[Proflist] RE: Fwd: Draft Bachelor's Degree Statement
Hjelmfelt, Mark
Mark.Hjelmfelt at sdsmt.edu
Wed Oct 20 16:46:40 MDT 2004
More and more schools and departments require capstone/research project courses for their programs. It seems to be required by ABET in the Engineering disciplines, for example. SDSM&T requires all our students to have such a capstone experience.
The idea is for the students to do such a capstone experience in the area of their primary focus. It would not be at all appropriate to combine it with a climate and global change course (-a course which is in our core curriculum. Students should use this for undergraduate research experience, etc. Several of our students for example have "interned" or "co-oped" at the NWS during one or 2 semesters and developed their capstone project as a research project in association with their NWS experience.
mark
-----Original Message-----
From: proflist-bounces at ucar.edu [mailto:proflist-bounces at ucar.edu]On
Behalf Of Alan Robock
Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 3:13 PM
To: Richard Clark
Cc: quinton.l.williams at jsums.edu; jmalieka at weather.brockport.edu;
crowe1 at unl.edu; Richard E. Orville; cejac at iastate.edu;
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ahansen at stcloudstate.edu; kirkpat at uiuc.edu; hooke at dc.ametsoc.org;
bruce.berryman at lyndonstate.edu; rodi at uwyo.edu;
miller at imcs.marine.rutgers.edu; Brenda Ward; delores.knipp at usafa.af.mil;
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Ramamurthy; trnathan at ucdavis.edu; carl at isi.edu;
donna at earth.northwestern.edu
Subject: [Proflist] RE: Fwd: Draft Bachelor's Degree Statement
Dear Rich, Now that I see your proposal, it looks very reasonable. But
more courses require more people to teach them. Could the capstone
experience be combined with recommendation 5) and have it focused on
climate change, so that the total number of courses would not be
increased? If you look at all the recommendations, the current 24
credits is just in atmospheric science courses and the total number is
much larger than that.
Alan
Professor Alan Robock
Editor, JGR - Atmospheres
Director, Center for Environmental Prediction
Department of Environmental Sciences Phone: +1-732-932-9478
Rutgers University Fax: +1-732-932-8644
14 College Farm Road E-mail: robock at envsci.rutgers.edu
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8551 USA http://envsci.rutgers.edu/~robock
On Wed, 20 Oct 2004, Richard Clark wrote:
> Hi Alan,
>
> Here's a copy of the recommendations that were made at the H&C meeting,
> including the statement on "27 hours." While I can appreciate your
> philosophical argument, and agree with it, changing the core requirements
> for a BS in atmos sci from 24 to 27 is not likely to impact the liberal arts
> core. Most, if not all, programs already have more than 27 semester hours in
> their required and electives block for the major.
>
> The rationale behind this recommendation stems from the way the semester
> hours are distributed in the revised draft - the one that Mohan presented at
> H&C. Bullet #4 specifies 3 semester hours of electives in atmos sci, and
> bullet #5 specifies 3 semester hours from the long list of what we would
> probably call electives, which also includes an undergraduate research
> experience or an internship. The group that made the attached
> recommendations argues that 3 semester hours was not enough to accommodate
> this important component of undergraduate education. Thus, we suggest
> combining bullets #4 and #5 into a 6 semester hour "electives" list, and
> adding 3 semester hours as a capstone experience. We think that given the
> trend toward capstone experiences, learning communities, and portfolios
> across the curriculum, that the capstone experience, which includes the
> undergrad research, internship, or a capstone course, would be a meaningful
> addition to the curriculum guidelines. Interestingly, the capstone
> experience is one that is coming from the general education community, not
> the disciplinary bodies. The liberal arts core is important, but in my
> opinion, this additional 3 semester hours will have no impact on its
> integrity.
> Thanks
> Rich
>
>
>
> Richard D. Clark, Ph.D.
