Proposal to Streamline Departmental Functions: Part I, Teaching

These recommendations are motivated by short-term goals rather than long term program transformation. For the next several years, we should expect to have more work spread among fewer faculty, and to find it increasingly challenging to maintain a large slate of service courses, a successful undergraduate major, a high quality graduate program, and to sustain thedepartment’s historically strong research environment. To address this, a number of specific “austerity measures” are suggested to make the department more efficient, and most important, to free up faculty to pursue critical teaching and research missions in an equitable way. None of the changes we suggest need be permanent; in fact, we suggest it is more appropriate to view these recommendations as a temporary way to streamline some functions of the department. In the future, as we build back up critical areas of our program, all these decisions should be revisited.

I. Curriculum and Scheduling

The data below illustrates how a sharp decline over the last 8 years in the number of tenure track faculty has made it difficult to maintain the department’s commitment to high quality teaching across the curriculum, including its programmatic service courses.

Classes taught by TT / Math191 / Math192 / Math291 / Math392 / Stat251 / Stat371
Fall 2003 / 48 / 4/7 / 3/4 / 4/4 / 3/3 / 1/2 / 1/1
Fall 2004 / 52 / 5/8 / 4/4 / 4/4 / 4/4 / 2*/5 / 1/2
Fall 2005 / 52 / 5/8 / 3/5 / 4/4 / 3/3 / 3**/5 / 2***/2
Fall 2006 / 44 / 4/8 / 2/5 / 4/4 / 2/3 / 2*/5 / 2/2
Fall 2007 / 37 / 1/8 / 2/5 / 1/4 / 2/3 / 3**/5 / 1*/2
Fall 2008 / 36 / 1/7 / 1/5 / 1/5 / 2/3 / 0/5 / 1*/2
Fall 2009 / 37 / 52/8 / 2/5 / 2/5 / 2/3 / 1/5 / 1/2
Fall 2010 / 351 / 1/8 / 1/5 / 33/5 / 24/3 / 35/6 / 1/2

TT=Tenure Track

x/y= (number of sections taught by TT)/(total number of sections offered)

*Gabriel Lampert, a well-qualified (and now retired) college track statistics instructor, is included in these counts since he represented experienced and competent coordination of Stat 251 and 371.

**Includes Gabriel Lampert teaching two sections.

***Includes Gabriel Lampert teaching one section.

1 Includes two courses that were taught by Caroline Sweezy until late September and are now taught by non-tenure track faculty.

2 IncludesLouizaFouli and Dan Ramras each teaching two sections.

3 Includes Caroline Sweezy and two sections taught by Marcus Cohen.

4 IncludesLouizaFouli teaching two sections.

5 IncludesTizianaGiorgi teaching two sections.

If a modest effort is made to have tenure track representation in the large sections of Math 142 and 210, and in Stat 251, as well as in programmatic services courses such as 191, 192, 291, 392 and Stat 371, then tenure track faculty will need to be responsible for roughly 15 of these courses a semester. Because of our current reduced level of faculty, course buyouts, sabbaticals and leave, we can cover roughly only 18 more courses. To address this, we suggest the following changes.

A. Course offerings

  • A temporary hold should be imposed on proposing new courses, programs or degrees that require additional departmental resources.
  • Since some sections of Math 142 will be taught in large sections, this course should meet 3 hrs a week, rather than the current 4 hours. Currently, the large section of 142 meets for two 100-minute periods. Based on input from the current instructor, this is too long of a class period to be effective for this particular student populationin the setting of a large classroom, and many students do not stay for the entire classduration. Students would benefit more from using this extra time to utilize the tutoring center. Grading support for this course is also essential.
  • Because of low enrollment, scheduling difficulties and lack of faculty, offer each of Math 279, 280, 331 and 332 once a year; e.g. 280 and 331 in fall and 279 and 332 in spring. Because of lack of faculty to cover it, CS should teach Math278 for the foreseeable future.
  • Because of low enrollment and lack of faculty to cover them, comprehensivesequences that are not required for the PhD degree should be offered every other year. Specifically, Math 531/532 and Math 591/592 should be offered every other year, in alternating years.
  • Because of low enrollment and lack of faculty to cover them, graduate coursesthat are cross-listedwith an undergraduate coursethat is not required for the mathematics majoror Masters should be offered every two years. Such courses include Math 453/503, 454/504 and 466/506.

B. Grants and course buyouts

To help balance resources, faculty applying for or holding grants that impact or draw on department resources should regularly summarize these impacts for the department head. Examples of possible impacts are course innovations or additions of new courses, faculty buyouts and new graduate assistantships.

