Faculty Meeting

MINUTES

The regular meeting of the faculty of the Department of Mathematics was held virtually via Zoom at 3:30pm PST, November 5, 2024. Max Lieblich, Chair, presided over the meeting. Rose Choi was the recording secretary.

Chair's Remarks

The course assignment sheet requests have been modified to focus more on ascertaining teaching interests rather than solely scheduling preferences. One of the long-term goals is to get the tenure-track faculty to three courses per year while broadening the range of courses on offer to students and nurturing a more dynamic department.

Email groups have been created for the various committees within the department. They are linked to the committee names on the “Departmental Users” page.

The Acting Assistant Professor search is live and the description of the position has been updated to better convey the terms of the appointment.

There are three teaching-track reappointment cases that require the attention of eligible voting faculty to review and vote on by this Friday. An email with links to the files and voting form have gone out to the relevant faculty. 
The previous meeting’s minutes were approved by unanimous consent.

Due to a recent change in the Faculty Code, Departmental Chairs may no longer be delegated to make temporary faculty hiring decisions nor serve on committees handling these decisions. Therefore, the Chair has proposed delegating this responsibility for this year to the Program Committee consisting of Julia Pevtsova, Rekha Thomas, and Sarah Garner who will then advise the Chair. The motion was carried, passed, and approved.

The proposed 2025 departmental meeting schedule was shared, adjusted, then approved.

Announcements

The Graduate Student Representative invited faculty to give a Current Topics Seminar talk this Winter quarter. These talks run 40 to 50 minutes long with a Q&A followed by pizza. It’s a good opportunity for early career students to learn more about the faculty and their current research.

Committee Reports

The Undergraduate Program Committee encouraged faculty to sign up for 3xx and 4xx classes. Although a few of these courses have been revamped recently, there are still some that could benefit from a fresh perspective. If you have any ideas for cool topics to be taught at the undergraduate level, please send them to the committee.

The UPC proposes removing the calculus prerequisite for Math 208 (Linear Algebra). A motion was passed, voted on, and approved.

The Graduate Program Committee proposes creating a new course, MATH 598 (Writing, Research, Mathematics) worth 1 credit, to help codify the writing milestone as a formal course on transcripts. This would go into effect in the next quarter or so. A motion was passed, voted on, and approved.

In order for faculty to chair graduate student committees, they must be appointed to the graduate faculty. Two separate motions were passed to vote Giovanni Inchiostro and Dan Mikulincer into the graduate faculty. Votes were held, passed, and approved.

New Business

Faculty are encouraged to join WXML. You’ll be presented with opportunities to engage more closely with undergraduates on small group projects. Please contact Chris Hoffman if you are interested.

If you have anything you’d like to discuss or bring to the Faculty Senate, please contact Farbod Shokrieh. Your input is greatly appreciated.

Max Lieblich is now a member of the Faculty Council in charge of interpreting the Faculty Code. If you have any questions or proposals for the Council, please reach out to him.

The selection committee for the student awards is making a last call for nominations for the TA Excellence in Teaching Awards. Please send nominations to Julia Pevtsova or Andy Loveless.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting passed into executive session at 4:21pm.