THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE FACULTY SENATE Senate Document Number 0693F Date of Senate Approval 12/16/93 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 DOCUMENT # 5: Catalog changes in Mathematics EFFECTIVE DATE: Fall 1994 The Mathematics Department would like for you to consider the following catalog changes. I. Page 160 under "Declaration of Major" DELETE "In order to be approved for a major in Mathematics, a student must have completed MATH 191, 192 and 280 with a grade of C or better in each of these courses." Impact Statement No significant impact to the university's academic program is foreseen. The department, however, should see an increase in the number of majors, and the members of the mathematics faculty should see an increase in their respective advising loads. Present advising load is approximately 5-20 students per faculty. Rationale It is not clear what this rule is to accomplish. It has the effect that the members of the department have very low number of advisees. Presently, students who would like to be math majors are frequently advised by professors in other departments. This often leads to poor advice and misunderstandings. This is especially a problem when explaining our policies concerning the MFAT exam. It also causes some students to end up in the wrong classes. Last December we had 22 majors of which 11 graduated by May. We now have about 25 majors and we can expect to graduate half of those by next May. Most of our students are Math Majors only during their senior year. Coordination - not applicable II. Page 162, Under MATH 157/158: a. Paragraph under Math 158: REPLACE "Prerequisite: MATH 157." WITH "Prerequisite: MATH 157 or permission of the instructor." Impact Statement No major impact is expected. Students who pass MATH 158 without taking MATH 157 will still be expected to take MATH 157. Rationale MATH 157 and MATH 158 the mathematical foundations needed for elementary school teachers. MATH 157 covers arithmetic, algebra and number theory; while MATH 158 covers topics in geometry. Although it is preferred that students take these courses in order, a student could learn the topics MATH 158 without having had MATH 157. The change will give the education student extra flexibility in scheduling their courses. b. Paragraph under Math 157: REPLACE "Course offered every fall semester." WITH "Course offered every semester." c. Paragraph under Math 158: REPLACE "Course offered every spring semester." WITH "Course offered every semester." Impact Statement By offering these two courses each semester we expect a higher total annual enrollment, but fewer students in each section. This should result in students getting a more individualized instructions. It is not anticipated that new instructors are needed by the department. Whereas Math 157/158 are becoming more popular, other courses such as Math 105 and Math 155 seem to have a decline in enrollment. Rationale High enrollment (30+ with waiting lists of up to 10 students) in these two courses necessitates multiple sections. Offering this course every semester will alleviate the excessively high class enrollment and offer students greater scheduling flexibility. Coordination Education: _________________________ Date: _______________ Impact: (none / See attachment) III. Changes in the description of the "Program in Applied Mathematics" on page 161 under part II. a. REPLACE "These 15-17 hours must be approved by the department." WITH "The area of concentration must be approved by the department, and of the 15-17 hours at least 9 must be at the 300 level." Impact Statement No major impact to the program, since the proposed wording reflects the department's current policy. Rationale The new statement reflects what is currently approved by the department. Most applied majors are either in Physics or Computer Science. The new wording of the catalog will reduce some of the paper work involved. Under the present wording the chairman must submit a list of pre-approved courses for each major, and a new list of courses each time the student changes his or her mind. b. DELETE "(Possible models: PHYS 221, 222, 324, 420, ... ... STAT 425 and 426.)" Impact Statement No major impact to the university foreseen. Rationale Giving "possible models" leads students to believe that these are recommended. Any discipline which involves mathematics is equally accepted by the department as an area of concentration. Suggested models will be included in a separate handbook given to students interested in majoring in mathematics. Coordination Not applicable. IV. Add a discrete mathematics course to the curriculum. ADD: "MATH 251 Discrete Mathematics (3) Introductory Logic and Boolean Algebra, Mathematical Induction, Recursion and Difference equations, Combinatorics, Graph theory, and Modeling. Prerequisite: MATH 191." Impact statement: Presently this class will be offered as an elective mathematics course to students. Most of its students will probably be Computer Science majors. The addition of discrete mathematics to the course offering will complement the existing mathematics courses that are designed for students in applied fields such as computer science. Rationale: It is unusual for a department of Mathematics in a University which offers a degree in computer science to not have a discrete mathematics course. The material presented in discrete mathematics complements the topics in calculus. Since computers function on binary logic, the mathematics underlying binary arithmetics, boolean logic and circuit design become increasingly more important. In the spring of 93 this course was offered as a special topic and had an enrollment of 9 students. Next spring the department plans to offer this course as special topics again, and anticipates a higher enrollment. Coordination: Computer Science: ________________________ Date:____________ Impact: ( none / See attachment )