THE
FACULTY
SENATE
Senate
Document Number 1307S
Date
of Senate Approval 01/18/07
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Statement
of Faculty Senate Action:
APC Document
10: Dropping
CHEM 144 as a Requirement in Physics
Adding
MATH 365 as a Requirement
Effective Date: Fall 2007
1.
Delete: On page 211, under Concentration in Preparation for
II. Required
courses outside the major – 20-23 hours: CHEM 111, 132 or a satisfactory score on the Chemistry Placement
Examination, 144; MATH 191, 192, 291, 394; MATH 391 and 395 are recommended.
Add: On
page 211, in place of deleted entry:
II. Required
courses outside the major – 19-22 hours: CHEM 111, 132 (or a satisfactory score on the Chemistry Placement
Examination); MATH 191, 192, 291, 365, 394; MATH 391 and 395 are recommended.
Impact:
The impact to the Math
department is minimal. Approximately 5-10 physics majors will be taking MATH
365 per year. However, MATH 365 is offered during both the Fall and Spring
semesters, so the maximum impact this change will have on the enrollment in
MATH 365 is adding about 5 physics students per semester.
Rationale:
The Chemistry department
will no longer be offering CHEM 144 so it needs to be removed from our list of
required courses. In place of CHEM 144, we would like our Physics majors to
take MATH 365, Linear Algebra I. The Physics department is redesigning its
curriculum to expand our offering of Quantum Mechanics from one course to a
two-course sequence, Quantum Mechanics I and Quantum Mechanics II. Linear
Algebra I has many connections to the in-depth coverage of material in Quantum
Mechanics II and will serve as a good foundation for our students before they
take the course. Many other undergraduate Physics departments across the
country are now requiring that Physics majors take a course in Linear Algebra.
It is a very useful course for our students who plan on going to graduate
school in Physics.
2. Delete: On page 211, under Concentration in Applied Physics,
item II:
II. Required
courses outside the major – 32-35 hours: CHEM 111, 132 or a satisfactory score on the Chemistry Placement
Examination, 144; CSCI 201; ... may replace PHYS 401.
Add: On
page 211, in place of deleted entry:
II. Required
courses outside the major – 24 hours: CHEM
111, 132 (or a satisfactory score
on
the Chemistry Placement Examination); CSCI 201; MATH 191, 192, 291; the selection
of 5 additional semester hours (or 8 hours if there is a satisfactory score on
the Chemistry Placement Examination) of coordinated work in Computer Science,
Engineering or another area of science. The selected program of courses must be
approved by the department chair prior to initiation of the sequence.
Impact:
No impact on the staffing or
the resources of the Physics Department. Reducing the number of cognate hours
will encourage more students to pursue an Applied Physics degree. It’s been
about 5 years since we’ve had a student complete this concentration.
Rationale:
The Chemistry Department
will no longer be offering CHEM 144 so it needs to be removed from our list of
required courses. We are reducing the
number of cognate courses for the Applied Physics track to 24 hours, which is
normally the maximum number of cognate hours that a major should require.