Senate Document Number 1103S
Date of Senate Approval 01/30/03
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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:
APC Document 6:
Changes in Prerequisites for PHYS 105 and PHYS
131
Effective Date: Fall 2003
1. Delete: On pg 182, under PHYS 105, Contemporary Physics
Prerequisite: MATH 155.
Add: On pg 182, in place of deleted entry:
Prerequisite: Satisfaction of the general education requirement in Mathematics.
2. Delete: On pg 182, under PHYS 131, Introductory Physics I
Prerequisite: MATH 164 or equivalent.
Add: On pg 182, in place of deleted entry:
Prerequisite: MATH 167, 191, or equivalent.
Impact: No impact on other departments or programs anticipated. No impact on future staffing needs and course offerings anticipated.
Rationale: Next academic year, 2003-2004, a new computer system will be implemented for enforcing the pre-requisites for courses listed in the catalog. We feel that the pre-requisites for PHYS 105 and PHYS 131 need to be changed in order to be enforced more smoothly by this new computer system. For PHYS 105, the intent of the previous pre-requisite was that the student should have the UNCA general education level of math before taking this course. The new computer system might force someone with a fairly advanced knowledge of math, say MATH 191 Calculus I, to have to enroll in MATH 155 in order to take PHYS 105, a step backward. The intent of the prerequisite is that anyone with a knowledge of general ed math, e.g. MATH 155, 167, 191, or STAT 185, is suited to take PHYS 105. These four math courses satisfy the UNCA general education requirement for math, and a knowledge of any of these four is sufficient for taking PHYS 105.
MATH 163 Applied Algebra and MATH 164 Trigonometry are being phased out by the Math Department, according to the Chair of the Math Department, David Peifer. MATH 163 will be dropped in the next year or two, with MATH 164 being dropped shortly thereafter. In their place, MATH 167 Precalculus, which covers the topics of MATH 163 and MATH 164, will remain. In anticipation of this, we want to change the prerequisite for PHYS 131 from MATH 164 to MATH 167. We also want to allow students who have already had MATH 191 Calculus I to be allowed to enroll for the class and not be blocked from taking the class by the new computer system checking for prerequisites. Of course, any student with an equivalent background in either MATH 167 or MATH 191 from high school or elsewhere will be allowed to take the course. This will be done by permission of the instructor on an individual basis in the case where a student has an equivalent background.