2021-22 Unit Plan
Chemistry

Mission Statement

The broad mission of educators in the Physical Sciences is to share a dynamic method of inquiry that has been trained over centuries via an iterative process of observation, modeling, prediction, experimentation and observation of the fundamental constituents of the observable universe.  Although it can be argued that this tradition is as old as humanity itself, its fruits have never been more impactful to our day-to-day lives than now; both directly in the form of increasingly accelerated technological advancement, and indirectly by serving as a kind of method testing-ground for modeling systems outside of the traditional physical sciences.

The broad purpose of the Community College system is to provide a mechanism to enable people to enter the workforce with specific skills required for particular types of jobs and/or to prepare people to continue on to more education and training before entering the workforce.  At Butte College specifically, our mission is to provide quality education, services and workforce training to students who aspire to become productive members of a diverse, sustainable and global society.

Melding these two imperative missions in a meaningful way that can be used to contextualize our plans for the future requires a split mission: Our mission for STEM career track and non-STEM career track pathways.

For the STEM skills career track student (~80% of PS FTES):
It is the mission of the Butte College Physical Sciences department to provide students with: 
a robust and program-informed schedule that allows for published pathways that we serve to be completable by a dedicated student within advertised timelines, and a maximally-inclusive and high-quality educational experience in the physical sciences dedicated to increasing the access of STEM fields to people with diverse ways of thinking and various backgrounds under the operating assumption that science is a reflection of humanity�s understanding of the cosmos not a reflection of the cosmos itself. We will know that we are successful when we have determined that all students have been afforded the achievable opportunity to take their next steps with confidence.


For the GE students seeking non-STEM career tracks (~20% of PS FTES):
The Butte College Physical Science department will provide our General Education students with a mindful and welcoming effort to match their changing interests and behaviors with experiences that highlight the processes, products and power of the culture of the Physical Sciences and how they will continue to play a central role in creating a sustainable future for humanity.  


Program Description

Overview:
     The Department of Physical Sciences enjoys an excellent reputation within the campus community. The Chemistry, Geology, and Physics programs offer lower-division courses for science and engineering majors as well as preparatory courses for the nursing and respiratory therapy career programs and the Physical Science program offers general education courses for all majors. Students that have been through our programs return on a regular basis to reflect on their experiences, and the sense of collegiality they felt while in our classes. This is also reflected in student evaluations. Full-time faculty members Colin Ferguson, Penny Lillie, Jason Trento, Danielle Gray and Bob White are former Butte College students and decided to return to the department and give back some of what they received. We work with other departments (specifically Mathematics, Biology, and Computer Science) to create a student-friendly schedule with accessible offerings in a number of different formats. Most sections in all four programs tend to close before the end of registration, many with full wait lists, reflecting a high degree of demand for our programs as well as a solid reputation for our courses. 

Outside of the classroom our department is involved in a number of project/activities that serve our mission.   

We work closely with Butte College�s Supplemental Instruction (SI) Program which is run with love and skill by April Hennessy and Tina Day and facilitated by our students to provide a community of learning around our more challenging �gateway� courses.  Every semester ~7 of our instructors participate in this program.  In addition to the obvious benefit of the students that use SI the training and experiences that the facilitators get often helps them get into world-renowned institutions as they move on to their educational goals.
Elizabeth Wannenmacher and Michael Panunto serve as faculty advisors for the Science and Math Club.  With regular and awe inducing contributions of demonstrations and technical presentations from our Chemistry Stockroom Magician Dave Carr and periodic tours of local science-based businesses among other typical club social events the Science and Math Club offers a no-stakes opportunity to create community around a common interest. Rusty Bogart is active in connecting students with projects in our maker space bringing the classroom into the production environment.

Delving in deeper into the details of the Physical Sciences Department (~ 6% of total college FTES):

Chemistry (60% FTES of PS Department, 4.41% of campus as of Fall 2019)
In Fall 2016, curricular details in CHEM 51 were restructured to use lab space more efficiently, resulting in an increase of section offerings from 3 to 9 in Spring 2019.  Chemistry faculty then restructured the curriculum in CHEM 1 in a similar fashion that allowed offerings of that course to increase from 6 in Spring 2018 to 9 in Spring 2019.  We have maintained these numbers and continue to be at near capacity in our building.  Chem 110 is now replaced by Chem 11 and continues with high enrollment.  The conversion of PS 108 into a chemistry lab room and the new large lecture portable have freed up space in other rooms to allow for increased growth in various chemistry courses.  While enrollment across campus is somewhat declining, the demand for some chemistry courses continues to rise. 

