All members present:
Faculty: Dr. Morrison (Chair), Dr. Paban, Dr. Keto, Dr. Bohm, Dr. Udagawa
GRB: Ion Garate, Jesse Pino, P.J. Smith, Stacy Sidle
Administration: Carol Noriega
The GWC will try to meet a few times a semester. Next meeting is April 22 at 9am in the chairman`s conference room.
- 270 grad students currently enrolled
Core course standardization was the main topic of this meeting.
- The idea of using student`s GRE scores to help advise them on what courses to take, including remedial undergrad classes, was discussed. Currently, unprepared students can take undergrad classes, though there seems to be significant peer pressure against this.
- Dr. Keto suggested that perhaps a little bit more time be given to students with poor GRE scores before they`re forced to qualify. The idea is that they would use the extra semester to take undergrad courses and that way be better prepared for the core courses.
He also suggested setting up a mentoring program that would pair more advanced graduate students with new first year students to help them get started in a way that is appropriate for their educational background.
- All members agreed that a peer-mentoring network would be
a beneficial addition to the department. The GRB plans to make this an
action item.
- In reference to Masters/ well prepared students testing out, Dr. Udagawa informed us that there are usually ~3 people per class that attempt to test out, usually successfully.
- Jesse suggested offering a core course during the summer, but it seems like there are going to be serious obstacles to this proposal. It is going to be tough to find funding for the course and it seems like itŐs also going to be really tough to find professors willing to give up summer research time.
- At the Open House, dissatisfaction was voiced about the proportion of Core classes taught by Theorists. Dr. Paban informed us that professors volunteer to teach certain classes, and that there is no concerted effort against Experimentalists. It was suggested that the department could `lean` on the experimentalists to teach more Cores, if necessary.
- The idea of having a core course recitation session with an experienced TA was introduced as a partial solution to helping out grad students with a poor background. The idea is that the TA would work problems on the board and answer questions about the work.
The problem with the idea is two-fold. First it would be hard to secure
funding for such a position if itŐs separate from the grader position. Carol lamented that it is difficult to
find qualified older students to TA the Core Classes, since many students that
did well are now focused completely on research.
- It was noted during the meeting that the alternative to the core course method was that of written qualifying exams. These exams used to be four hours in duration for two days and the system tended to be flawed because often times a student would be passed even with a lower than passing grade to satisfy a professor`s need for research students.
- We briefly discussed the future faculty-staff-graduate student lounge on the 5th floor. When it is completed, we feel there should be some sort of afternoon tea, as in the Math department, to promote interaction.
As always, please send your concerns to