New Faculty Orientation Fall 2006

Department of Mathematical Sciences

August 18, 20061/20

New Faculty Orientation

Fall 2006


August 18, 20062/20

• Going around the Table: Introductions…


August 18, 20063/20

• Some Facts About UTEP

– Founded in 1913 as the Texas State School of Mines and Metallurgy.

– Became Texas Western College in 1949, and finally was named UTEP in 1967.


August 18, 20064/20

• UTEP Today

– Enrollment projection for Fall 2006: more than 20,000 students

– About 150 Bachelor’s programs, 60 Master’s programs and 12 Doctoral Programs.

– Classified by Carnegie as “doctoral research-intensive”

– Strategic Goal to become a “Tier 1 University” (=research expenditures of more than $100M per year)


August 18, 20065/20

• Enrollment at UTEP

12,000

13,000

14,000

15,000

16,000

17,000

18,000

19,000

20,000

21,000

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006*


August 18, 20066/20

• UTEP Student Profile

– 24 years of age (undergraduate student average)

– 34 years of age (graduate student average)– 55% Female– 72% Hispanic (Mexican American)– 12% International (incl. 9% Mexican)– 82% from El Paso County – 98% commuter– 81% employed– 54% first generation university students


August 18, 20067/20

• UTEP Student Profile

– 67% One-Year Retention Rate– 27% Six-Year Graduation Rate


August 18, 20068/20

• Our Department: Faculty

26 Tenure/tenure track faculty16 Lecturers

The department is offering about 160 courses per semester


August 18, 20069/20

• Departmental Research Strength:

– Algebra/Combinatorics– Analysis/Topology– Applied Mathematics– Mathematics Education– Statistics


August 18, 200610/20

• Our Department: Students

126 Undergraduate Majors BS in MathematicsBS in Applied MathematicsBA in Mathematics (College of Liberal Arts)

63 Graduate StudentsMS in MathematicsMS in StatisticsMAT in MathematicsMS in Bioinformatics (interdisciplinary)

Planned: Ph.D. in Computational Science (interdisciplinary)


August 18, 200611/20

• Most Popular (Populated?) Service Courses:

– Developmental Math Sequence* • Math 0310 (Beginning Algebra) -> Math 0311

(Intermediate Algebra)

– Calculus Sequence• Math 1508 (PreCalculus) -> Math 1411 (Calculus I) ->

Math 1312 (Calculus II) -> Math 2313 (Calculus III) or Math 2326 (Differential Equations) or Math 3323 (Matrix Algebra)

– Business/Social Science Sequence• Math 1320 (Math for Social Sciences I) -> Math 2301

(Math for Social Sciences II)

– Core course: Liberal Arts/Education majors:• Math 1319 (Math in the Modern World)

* Not taught in the Math Department


August 18, 200612/20

• Teaching Classes: Syllabus

– At least: Name, contact information, office hours, course content, your attendance policy, your calculator policy, grade computation

– Department needs a copy of your syllabus!


August 18, 200613/20

• Teaching Classes: Grades– A, B, C, D are passing grades– F is a failing grade– Students need a C or better in all core courses

(1319, 1320, 1508) and all courses that are prerequisites for other courses they need to take.

– A D usually does not transfer to other institutions.– W means “withdrawn” – not used for GPA– I means “incomplete”– You need to assign grades to ALL STUDENTS


August 18, 200614/20

• Teaching Classes: Grades– Students can drop a course on their own up to the

“W-drop deadline”. You can drop students up to this deadline with a W as well.

– After the drop deadline, students can ask you to be dropped from the course, or you can request to drop students from the course. In these cases you assign a grade of W or F. Students need to provide documentation why they want to drop. Drop forms need the signature of the chair.


August 18, 200615/20

• Teaching Classes: Grades– Students can completely withdraw from ALL their

classes up to the last day of classes. In this case it is customary to give students a W. This process is initiated by the Registrar’s Office.

– Students can request a grade of I if they do not complete all requirements to pass the course. They have to make up all work missed within at most a year after taking the course. A grade of I should only be given in rare cases (surgery, advanced pregnancy, etc.). If the student does not complete the work within a year, the I automatically changes to an F – most of them do!

– All grades can be changed only up to one year after the end of class (3 months after graduation).


August 18, 200616/20

• Teaching Classes: Repeating a Class

– Students can take a class at most three times (A W counts as an attempt!). They need their Dean’s permission to take the class more than three times.

– A student taking a class for the third time (or more) pays an additional fee of $100 per credit hour.


August 18, 200617/20

• Teaching Classes: Special Students

– Disabled Students– Athletes


August 18, 200618/20

• Teaching Classes: Academic Dishonesty

– Do not take action yourself. Document what happened.

– Talk to the chair, then report the incident to the Office of the Dean of Students.

– Alert students to the rules about plagiarism (e.g., copying from the Internet) if you give written assignments.


August 18, 200619/20

• Teaching Classes: The Real Issues

How do we ensure that student learning continues outside of the classroom?


August 18, 200620/20

• Teaching Classes: The Real Issues

How do we engage students in their learning?

Documents

New Faculty Orientation Fall 2006