Martin Wallace tracks Chemistry Demand by Enrollment Day and history shows that CHEM 11, and CHEM 51 attain full enrollment by the 20 day after opening. With the Covid pandemic our numbers still remained strong with full enrollment by the first day of instruction.

Despite the demand for courses such as CHEM 51 and 11, and now for PSC 10, 11 and 12, we simply do not have the full-time faculty to cover these classes without faculty volunteering for overloads on a regular basis with our associate faculty teaching at their limits.  Plans for the new science building need to take into account this demand and allow for more lab rooms to meet demand and offer more sections during prime class time(9am-2pm).

The Chemistry program has two important needs: more full and/or part-time faculty and laboratory setup staff; and more money for equipment and supplies.  From Fall 2008 to Fall 2019, chemistry sections increased from 19 to 31, yet this increase in course offerings is not consistent with budget increases over the years or support staff for these classes.  The money increases we are asking for need to cover the cost of new hires, increased costs of chemicals and quantities being used, an increased need for student graders and assistants, and a need to being purchasing and updating equipment that will not be used immediately, but will, instead, be held for the new building.





Physics (14.4% FTES  of PS Department 1.06% of campus):
     Enrollment in the physics program has stagnated due to a lack of support in the Engineering program.  A new engineering instructor has been hired starting the Fall of 2019, and the physics department is teaching Engineering 17. We have added a section to the Spring 2020 schedule and foresee the demand for physics to increase as the engineering program improves. Our increased offerings of PHYS 21, 22 and 43 every semester have met the current demand and now our course offering are on par with similar community colleges.  We now have five full time physicists that have allowed us to meet our current demand and help teach much needed engineering courses. However, the physics program currently subsists on two lab rooms that it shares with geology and physical science programs which does not allow for any more growth due to lack of lab space.  In addition, we anticipate ever increasing supply and equipment budgets to update antiquated lab technology, and begin stocking up for the new science building.


Geology (6.5% FTES of PS Department 0.48% of campus):
     The geology program is quite strong considering we only have a single full-time instructor. We have a full schedule of Physical Geology (GEOL 32) and we continue to offer Historical Geology (GEOL 34) each Fall. We added a FA/SP Earth Science with Lab (PSC 11) at the request of counseling and the Child and Family Development Department as part of an early education AS-T that filled at its first offering and is currently being taught by a part-time instructor. The program's greatest needs are a commitment from administration--in light of the recently approved AS-T degree and Geology and added demand for Geologists in service to other departments--to offer more sections and hire a full-time instructor sometime in the near future. We still need a full-time Geology instructor added to cover the growth in Geology and Physical Science.

Physical Science (19.1% FTES of PS Department 1.41% of campus) :
     Enrollments in the Physical Science program are very good--most classes fill well before the semester begins. The Weather classes (PSC 50 and 51) are very strong at both the Chico Center and the Main Campus. We finally added a new course, Natural Hazards (PSC 53), in Summer 2015. It was successful and is now being offered regularly each Fall semester. Environmental Science (PSC 10) continues to be extremely popular with demand now at two sections per term. We currently offer one section of 24 students that closes during the first week of registration. We would like to offer more sections but lack faculty to do so.  We believe the interdisciplinary Introductory Physical Science (PSC 20 and 21) being removed from the schedule and replaced with: Concepts in Physical Science (PSC 12) and Earth Science with Lab (PSC 11) have been a major win for student success and retention.   We added FA/SP sections of PSC 12 and PSC 11 and we have not yet met the demand with many on waitlists. To meet the need of the lecture-only physical science course offering, the physicists have created a lecture-only version of the Introductory Astronomy course (PSC 30) called A Survey of the Universe (PSC 27) which has been offered in Fall 2019 and two sections have been offered since Spring 2020.  The goal is to meet the demand of the lecture-only physical science course previously met by PSC 20 with a popular offering that does not have the intimidating mathematical demands of the lab portion of PSC 30 and 30H and can also be offered in the online modality. We are unclear on how many sections of PSC 27 to offer as it may draw students in our other face to face courses. 

