PRESENT: Blue, Minahan, Zaengle, Nordgren, Cuzzo, Johnson

MSC: Approve minutes of PBCR for March 24, 2003

MEETING WITH DR. JAMES LANE, CHEMISTRY:
The meeting proceeded according to the pre-asked questions.
 Transfer students question: in general, most students can and do transfer into the UW-Superior program without difficulty. There are some problems depending on the prior institution that students took courses. The department tries to be transfer friends. Tutoring is sometimes available but not frequently used. Faculty remain accessible to providing assistance. PBRC recommended that the program discuss transfer problems with General Chemistry courses from other institutions on an individual basis.
 Gen Ed Offerings: There are two purposes being served: lab science courses and environmental sciences courses; they recently merged CHEM 100 (2) and CHEM 101 (3) and these courses now meet simultaneously. Lab classes are always limited by physical lab size.
 Plans for Physics Program:
o Can’t offer all the courses and can’t support physics minor currently; former faculty hoped for physics major eventually and more research emphasis. The disappointments in these aims led to his departure combined with budget issues.
o Plan is to keep Visiting Scholar in Physics courses and Gen Ed Physics courses—the core curriculum that support CHEM and Gen Ed
o Plan to bring in another faculty member as resources allow; the department sees Steve Highland as a wonderful teaching academic staff but not necessarily a faculty member
o Funding is the issue; Physics is NECESSARY for CHEM program and pre-med students.
o Highland is teaching unpaid overload course on Electronics in order to meet Physics minor student need.
o Physics is a key component to liberal arts education according to COPLAC standards (Johnson)
o The number of faculty needed to teach Physics Minor and General Education courses would be 2.
o Right now, physics is vulnerable, piecemeal and needs to be secured.
 Synergy with Other Departments
o Grant writing and external funding efforts are being done collaboratively between departments on a voluntary, informal basis
o ACC certified will continue; helps in grants and standing of department in chemistry teaching community
o National trend is in molecular biology relying on interface between BIO and CHEM so BIO students need more CHEM.
o Have done some collaborative teaching in BIO/CHEM lab areas to decrease credits
 ACS Application: department is revising its course requirements to decrease offerings for students; regular review of offerings to ensure more efficient use of resources
 5YR-1YR Budget Differences: Lab Modification dollars upped the average considerably
 Funding Needs:
o Instrument maintenance and lab preparation needs additional .5 person; may be a shared resource issue with BIO/CHEM
o Interested in collaborations in projects but not formal reorganization; curricular decisions should be compartmentalized and separated due to expertise; ACS standard does not mixed departments or interdisciplinary departments; autonomy is the key
 Wish List
o More research lab space that allows for autonomous research projects; ideally need one for each faculty member (at least 5 labs); can work with BIOL/CHEM
o Staffing (.5 for CHEM alone); potentially one between BIO/CHEM
o S&E for maintenance: software, new instruments, maintenance of existing instruments (expensive components)

Then we disclosed the remaining process to Lane.

Liz will be the BIOL editor.

MSC: Postpone BUS/ECON review until 2003-2004.

Adjourned.