Math Department Meeting Notes

In Attendance: Yvette Straughter, Adele Hamblett, Y. Venkat Rao, Barbara Ton Ferullo, Kiruba
Murugaiah, Samer Darwish, Joanne Manville, Shirley MacKenzie, Ted Carlson, Christian Agunwamba,
Amparo Hernandez-Folch, Chris Watson, Katherine Gustafson, Louis Gregoire, and Irene
Sancinito

Conducted by: Y. Venkat Rao

Minutes Recorded by: Kiruba Murugaiah

Agenda:
1. Review and Approve Minutes from March 6^th Meeting
2. Text Book Summit – A Reminder
3. Select Chairs for Text Book Committees?
4. MAT 091, MAT 092, MAT 094 Cut-Off Scores - Ted
5. Adding Rational Expressions in to MAT 094 Objectives
6. Budget
7. Other Business

Handouts: LSAMP Flyer

Discussions:

1. Both February and March meeting minutes were approved by the department. Also, it is noted
that department minutes will not be included in the Math Department newsletter until they
have been approved

2. Text Book Summit – A Reminder
To be held from noon to 4PM in M103 where all publishers will be presenting in 15 minute
intervals. Publishers such as Pearson, Houghton Mifflin, McGraw Hill will be present.

BHCC Mathematical Study Association

The BHCC Mathematical Study Association was formed out of the diligence and enthusiasm of a
first year student, Weverton Silva. Presently an A student in College Algebra, Weverton approached
his math instructor, Professor Murugaiah with the idea. He explained that he often found
himself helping his classmates in math and motivating them to keep trying. He also observed the
difficulties many of his friends and fellow students faced in their developmental math classes so he
thought a club could help students help each other. He asked if Professor Murugaiah would be the
faculty advisor. She agreed and the club constitution along with other necessary documents was
submitted to the Student Activities Office. Paul Moda was pivotal in helping Weverton initiate the
club and guide him in finding other interested students to join. Since its approval, the club held its
first meeting on May 1^st during the activity period with at least 22 students present. Members of
math department also showed their support at the meeting by providing words of encouragement to
the future mathematicians. The club will resume its activities in the fall and hopes to build a positive
attitude toward Mathematics in general on campus.

Developmental Mathematics Courses

We have changed the structure of our Developmental Math courses starting with the Fall 2008 semester. The Rationale, Course Descriptions and Objectives are available. A significant and important change involves the addition of “Study Skills and Successful Student” objectives. Our aim is to provide developmental math students the opportunity to learn how to learn math as well as develop their skills.

We recognize that these changes are significant and therefore we intend to provide professional development opportunities for all of us to be able to meet our new contractual requirements to teach these courses.

Please select one of the remaining workshops:

There will be follow-up Implementation Discussion Sessions held during the week of September 22, 2008 to assess the progress made. Attendees will be compensated and the professional development workshop will count as the contractually required meeting for adjunct faculty.

The agenda will be split into four components…

Study Skills and Successful Student Objectives and Strategies
Part 1 of Classroom Policies, Methods, Strategies and Applications
Part 2 of Classroom Policies, Methods, Strategies and Applications
Curriculum Materials and Resources

(Please send me any materials; resources; web links,
applications; “cute”, effective explanations, etc. that
could be included for sharing in the workshop)

You may respond by e-mail with your workshop selection, name, contact information and which Developmental Math course(s) you usually teach will register you for that professional development workshop. A confirmation e-mail with the room and more detailed agenda will follow before the workshop.

Please respond as soon as possible.

Thank you in advance for helping us implement and assess these changes. I will respond to any questions you may have.

Mathematics Tibbits

Every Even Number is the Sum of Two Primes..... Goldbach's Conjecture

Notes from the Department Chair

TEXT BOOK SUMMIT

A Text Book Summit was organized by Math Department on April 10, 2008 to select text books for the new Developmental
Sequence, ( MAT 091, MAT 092 and MAT 094). Representatives from Pearson Addison-Wesley,
McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin and Cengage Learning displayed their publications. The summit took place in the
Math Computer Lab and all four publishing companies made a Presentation of Associated Technology for these
courses. Lunch was served with the compliments of Dr. Abasa-Nyarko, Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Editor’s Notes

If you have any suggestions for an article or have a story you would like published, please forward it to
Irene A. Sancinito, Mathematics Department at BHCC or send it to isancinito Electronic
format preferred.

If you would like to submit an article for, “Meet the Faculty”, please do so in electronic form. I will publish
one per month on a first come, first published basis.

This is the final issue of the 2007-2008 academic year. The next issue will be published for the beginning
of the new semester.

The deadline for the September issue is September 10, 2008.

I take this opportunity to thank Irene Sancinito for editing the News Letter and Kiruba Murugaiah for taking
care of minutes of the Department Meetings. They have done a splendid job. Thank you again.

Two of my students; Dong Seop Shim (Calculus for Management Science – MAT 231) and Zhuo Zhao Lu
(Ordinary Differential Equations – MAT 285 ) are transferring to University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and UMass
Amherst respectively. Congratulations.