Finally, our Physical Science Senior Laboratory Technician currently works under a ten-month contract. This position is responsible for three of our four programs; lacking the summer work time makes it very difficult for the tech to handle long-term projects and the growth of Summer offerings has increased by 50%. The physics and physical science faculty have had to forgo several building projects because of this. The increasing number of sections in both physical science and physics will only increase the tech's workload and the continued packing will reduce the time allowed for changes between labs which changes the nature of the work making it more stressful. We feel the tech can be much more effective if the position is recharacterized as a twelve-month one.



Student Learning/Administrative Unit Outcomes

Although we have been in an online modality for the last few terms, we believe that it has had harmful outcomes on our students who plan to major in the sciences. We plan to explore the possibility of returning to the class for lab. This is the only way to really truly adhere to our SLO’s and PLO’s. The nature of trying to access SLO and PLO through these tumultuous times is unhelpful until we can resume in person labs. 


Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (Instruction Departments)

The Physical Science department continues to produce strong enrollment through the challenges that have faced our college. Through the camp fire our enrollment remained strong as our faculty came together to support each other which benefited our enrollment. Even with the tremendous drop in the college FTES, the department numbers have not diminished through the pandemic and switch to online modality. We could actually offer more sections to meet demand. 

Our department consists of amazing faculty who engage in sound pedogical approaches that reach our diverse student body. With the continued engagement in professional development, course modifications, SLO assessments, our faculty continue to see strong retention and success rates. The creation of lab and lecture in smaller cohorts has boosted student success because the students get hands on training with the material as it is introduced.

Our area has many AST degree offerings. Due to high unit demand and the lack of proper guidance through programs, many students transfer with units rather than degrees. We anticipate an increase in awarding degrees once guided pathways is fully implemented across the campus. We also attribute the awarding of several degrees in our area to the MESA program.


Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (All Other Departments)


        

Strategic Direction

The Physical Science departments support the college in meeting its Strategic Direction and Priorities. We discuss and implement ideas that meet these criteria. Below represents one of the six areas in which a detailed discussion shows how we engage in one of the strategic directions.

Supporting Student, Faculty, and Staff Success

A. Increasing Student Engagement by: 

1. Using surveys within courses to have student input and perspectives.

2. Involving students in Flex like workshops through the Math and Science Club. 

B. Evolving the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities of Faculty and Staff by: 

1. Increasing participation in professional development that orients employees to the institution 

We do this by encouraging all new hires to engage in Great Teachers seminar.

2.Enables employees to work effectively with diverse populations, including the “now” student.

We achieve this by attending professional development workshops.

3. Meets regulatory and safety requirements. 

We meet this by doing yearly chemical safety training hosted by our chemical hygiene officer.

4.Assists employees in using technology, data and tools to be effective and efficient.

We do this through a Canvas course through which we share ideas and train each other in the use of current technology, data assessment and new tools.

 


Program Review

Our latest program review was 2013-14.  The Validation Team issued twelve (12) recommendations.  Their status is outlined below. We have acheived most of the recommendations. We need to do a new program review.

New science building:  A timeline has been established for the completion of the building.

Counseling:  We would like a dedicated STEM counselor with the implementation of AB 705. We have discussed this within our STEM leadership meetings.

 

Long-term savings:  With the restructing of department budgets, we hope to increase our funding.

Hire an additional geologist:  We need an additional physical science hire now to meet growth demands for environmental science and physical science for liberal studies.  This will allow us to increase our student access further to meet still apparently latent demand.

Smart room upgrades:  With the reality that our new building is approximately a decade away, we are requesting Smart-room upgrades to bring us up to the institutional norm of classroom technology.  We still need new computers in our building. 

Improved scheduling using all five days:  This is something we have no control over.  The faculty outside of physical sciences at large have convinced themselves that by only meeting their students four days per week instead of five somehow improves student success and access.

Tracking graduates:  In progress.  This will be closer to completion as the campus shifts from course to program thinking. 

Projects involving students:  In our engineering physics series we have been implementing two project based aspects of the curriculum.  In Physics 41 the students have a semester project called the Group Goldberg machine.  It is an extended Rube Goldberg Machine that the whole class participates in.  In Fall 2017, the Group Goldberg machine was triggered in the basement level of the library and it was a public success.  In Physics 42, students have an individual “motor challenge” where students construct an electric motor out of a specified set of materials then get points for speed of rotation.  Both of these projects are well liked by the students, provide an opportunity for community outside normal curriculum and is a low risk way to get experience with the frustrating and fulfilling process of creation moderated by the real constraints of nature …not arbitrary human assessment.  Students now tour the new maker space and are using it to create the Rube Goldberg Machine and motor challenge parts.

