THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE FACULTY SENATE Senate Document Number 3490S  Date of Senate Approval 3/29/90  Signature of Senate Chair _______________________ Date __________ Action of Vice Chancellor: Approval _______________________ Date ______________ Denied _______________________ Date ______________ Reasons for denial and suggested modifications: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Statement of Faculty Senate Action: APC #22-A: Catalog Changes in Mathematics Effective Date: Fall, 1990 2. ELIMINATE MATH 161 (Enrichment Mathematics) RATIONALE: This course has not been taught for at least six years and will probably not be taught any time soon. It is intended for high school students only, who would probably not get to see the catalog. Those for whom the catalog is actually written, college students, may not take the course. 3. ELIMINATE STAT 125 (Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis) RATIONALE: STAT 125 is almost identical to STAT 185. There is about an 80% overlap between the two. All departments which require STAT 125 for their majors have indicated that STAT 185 will suit them just as well, if not better. Their students would actually be better served if they choose the latter, since STAT 185 may fulfill the general education mathematics requirement and STAT 185 is always offered in multiple sections. Page 2 4. CHANGES FOR STAT 185 (Statistical Foundations of Quantitative Methods) a) CHANGE TITLE TO "Introductory Statistics." b) DELETE "... non-parametric and Bayesian Statistics." c) INSERT "and" before the words, "regression methods." d) DELETE "... at the entry level of Mathematics 163 or its equivalent." RATIONALE: The title of the course was rather cryptic and has probably been the major reason why other departments have remained with STAT 125. Non-parametric and Bayesian statistics have not been taught in STAT 185. The description of a course should reflect the topics that will be covered. It is understood that if an instructor wishes to include special topics not listed in a description, he may do so as long as basic content will not be sacrificed. The placement of students into STAT 185 may or may not be equivalent to the entry level of MATH 163. (This year it was not.) By associating MATH 163 with STAT 185 we seem to cause confusion. Every year there are a number of students in our MATH 163 classes thinking that it is a prerequisite to STAT 185. 5. CHANGE prerequisite of MATH 157: DELETE the words "Prerequisite: 155" and ADD "Prerequisite: MATH 104 or satisfactory performance on the mathematics placement exam." RATIONALE: The concept of requiring education students to take MATH 155 in addition to MATH 157 did not originate with the Mathematics Department. Members of the Education Department wanted it that way when MATH 155 was first designed and offered for credit, so we in mathematics complied by replacing the old prerequisite of MATH 157 (which is the same as the one we are now proposing) with the requirement MATH 155. Now that NCATE is requiring UNCA to cut back on the number of hours for teacher certification, the Mathematics Department does not oppose the Education Department's proposal to drop the MATH 155 requirement from MATH 157. Page 3 6. CHANGE following option statement for MATH 155 requirement (p. 54 of catalog) as follows: DELETE present statement and INSERT: To be exempt from Math 155 students must successfully complete one of the following: STAT 185; MATH 163, 164, 191 or 192; the two course sequence MATH 157-8; or any Mathematics course at the 200-level or above. Because of its unusual content, a student is permitted to take MATH 155 for college credit even if one or more of these higher level courses were taken. RATIONALE: This makes it possible for teachers to be certified and to qualify for a Bachelor's degree without having to take MATH 155. The level of MATH 157-158 is roughly equivalent to that of MATH 155, but the content is totally different for the two courses. 7. New Declaration of Major Policy (p. 171 of Catalog) Declaring a major in Mathematics requires the student to complete a Declaration of Major form which must be signed by the department chairman. In order to be approved for a major in Mathematics, the student must have completed Math 191, 192, and 280 with a grade of C or better in each of these three courses. RATIONALE: With a current count of more than 40 majors, the department feels that many of these students should not be majoring in Mathematics. Serious problems of credibility occur when students, previously accepted as majors and managing to "squeeze through" the required course work, cannot pass the Senior Competency exam (presently the GRE - see in this connection, Item 8 below). Thus, the department has decided to significantly strengthen its Declaration of Major Policy. It is observed that other departments have similar, stringent policies in this regard appearing in the current Catalog. 8. (Under "III. Other departmental requirements", pp. 171, 172, 173, for each of the 4 tracks): REPLACE EXISTING STATEMENT BY: Satisfactory completion of the Major Field Achievement Test in Mathematics, and the satisfactory presentation of one seminar in MATH 380. RATIONALE: It has been decided that this new examination developed by ETS (which, like the GRE, is a standarized test with national norms) is more appropriate for our students than the GRE.