C. Participation of tenure-track faculty in service courses

Tenure-track faculty involvement in service courses is important for maintaining the quality of these courses, to assure program continuity, and for attracting potential majors to mathematics. Having all tenure-track faculty participate in these courses demonstrates that there is a balanced generation of student credit hours among all faculty. However, with fewer faculty available to cover courses(see the table on page 1), scheduling becomes more challenging. Having a structure in place that addresses these issues in a fair way will simplify scheduling and help to balance course responsibilities. The following are suggested targets for tenure-track faculty participation in service courses. The list excludes Math 190 since the college track faculty are well-qualified for this course, and we do not have enough tenure track faculty to cover this as well as the programmatic service courses. For similar reasons, Math 480 is omitted.

  • Large Section Math 142:(N – C)tenure track faculty members, where N = number of large sections, and C = number of college track faculty who are willing without coercion to teach this course. When not enough people request this course, the Large Sectionsrotation systemdiscussed below is used to fill these courses. (142 might be taken off this list)
  • Math 191 and Math 192: At least two tenure track faculty members should serve as co-coordinators for these courses. When not enough people request to teach this course, the Calculus rotation system discussed below is used to fill these courses.
  • Large section Math 210: N tenure track faculty members, where N = number of large sections offered. When not enough people request to teach this course, the Large Sectionsrotation system discussed below is used to fill these courses.
  • Math 291: At least two tenure track faculty members.
  • Math 392: At least two tenure track faculty members.
  • Stat 251: At least one tenure track faculty member who can serve as coordinator for the course.
  • Stat 371: At least two tenure track faculty members.

To facilitate these targets, a modified version of the Schedule Preference form would be used beginning Spring 2011.

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Sample scheduling form

COURSE AND TIME PREFERENCES FOR SPRING 2012

TEACHING SCHEDULE FOR TENURE TRACK FACULTY MEMBERS

Service courses. Choose at least 3 service courses you prefer to teach. The expectation is that in a typical semester a faculty member will teach at least one service course.

------MATH------/ Prefer / Prefer Not
large section 142*
co-coordinator 191**
co-coordinator 192**
large section 210*
291
392
------STAT------
251
371

* If not enough people choose the large sections of 142 and 210, then the Large Section Rotation Schedule will be used to select instructors for these courses; see [website] for the rotation schedule.

** If not enough people choose to co-coordinate 191 and 192, then the Calculus Rotation Schedule will be used to select instructors for the these courses; see [website] for the rotation schedule.

Do you prefer to teach 2 service courses ___ or 1 service course and 1 other course___? (Check one)

Other courses. Mark your preferences for each course.

[Include here the usual table, minus the classes listed above.

This table should include small sections of 142 and 210, if some

are to be offered.]

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Notes on the suggested scheduling form:

  • In anticipation that the large section courses 210 and 142 will not be popular choices, a rotation system is suggested as follows. The associate department head maintains a Large Section Rotation List on the department’s internal website. In the beginning the list consists of three tiers of faculty: full, associate and assistant. Each of these tiers is ordered alphabetically, and no associate professors will be drafted to teach 210 or 142 until all full professors have taught at least one of these courses; similarly, no assistant professors will be drafted to teach 210 or 142 until all associate professors have taught at least one of these courses. (Within each tier, if it seems fairer, to “seed” the list a randomly chosen cyclic shift could be applied to each tier of names, so that alphabetical order begins at, say H, then wraps around.) Upon receiving the course preference forms, the associate head reviews these to see how many, if any, faculty have selected “prefer” for 210 or 142. Among those selecting 210 or 142 as a preference, the associate head assigns them to their preferred courses in the order in which they appear on the Large Section Rotation List. If not enough people volunteer for 210 or 142, then the Large Section Rotation List is used first to fill 210, then 142. Once a person teaches the course, his/her name is moved to the bottom of the Rotation. Due to the extremely difficult situation we have with the Statistics courses it is suggested that Tony Wang not be included on either of these lists, since he will be needed to cover statistic courses.
  • ACalculus Coordination Rotation List similar to the one described above for Math 142 and 210 would be implemented for co-coordination of Math 191 and 192. The Calculus Coordination Rotation would be independent of the Large Sections Rotation, to assure a fair distribution of these tasks. As above, due to the extremely difficult situation we have with the Statistics courses, Tony Wang not be included on either of these lists. Pat Baggett should also be exempted from the Calculus rotation.
  • The term “expectation” on the preference form here intentionally ties in with performance evaluation criteria: Normally, part of “meeting expectations” for teaching is participating in the department’s service course offerings.
  • One can hope that thescheduling forms and rotation lists need only be temporary. As the department builds back up, and we have more faculty to cover courses, we can revert to our previous, more instructor-friendly course preference format.