 


Department Goals

List the goal for the Physical Sciences here...


Future Development Strategies

Strategy 1 - Twelve-month Senior Laboratory Technician and Part-time Technician

The senior physical science laboratory technician is currently serving on a ten-month contract. This individual is responsible for the equipment, lab facilities, and supply and grader budgets of three (3) of the four (4) programs in the department: physics, physical science, and geology. A successful senior laboratory technician is one who is orderly, punctual, self-motivating, and knowledgeable in the physical sciences in the broadest sense. Most importantly, however, this position demands someone who enjoys seizing the initiative and working on projects that enhance student success and whose benefits might not accrue for several semesters. As we increase the number of sections, the responsibilities of the senior laboratory technician will inevitably increase as well. When we move into the new science building, this will only become a larger issue. Given our needs now and our anticipated needs in the long-term, we want to recharacterize this position into a twelve-month one. The chemistry program has seen extensive growth over the last decade, and now has ten full-time faculty and 31 sections and requires more support in this area.


Initiatives
  • Modeling Sustainability
  • Enhancing a Culture of Completion and Goal Achievement
  • Supporting Student, Faculty and Staff Success
  • Using Data-Informed Processes for Continuous Improvement
  • Maximizing Resources to Support Student Learning

Supporting Rationale

Increasing demand in physics and the uncertainty surrounding the overall space allocations for the entire department in the near future have greatly added to the senior laboratory technician's normal duties and job stress level. These duties include: maintaining and servicing all the laboratory and demonstration equipment for the three programs; overseeing and dispersing monies from the supply and grader budgets for those programs; summer school support; and, working on various building and laboratory projects that enhance students' experiences, provide safer work environments, maker space help for student projects and help the department as a whole operate more efficiently. The time available for these routine duties, however, is slowly eroding due to the ever-increasing time the technician must devote to help the physics program grow. The technician's absence from the college for two months each summer exacerbates this problem, making it very difficult for him to accomplish many long-term projects since many of his routine duties are being squeezed into ten months.  While the department does have another full-time senior technician, the physical science tech position has duties unique to the position. 

A bulleted list of duties that currently are NOT being performed at only ten months include:

•end of year inventory of equipment and consumable supplies.

•cleaning and calibrating laboratory equipment.

•pricing and purchasing new laboratory equipment and supplies.

•designing and building new laboratory equipment.

•researching and helping develop new laboratory experiments and demonstrations.

•developing new skills that enhance work: lathe work; chemical safety; soldering; milling; Datatel.

•organizing physics and physical sciences stockroom.

•setting up purchase orders.


Supporting Rationale Alignment
Supports the College's Strategic Direction and Priorities: No
Supports Program Review Recommendations: Yes
Supports Course level SLOs: Yes
Supports PLOs: Yes
Supports ILO - Think Critically: No
Supports ILO - Communicate Competently: No
Supports ILO - Engage Collaboratively: No
Supports ILO - Work Effectively: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Credentials: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Transfer: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Time to Degree: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Employment in field of Study: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Reducing Equity Gaps: No

Strategy 2 - Equipment

What our department makes the college in terms of FTES due to lab hours is slightly offset by the cost of running labs (though a thorough accounting of the money made by our students after leaving our programs we believe would show a return on investment more than acceptable by taxpayers). We have extensive equipment needs and no dedicated equipment budget. Some of this is to replace outmoded and/or unserviceable equipment, and some of it is upgrades, and some of it is simply to acquire more units due to more sections of a given class. Finally, we anticipate further needs in the future to equip the new science building.  As we have grown, the usage of the equipment we have accelerates and increases the frequency of replacement and maintenance requirements. With recent growth (~6 more lab sections in last year) we anticipate a commensurate increase in our equipment repair and replacement needs at the very least. 


Initiatives
  • Enhancing a Culture of Completion and Goal Achievement
  • Supporting Student, Faculty and Staff Success
  • Using Data-Informed Processes for Continuous Improvement
  • Maximizing Resources to Support Student Learning

Supporting Rationale

The Physical Sciences only work when students perform experiments. Therefore, specialized equipment and dedicated facilities are key components in every class we teach. Equipment must be maintained and calibrated and we have to continually replenish consumables like chemicals, glassware, carbonized paper, electrical components, testing samples, housekeeping materials, etc. Relentless improvements in technology, along with continual software upgrades, means we constantly need to improve the way we use our equipment, or replace it, or completely change the way we do experiments. All of this requires a large supply budget, a budget that increases over time.


