Tenure portfolio: submitted!

[steuard]

I'm up for tenure this year, and as part of that process I'm required to submit a portfolio that "makes the case" that I've fulfilled the college's requirements for tenure and promotion. That's been hanging over my head for months, but at long last it's finally finished! I turned it in on Tuesday, which means that my part of the process is

Comments

[steuard]

The issue is that if you aren't taking intro physics and basic calculus in your first semester in college, it is essentially impossible to finish the physics major in four years. We have a two-year intro sequence (much like Mudd did while we were there, in fact, if you count the core elective), and then you have to take five upper-level physics classes, most or all of which have the full intro sequence as prerequisites and most of which are only offered every other year.

So there's no requirement to declare a major before you arrive, but physics is one of a handful of majors where you more or less have to have "kept that option open" from the very start. Mudd's common core meant that we never had to worry about that, of course, and it's less of an issue in non-science disciplines where the courses aren't so sequential. It would also be less of an issue if students had space in their first-semester schedule to take the entry-level courses for every discipline that interested them, but (as at most schools) our students tend to take just four courses at a time, and one of their first-semester classes is generally a "first-year seminar" that doesn't count toward any specific major. That doesn't leave a whole lot of space for "just in case I change my mind" courses.

[kirinn]

Ah, I see. That makes some sense, but yeah, it would be great if you could engineer a way out of the problem somehow. Sounds tricky. Good luck!

[steuard]

I have a rather clever plan in mind, that I hope will work as well as I suspect it will. The basic idea is this: let's say that our current intro sequence is four semesters 1, 2, 3, and 4, where each course depends on the previous one(s), with odd numbers offered in the fall and even in the winter. (Upper level courses list 1-4 as their prerequisite.) Then:

1. Reduce the four intro core semesters to three: 1, 2a, 2b. (Lost topics can be moved into an extra upper-level course if necessary.)
2. Offer course 1 every semester.
3. Offer course 2a each fall and 2b each winter: they body depend on 1, but not on each other.
4. Make upper-level prerequisites more specific: each will depend on 2a or 2b, but never on both.

Taken together (and with details filled in), that should allow students to begin the major successfully either semester of their freshman year (or, if they push things, fall of their sophomore year). It may make some things work better for folks from other majors, too. I'm quite optimistic about how it will work out, once we put it in place.

[beth_leonard]

That sounds very reasonable, as long as the prereqs can be successfully detangled for the upper level courses.

--Beth