18 September, 2008

First, a brief history lesson for all whom are new to this: Last year I served on the Math Department Curriculum Committee at one of 2 Undergraduate Student Representatives.

During that time an issue came up regarding the possible addition of a pure and an applied math concentration to the Undergraduate Curriculum. Math Club supported the addition of these concentrations. The proposal was passed under the condition that the curriculum committee be restructured to accomidate this change in the Math program.

On Tuesday the 16th of September, the department met and all of the Graduate students, including myself, were in attendance. It was announced that the curriculum committee would be meeting Thursday (09-18-2008).

That meeting happened, a proposal was brought forward but a motion was made to pass it with a major change in student representation- only one Undergraduate representative, and NO graduate student representative. This motion passed and now needs a vote of the department as a whole.

I was present to complete my term as one of the Undergrad reps. The graduate representative from last year is not longer a student but now a lecturer. Thus NO Graduate student representative was present- or existed.

Undergraduate Math majors are encouraged to voice their opinions regarding this matter. The department needs to understand the importance of student perspective in making decisions regarding curriculum. Please take a moment to email both the department chair and the Curriculum Committee chair regarding this issue:

Department Chair: Don Rawlings - drawling@calpoly.edu
Curriculum Committee Chair: Jim Mueller - jmueller@calpoly.edu