Supporting Rationale Alignment
Supports the College's Strategic Direction and Priorities: No
Supports Program Review Recommendations: Yes
Supports Course level SLOs: Yes
Supports PLOs: Yes
Supports ILO - Think Critically: Yes
Supports ILO - Communicate Competently: No
Supports ILO - Engage Collaboratively: No
Supports ILO - Work Effectively: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Credentials: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Transfer: Yes
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Time to Degree: Yes
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Employment in field of Study: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Reducing Equity Gaps: No

Strategy 3 - Student Grader and Student Lab Assistant Money

As we continue to add sections and try to fulfill other tasks for the college (e.g., SLO assessment), it is becoming even more important for us to have sufficient and ongoing funds available for student graders and student assistants. Recent reinstatement of the ability to gain student funds from small mark-ups of the lab manuals has decreased the long term concern for maintaining the meticulous and proven pedagogy used by the Chemistry instructors but we remain uncertain about where the funding levels will normalize.  Consequently, to avoid breaking a working model of evaluation of student work, the Chemistry program needs continued monies to continue with this proven pedagogical choice. Last year the college graciously awarded us more monies toward this cause, but we anticipate our grading needs to continue to increase with the addition of 3 more full-time chemists and this support must continue at least in the short-term. Increased minimum wage, more glassware and lab prep require more monies for student assistance helping in set-ups and cleaning glassware that our senior lab technician can’t keep up with.


Initiatives
  • Enhancing a Culture of Completion and Goal Achievement
  • Supporting Student, Faculty and Staff Success
  • Using Data-Informed Processes for Continuous Improvement
  • Maximizing Resources to Support Student Learning
  • Enhancing a Culture of Equity and Inclusiveness

Supporting Rationale

Mastery of the physical sciences requires focused attention on detail and the nurturing of analytical skills. Hence, grading lab reports and other work is necessary, yet very time-consuming for the instructors especially since many of us are on overload. Employing our successful students as graders yields three great benefits: 1) Students receive significantly more feedback with an increased level of detail and in a more timely manner than the instructor would be able to provide alone. 2) Instructors are better able to focus on student success and learning outcomes in their courses. 3) The student graders receive valuable training in analytical skills and physical intuition, as well as a source of income with a highly flexible schedule. An increase in minimum wage and increase in the sheer volume of labs require more student assistants and hence more monies.


Supporting Rationale Alignment
Supports the College's Strategic Direction and Priorities: No
Supports Program Review Recommendations: Yes
Supports Course level SLOs: No
Supports PLOs: No
Supports ILO - Think Critically: No
Supports ILO - Communicate Competently: No
Supports ILO - Engage Collaboratively: No
Supports ILO - Work Effectively: Yes
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Credentials: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Transfer: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Time to Degree: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Employment in field of Study: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Reducing Equity Gaps: No

Strategy 4 - Professional Development Travel Funds for STEM Instructors

Technology and scientific advancement as well as advancements in STEM teaching strategies are all in a era of rapid and accelerating change.  The nature and global ubiquity of the  importance of STEM tends to make the nature of conferences at the cutting edge of the scientific and technological endeavor to be more national in nature than local.  When this fact is coupled with generally available funds to all faculty it results in a situation where our STEM instructors are less able to keep skills updated with their fields because to do so would require travel to areas further from home.  As our campus culture shifts to design with the end in mind our STEM instructors have to keep abreast of the end more regularly since Science and Technology is changing more rapidly than other transfer fields.  STEM instructors need more travel funds to keep even with the campus at large in professional development.


Initiatives
  • Enhancing a Culture of Completion and Goal Achievement
  • Supporting Student, Faculty and Staff Success
  • Using Data-Informed Processes for Continuous Improvement
  • Maximizing Resources to Support Student Learning

Supporting Rationale

See above


Supporting Rationale Alignment
Supports the College's Strategic Direction and Priorities: No
Supports Program Review Recommendations: Yes
Supports Course level SLOs: Yes
Supports PLOs: Yes
Supports ILO - Think Critically: No
Supports ILO - Communicate Competently: Yes
Supports ILO - Engage Collaboratively: Yes
Supports ILO - Work Effectively: Yes
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Credentials: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Transfer: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Time to Degree: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Employment in field of Study: Yes
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Reducing Equity Gaps: No

Strategy 5 - Maker Space

The college needs to fully supporting moving forward the Maker Space on campus where students and faculty can work on various construction and fabrication projects.  We fully support this as we see that students mostly learn by doing.  Physics students are now being required to tour the maker space and think about and do projects connected to class work.  The continued support by the college of the Maker Space gives them just that without it impacting our instructional lab rooms. We hope the administration continues to support this project.


