Physics Department Committees and Responsibilities
Each committee must meet formally at least once per semester,
presenting a summary of their deliberations and actions to the
department in written form (and orally if deemed necessary).
Graduate Student Committee
(four areas)
- Recruit:
- Keep track of graduate assistant budget and how much each level is paid.
- Recruit and evaluate potential teaching and/or research assistants.
- Assign duties: The chair of this committee will also be responsible
for the assignment of these students to teaching and grading responsibilities.
- Advise:
- Initial advising of new graduate students. Advising of graduate students
will pass to their research advisor when the research area has been
selected. The position of first year advisor shall rotate at least every
two years.
- Evaluate:
- Evaluate progress of PhD and MS students.
- Awards: Decide graduate student awards.
Undergraduate Student Committee
- Evaluate progress of undergraduate students.
- Recruiting, Advising and Student Evaluation, awards, arrange
banquet at year end and invite alumni. SPS advisor shall be a member
of the committee. Note: student evaluation and monitoriing is part of
our assessment plan.
Course Scheduling and Teaching Load Committee
- Determine the fall, spring, summer sequencing of courses, how often a course
repeats, the specific time of day a course is offered. The committee must take
into account the needs of the students as well as the necessity of making sure that
TA/s are available to teach freshman labs. Then they should consider the desires of
the instructor as to time, however the needs of students are primary.
- Assign physics faculty to teach the various courses checking equality of loads,
matching courses to interest and expertise. This should be done in consultation with
the faculty concerning their teaching preferences. Giving faculty their choices of
courses should be attempted but may not always be possible.
Curriculum Committee
- Determine if our curriculum fits the needs of our discipline, matches the skills of our
faculty, and properly prepares students for jobs and/or graduate school.
- Investigate the use of computers at various levels and with various techniques.
- Note: assessing the suitablility of our curriculum is part of our assessment plan.
Library (as we currently have in place)
- Serve as intermediary with the library. Keep track of the library budget, the list of journals,
make recommendations to the library for purchases of books. All faculty who recommend purchases
of library books should make these through the chair of the library committee.
Budget Oversight Committee
- Report monthly to physics faculty on the money spent and available in each category. Make
recommendations for shifting amounts among the various categories. Keep track of office supplies
expenditures. Make recommendations for computer purchases.
- Budget subcommittees:
- Teaching labs and equipment: Make sure that adequate equipment is available for the introductory labs. Approve suggested
proposals for grants for the purchase of equipment. Be sure that the entire laboratory instructional
program from introductory labs to the Advanced lab are coherent, with learning proceeding from one
to the next.
- Research and travel: If research funds are availble keep track of these, make recommendations for the division
among faculty. Suggest rules for dividing travel funds and keep track of how this is spent.
Service Course committee
- Evaluate next texts for courses. (Requires full department approval.)
- Make sure lab manuls are selected and ordered.
- Ensure that grading policies are reasonably even between sections.
- Maintain liaison with Engineering College.
- Maintain a consistent set of rules for the labs.
- Coordinate labs with 261/2 labs.
- Coordinate the 291/292 sections with lab and lecture and between lecture
sections, keep the instructors of different sections close together.
Web Site Committee
- Maintain and update department home page. Maintain OS/AAPT home page.
Play active role in developing and assisting others with developing Web
page material for courses or other. Other responsibilities to be suggested
by the committee.
- Handle technology funds.
- Organize hardward and softward for the department.
- Recommend software purchases.
Assessment Committee
- Create a teaching evaluation instrument.
- Create assessment questionanaires and/or other means of assessing
effectiveness of our undergraduate and graduate programs. Prepare reports
based on these studies. Based on the assessment information, present suggestions
for changes in our program to the department.
- Create and keep up to date a data base on our undergraduates, graduate
students and as many alumni as is feasible. See Department Chair report to CAS Dean dated 1/25/97 for more details.
- Our assessment plan calls for monitoring the quality of classroom instruction.
Security and Safety Committee
- Evaluate and recommend security measure for department. Maintain alarm systems.
Train users. Obtain quotes, and make purchase as approved. Interface with
university Communications and Security. Keep track of allocated security funds.
- Evaluate and recommend safety measures for department. Advise studnets and
faculty of proper safety requirements. Obtain quotes and make purchases as approved,
interface with University safety personnel. Keep track of allocated security funds.