
8 Apple iBook G4 1.33 GHz (in C305)
6 Digital Multimeters + 6(?) others lacking some functions
6 Dropping Ball Apparatus
9 Dual Trace Oscilloscopes
10 Electric Field Mapping Apparatus (Cenco; in cabinets in C307)
1 Electronic Balance
7 Force Tables
6 Laser Diffraction Sets (including Uniphase 155SL-1622 0.95 mW HeNe lasers)
5.5. EQUIPMENT
2 Milliken Oil Drop Apparatus
5 Nuclear Science Kits (Spechtech)
10 Optical Benches (in C307)
9 Power Supplies (AC/DC) (Sargent-Welch, catalog no. S30972-40A, in C307)
12 Ray Boxes w/accessories (in drawers in C307)
6 Resonance Tubes
1 Stroboscope (Winsco E-47; cabinets in C305)
6 Tangent Galvanometers
3 Transverse Wave Demonstrators (by window in C307)
6 Triple Beam Balances
6 Variacs (Cenco PowerStats in cabinets in C307)
2 Wave Tables
Pasco equipment for physics
2 Interferometers w/ light sources
6 String Vibrators
5 Thermodynamics Kits
10 Temperature Sensors
5 RCC Networks
10 Voltage Sensors (CI-6503; C305, eight under desks, two in locker)
5 Light Sensors
4 Beginning Optics System (OS-8459)
5 Sound Sensors
5 Force Sensors (CI-6537; C305 under desks)
10 Motion Sensors (CI-6529; C305, eight under desks, two in locker)
5 Power Amplifiers (3 arrived 2007.09.25; CI-6552A; in C305)
6 Rotational Motion Apparatus
9 Free Fall Adapters (2007.09.25; CI-6552A; in C305)
9 Resonance Tubes
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CHAPTER 5. RESOURCES
4 2.0m Precision Air Tracks (2 arrived 2007.09.10, 2 on 09.25; SF-9214; in C305)
4 Air Supplies (2007.09.10; SF-9216; in Room C305)
3 Rotational Motion Apparatus (2007.09.10; ME-9341; under desks in Room C305)
9 USB 750 Interfaces (2007.09.10; CI-7599; in Room C305)
3 String Vibrators (2007.09.10; WA-9857; in Room C314)
9 Sine Wave Generators (2007.09.10; WA-9867; in Room C314)
9 AC Adaptor (2007.09.10; 540-034; in Room C305)
9 Mechanical Wave Driver (2007.09.10; SF-9324; in Room C314)
8 Photogate/Pulley System (2007.08.10; ME-6838; on air tracks in Room C305)
10 Stopwatches (2009; ME-1234; Room C305)
5.5.4
Shared
1 Battery charger (2008; Energizer, CHFH, Room C314)
numerous rechargeable batteries (Room C314)
1 Camcorder
1 Web camera with microphone (2010; IceCam2, Macally; Room C310C)
1 HP DesignJet 500 Printer
1 HP OfficeJet Pro K850 Printer
1 Laser Disc Player (Pioneer DVL-909, ser. no. RLSS000598US, Condike 307)
1 Microscope with Video Camera
2 JVC VCRs (HR-VP670U, ser. no. 064F0305, Condike 315)
2 Portable Multimedia Projectors
2 SmartBoards
2 36!! TVs (JVC AV-36950, ser.no. 07435130, Condike 315)
Faculty all have standard issue Dells and Macs
Media Library with:
• more than 100 videotapes,
• 40 films,
• 100 CD ROMS and software programs of relevance to the Geosciences.
Chapter 6
Strengths and Weaknesses
6.1
Weaknesses
The department’s diminutive size is a factor, both in the number of faculty and of students.
Regarding the latter, we’ve grown from one major to more than two dozen. The growth has
occurred in large part to students taking our introductory and intermediate classes and liking both
the subject matter and the professors. To expand beyond that limit may require recruiting directly
from high schools and perhaps community colleges. It is unlikely that the current faculty find the
time to spend going out recruiting, so this task has to be handled by the university’s admissions
department, with our assistance as to how to present our program.
An increase in the number of majors would help justify an increase in the number of faculty. Such
an increase would allow the department to advance on the plans to provide an environmental sciences
concentration (or perhaps even a major) and to make more connections with other departments.
With our present numbers we can only offer the standard general education courses and those for
our majors, which precludes reaching across departmental boundaries.
This self-study is being written at a time of extreme economic distress nationwide, and colleges
everywhere are suffering fiscally. That said, Fitchburg State lags behind in financial support both
its self-identified peers (Albany State University, Auburn University-Montgomery, Chicago State
University, Fort Hays State University, Georgia College and State University, Saginaw Valley State
University, The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, University of Michigan-Flint and Western
Carolina University) and its sister institutions within the Massachusetts State College System.
Considering the 2008 data from the Integrated Post Secondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
Fitchburg State is nearly one standard deviation lower than the mean of both groups of peers
in Institutional Support, Instruction and Academic Support. The deficiency still obtains when
the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and the Massachusetts College of Art are removed, two
institutions of very specialized purpose. This underfunding is still present when one determines
support per head count. One wonders what the university and in particular our department could
do with sufficient funding of the educational enterprise.
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6.2
CHAPTER 6. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
Strengths
Given our limitations on personnel resources it is a reflection of the quality and energy of our
faculty that we have resuscitated courses long dormant and have created new ones. For example,
Cartography I and II have been replaced by their 21st century descendent, Computer Cartography.
Planetary Atmospheres, long missing, returned in spring 2010 with strong student interest; Population Geography likewise returned in the fall of 2010. As the university’s Leadership Program
is being revamped, we offer biannually a cross-listed Honors Seminar (LEAD/GEOG 2250). This
is in addition to offering more than a dozen sections in geography and earth systems science that
students may take as part of their general education.
An expected strength will be the completion of the science building project (cf. §7.5). The
Geo/Physical Sciences Department will once again be housed in a single building, the renovated
Condike Science Building, a renovation which we hope will provide the infrastructure for up-to-date
instructional formats and faculty-student collaborations. Such a learning environment should be
an excellent draw for expanding the number of majors as well as improving the education of all
students who take our courses.