Initiatives
  • Supporting Student, Faculty and Staff Success
  • Maximizing Resources to Support Student Learning

Supporting Rationale

See Above


Supporting Rationale Alignment
Supports the College's Strategic Direction and Priorities: No
Supports Program Review Recommendations: No
Supports Course level SLOs: Yes
Supports PLOs: Yes
Supports ILO - Think Critically: No
Supports ILO - Communicate Competently: No
Supports ILO - Engage Collaboratively: No
Supports ILO - Work Effectively: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Credentials: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Transfer: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Time to Degree: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Employment in field of Study: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Reducing Equity Gaps: No

Strategy 6 - Hire a Geology Instructor

Our request is for a full time Geology instructor.


Initiatives
  • Enhancing a Culture of Completion and Goal Achievement
  • Using Data-Informed Processes for Continuous Improvement
  • Enhancing a Culture of Equity and Inclusiveness

Supporting Rationale

We asked for a Geology instructor two years ago by labeling the job description as a Physical Science hire. The postion was then converted to a Physics hire. We are still in need of a full time hire in geology to meet the demand of the liberal studies major requirement of PSC 11 which requires a geology degree to teach. We also need instructor for growth in PSC 10. Currently, geology disciplines teach this course. This was also linked to our program review in 2014 and will again be added to our next program review. This position will teach combined lecture lab structure courses which has improved student success for all students.


Supporting Rationale Alignment
Supports the College's Strategic Direction and Priorities: Yes
Supports Program Review Recommendations: Yes
Supports Course level SLOs: Yes
Supports PLOs: Yes
Supports ILO - Think Critically: Yes
Supports ILO - Communicate Competently: Yes
Supports ILO - Engage Collaboratively: Yes
Supports ILO - Work Effectively: Yes
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Credentials: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Transfer: Yes
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Time to Degree: Yes
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Employment in field of Study: No
Supports Meeting Vision for Success Goal - Reducing Equity Gaps: Yes

Requested Non-Financial Resources

Lecture and laboratory space. This will continue to be an issue until we move into the new science building.

Current Financial Resources

The department currently has external funding sources from the sales of lab manuals. These funds are deposited into foundation accounts.