> Chair, Department of Earth Sciences
> Professor of Meteorology
> Millersville University
> P.O. Box 1002
> Millersville, PA 17551-0302
> Tel: (717) 872-3930
> Fax: (717) 871-2079
> Email: Richard.Clark at millersville.edu
> Web: www.atmos.millersville.edu
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alan Robock [mailto:robock at envsci.rutgers.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 20, 2004 2:07 PM
> To: Brenda Ward
> Cc: proflist at ucar.edu; balbrecht at rsmas.miami.edu;
> bruce.berryman at lyndonstate.edu; ebierly at agu.org; Steve Colluci;
> bobe at met.fsu.edu; john.gyakum at mcgill.ca; hobgood.1 at osu.edu;
> hooke at dc.ametsoc.org; VPI at ATMOS.ALBANY.EDU; LupoA at missouri.edu;
> jmalieka at weather.brockport.edu; Ron McPherson; smeacham at nsf.gov;
> mower1rn at cmich.edu; trnathan at ucdavis.edu; Richard E. Orville;
> pickerin at atmos.umd.gov; Mohan Ramamurthy; rodi at uwyo.edu; stamm at oswego.edu;
> gstakle at iastate.edu; toon at lasp.colorado.edu; winkler at msu.edu;
> ezipser at met.utah.edu; pcornillon at gso.uri.edu; roland.list at sympatico.ca;
> jsnow at ou.edu; wetzel at dri.edu; wuebbles at atmos.uiuc.edu; walyons at frii.com;
> fcarr at ou.edu; Judy Curry; moore at eas.slu.edu; richard.peterson at ttu.edu;
> crowe1 at unl.edu; ahansen at stcloudstate.edu; miller at imcs.marine.rutgers.edu;
> kph at hawaii.edu; drsmith at usna.edu; Richard.Clark at millersville.edu;
> durkee at nps.mil; donna at earth.northwestern.edu; ogarcia at sfsu.edu;
> delores.knipp at usafa.af.mil; krm at nmt.edu; ehoffman at plymouth.edu;
> quinton.l.williams at jsums.edu; cejac at iastate.edu; rhmacd at wm.edu;
> wayne at mtu.edu; kirkpat at uiuc.edu; rhooper at cuahsi.org; carl at isi.edu;
> cmanduca at carleton.edu; Fred Spilhaus; fulker at ucar.edu;
> william.hoyt at unco.edu; Keith Seitter
> Subject: Re: Fwd: Draft Bachelor's Degree Statement
>
> Dear Mohan,
>
> 1. As you know, I have already made the following suggestion:
>
> I think we need to specify recommended numbers of faculty and not just
> the minimum. This would be very valuable for all departments seeking to
> hire more faculty. In other disciplines, national accredidation panels
> specify the number of faculty needed, and AMS can do a similar service
> for us. In the second paragraph from the bottom on page 4, I recommend
> the following change:
>
> "At undergraduate colleges with full-time teaching faculty, there should
> be a minimum of three faculty members, but the recommended level is five
> or more. At research universities, where faculty devote a substantial
> amount of time to graduate teaching and research as well as
> undergraduate teaching, there should be a minimum of six faculty
> members, but the recommended level is ten or more to be able to cover
> all the necessary disciplinary areas. The faculty members should have
> the expertise ..."
>
> ----
>
> 2. In addition, a resolution was passed quickly at the end of the Heads
> and Chairs meeting in Boulder last week that recommended changes in the
> statement that would require 27 credits rather than 24 credits in the
> program. I have not yet received a copy of it, but would like to
> recommend against it on a basic philosophical ground.
>
> An undergraduate liberal arts education is the last chance a student
> will have to take courses in literature, fine arts, humanities, and
> social "science." Students can specialize as graduate students or go on
> learning about meteorology in their jobs, but I would not like to
> require that they take additional courses as part of their undergraduate
> major. This will allow them to take other elective courses in subjects
> that will broaden them as people and citizens, which I think is more
> valuable than one more meteorology or related course.
>
> Thanks for considering my views. I feel more strongly about the first
> one than the second one.
>
> Alan
>
> Professor Alan Robock
> Editor, JGR - Atmospheres
> Director, Center for Environmental Prediction
> Department of Environmental Sciences Phone: +1-732-932-9478
> Rutgers University Fax: +1-732-932-8644
> 14 College Farm Road E-mail: robock at envsci.rutgers.edu
> New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8551 USA http://envsci.rutgers.edu/~robock
>
>
> On Tue, 19 Oct 2004, Brenda Ward wrote:
>
>>
>>>
>>> Dear Colleague,
>>>
>>> On behalf of the Board on Higher Education of the American Meteorological
>
>>> Society, I seek your comments on the revised draft statement on the
>>> Bachelor's Degree in Atmospheric Science. The draft statement is
> available
>>> at:
>>>
>>>
> http://my.unidata.ucar.edu/content/publications/Bachelors_degree_statement_2
> 004.pdf
>>>
>>> For your background, the current AMS statement on this subject is
> available
>>> at:
>>>
>>>
> <http://www.ametsoc.org/policy/bachelor99.html>http://www.ametsoc.org/policy
> /bachelor99.html
>>>
>>> Also, please share this draft statement with colleagues in your
> department.
>>> Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. It would
>
>>> be most helpful if you can send me (mohan at ucar.edu) your comments by 15
>>> November.
>>>
>>> Thank you in anticipation,
>>>
>>> Mohan Ramamurthy
>>
>
>
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