Augmentation Requests

Original Priority Program, Unit, Area Resource Type Account Number Object Code One Time Augment Ongoing Augment
Description Supporting Rationale Potential Alternative Funding Sources Prioritization Criteria
1 Geology/Physical Science Personnel $0.00 $100,000.00
New Full Time Geology Instructor We asked for a Geology instructor two years ago by labeling the job description as a Physical Science hire. The postion was then converted to a Physics hire. We are still in need of a full time hire in geology to meet the demand of the liberal studies major requirement of PSC 11 which requires a geology degree to teach. We also need instructor for growth in PSC 10. Currently, geology disciplines teach this course. This was also linked to our program review in 2014 and will again be added to our next program review. We think this position can be funded through Student Equity and Achievement Program. The position meets the following two criteria: 1. Expands access to and/or improves effectiveness of educational planning, career counseling, or transfer counseling by meeting demand in PSC 11 and PSC 10. 2. Reduces or eliminates student equity gaps by teaching in a pedagogy proven to eliminate student equity gaps in lecture lab cohorts. (Data from dashboard on Student Success in PSC 10 and PSC 11)
  • Student Equity and Achievement Program
  • Strategic enrollment growth
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Addressing Program Review Recommendations
  • Closing Equity Gaps
  • Implementing Guided Pathways: a. Strategic Scheduling; b. Hobsons Starfish
  • Meeting enrollment targets
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
2 Chemistry Operating Expenses $9,400.00 $14,500.00
Student Grader and Assistant Money Graded assignments are at the core of how Chemistry is taught. Students must receive feedback on assignments to correct errors in technique and concepts. Course content builds on previous understanding, so this process of learn, apply, correct, and understand is then applied to additional topics. The College�s support for student grading did not keep pace with increases in enrollment, so faculty began to add a small surcharge to faculty-produced lab manuals (with the blessing of the College�s administration) and used these funds to support the demand for grading. In 2014, this practice was suddenly stopped by the College administration. However, in spite of promises to replace the funding, no permanent solution to the loss of this support has come forward. This has had a significant negative impact on our educational programs, affecting our ability to achieve our Program Student Learning Outcomes. Laboratory reports and homework assignments are two major categories of graded assignments used to support student these SLOs. Laboratory experiments are critical for Chemistry Program SLOs #1 and #2. Students prepare for each experiment by reading the experimental introduction and procedure (including safety warnings). Many classes require that students complete a �pre-lab� that includes sample calculations and concept questions. The students then complete the experiment, and data is then used to determine the experiment�s results, which involves graphing and/or calculations using the data on the report. Finally, students are asked to interpret data, reflect on the experimental procedure, and answer concept questions based on their results (which applies to SLO#3). These reports provide the student important feedback on their understanding of the experiment and its concepts. Homework assignments address SLOs #2 and #3. Students are assigned reading in their text, and then directed to answer questions (in writing) about what they have read. Collecting and grading homework assignments is especially critical in entry-level chemistry classes, since the students may not yet understand the essential nature of hands-on learning in the natural sciences. In November 2015, an affective survey was administered to five different chemistry classes (310 responses) to assess the value of graded assignments to the students in those classes. These courses varied in whether homework was simply assigned (and not collected) or collected and graded and not all courses required pre-lab assignments. The results indicated that feedback is seen as being extremely important to students (80-100% responded this is always or sometimes true), and comments are especially helpful to them (87-94%). Timely feedback is critical to the students (90-100% as very important or important). Homework is also universally seen as essential in preparing for examinations (95-100% as true). Finally, pre-labs and especially graded lab reports are seen as valuable teaching and learning tools (80-97%). Select comments included: � When teachers write comments on my paper it really helps me to see what I have done wrong in the problem. � Having homework being fully graded, rather than only partly graded would be fantastic. It helps hone in on study issues. � It is concerning not to receive corrected assignments in a timely manner because it is hard to compare any progress. It is clear homework and reports that are graded, include comments, and are returned in a timely fashion, are at the core of student success in chemistry courses. It is not physically possible for instructors to fulfill this responsibility without help. A core part of our instructional program, fundamental to achieving student learning outcomes. In addition, increased lab offerings have lead to more glassware that student assistants wash freeing up time for lab techs. Minimum wage continues to increase as well.
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
  • Diversity, equity and inclusion
  • Health/Life/Safety
  • Meeting enrollment targets
3 Geology Operating Expenses $0.00 $1,800.00
Increase in annual supply and travel budgets The current Geology budget is $643 for supplies and $290 for travel. This amount has not changed in at least six years. We seek an ongoing increase of $767 ($357 for supplies and $410 for travel) as well as the creation of a dedicated equipment budget (there currently isn't one) funded at $1000. Maps, scratch pads, glass plates, and other consumables continue to increase in price. The program also wants to slowly purchase microscopes and balances for the new building. We ask for a travel money increase since the field trips are very popular with the students and assessments have shown that they improve student success.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
  • Implementing Guided Pathways: a. Strategic Scheduling; b. Hobsons Starfish
  • Meeting enrollment targets
  • Implementing the 2019-2020 Strategic Direction Priorities
4 Chemistry Personnel $40,000.00 $0.00
Chemistry Senior Laboratory Technician- Part-time Request The current lab technician was hired in Fall 2007 and in Fall 2008 there were five full-time faculty and 19 sections of courses offered. The chemistry program has seen extensive growth over the last decade, and now has ten full-time faculty and 31 sections offered as of Fall 2019. This increased growth has resulted in an increased workload for the current lab technician without any significant increase in salary, who also serves as the Chemical Hygiene Officer for the college and manages chemistry division funds. We are requesting a part-time lab technician position to help offset this increased workload for our current lab technician. This position could possibly take charge of the prep work required for a few of the chemistry courses and allow our current lab technician to better focus on more difficult class preps and equipment maintenance.
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
  • Meeting enrollment targets
  • Health/Life/Safety
  • Diversity, equity and inclusion
5 Chemistry Equipment $1,050.00 $0.00
New Printer Recent changes to the structure of the CHEM 1 curriculum opened space in the wet lab room by moving some class meetings to another room in the building. The new room lacks the computers and printer that the wet lab room provides and there are times when students must go back to the wet lab room to complete certain graphing tasks. We recently acquired a set of unused laptops from another department on campus that must be updated, but still need a printer to make the new room more functional for the CHEM 1 activities.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting enrollment targets
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
6 Physics, Physical Science Equipment $5,000.00 $0.00
High Speed Camera To achieve the analysis of many types of motion a high speed camera is needed to observe phenomena that happen of milliseconds. A camera with 4000 fps is versatile enough for these observations. This camera would be used in all physics and astronomy labs.
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
7 Physics and Physical Science Equipment $3,000.00 $0.00
MacBook Pro (to make a total of 6) We need another MacBook Pro to allow for six lab groups. The computers are used in multiple experiments.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
8 Physics and Physical Science Equipment $9,000.00 $0.00
Six Speed of Light Systems Updating this lab to modern technology. Our old measuring systems are unreliable and do not give acceptable results.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
9 Physics Equipment $24,000.00 $0.00
Six Electron Charge to Mass Ratio System (Helmholtz coils, Tube, Power supplies) Currently we do not have enough equipment to properly run this lab. Students need to work in groups of 3-4 per system. We need the addition of six more systems to operate this lab effectively.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
10 Physics Operating Expenses $0.00 $4,517.00
Increased supply, grader, and equipment budgets The current Physics budget is $5708 ($2763 for supplies, $2720 for student graders, and $225 for student assistants). The program has NO dedicated equipment budget. We ask for ongoing increases in the supply and student grader budgets of $237 and $280, respectively, and the creation of a dedicated equipment budget of $4000. The increases for supplies and graders reflect increases in the costs of consumables and increases in the minimum wage. Also, as we add sections to the schedule and full-time faculty take on overloads, they need more student graders. The new equipment budget will help us begin purchasing expensive, yet necessary, equipment for the new science building. (Some of this equipment is listed as separate augmentation requests.) Also, current equipment costs are covered by the supply budget or offset by using Foundation money (since we no longer receive profits from the sale of lab manuals, our Foundation accounts inexorably decrease). Examples of new equipment include: optics benches; liquids lab materials; and circuit labs. Finally, more sections means increases in printing costs, which are currently covered by the Chemistry program.
  • Student Equity and Achievement Program
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
  • Meeting enrollment targets
  • Diversity, equity and inclusion
  • Health/Life/Safety
11 Physical Science Operating Expenses $0.00 $3,336.00
Increased budgets for supplies Like Geology and Physics, this program has NO dedicated equipment budget. The current budget is $1304 ($824 for supplies, $340 for student graders, and $140 for travel). We seek ongoing increases of $676 for supplies, $660 for student graders, and the creation of an equipment budget funded at $2000. These increases cover the increase of printing and student grader costs as we continue to add sections. The new equipment budget will help us begin purchasing equipment for the new science building.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
12 Chemistry, Physics and Physical Science Equipment $9,000.00 $0.00
Three MacBook Pro for Smart Classrooms: PS 105, PS 139, PS 131 These have not been replaced by the campus. The MacBooks are from 2008, the trackpads don't work, and some applications don't work.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
13 Physics Equipment $4,600.00 $0.00
Six Centripetal Force System Our current systems are outdated and breaking down.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
14 Physics Equipment $4,700.00 $0.00
Six Ampere Law Apparatus This equipment will replace outdated and poorly functioning equipment we currently have.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
15 Physics Equipment $550.00 $0.00
Pasco Demonstration motor/generator This demo is needed to demonstrate many electromagnetic ideas used in physics and engineering.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
16 Physics Equipment $3,700.00 $0.00
Six Ideal Gas Law systems Currently, we do not have an experiment to explore the ideal gas law. This equipment is needed to support our lab program.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
17 Physics Equipment $3,700.00 $0.00
Six Steam Generators Our current steam generators are falling apart and need to be replaced. Having working equipment that boils water is also important for student safety.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
18 Physics and Physical Science Equipment $6,500.00 $0.00
Ulimaker 3D Printer Our students need to be using the latest technology in designing and building projects for our classes.
  • Instructional Equipment
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
19 Physics Equipment $700.00 $0.00
Hot Plates We are in need of new hot plates. We do not have a set for physics.
  • Meeting Vision for Success Goals
  • Meeting student achievement goals (Vision for Success Goals)
  • Implementing Guided Pathways: a. Strategic Scheduling; b. Hobsons Starfish
  • Strategic enrollment growth
8/2/23