UCA’s Department of Physics will partner with the Arkansas Center for Mathematics in developing a content-rich course: “Special Topics in Astronomy – Solar System Exploration”. This course will adapt the curriculum toolkit provided by the Aerospace Education Services Project to the Arkansas State Standards and will be offered in summer 2010 to in-service teachers for graduate credit and in fall 2011 to pre-service college students for undergraduate/graduate credit. The primary instructor of this course will be Dr. Debra Burris, assistant professor of physics. Dr. Uma Garimella will assist Dr. Burris to align the course content to the Arkansas state standards. Ms. Minnietta Ready, state science instructional facilitator, with the help of John F. Weis, AESP education specialist, will work with the participants to develop lesson plans and evaluation items for the course. Arkansas Center for Mathematics and Science Education (ACMSE) received a $29,642 AESP Implementation Mini-Grant from the National Space Grant Foundation to develop a new university-based course for K-12 teachers of STEM subjects and pays graduate tuition for 20 students.
The College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics will be embarking on the development of a dual-degree program with up to four partner institutions in Arkansas. The goal of this program will be to allow students majoring in mathematics or science at another institution to simultaneously earn a bachelor of science in education degree, along with a recommendation for teacher licensure from UCA. We will also be forming an ad hoc committee to explore the possibility of designing a college framework for alternative delivery courses and degree programs. The first degree program to be explored for alternative delivery will be the MA in Natural Science for in-service teachers.
Drs. Ginny Adams, Sally Entrekin, and Reid Adams, faculty in the Department of Biology, and 17 UCA undergraduate and graduate students attended the American Fisheries Society Arkansas and Oklahoma Joint Chapter Meeting held in Fort Smith on Feb. 3-4. The meeting was attended by approximately 180 participants representing universities, state and federal resource agencies, and non profit organizations from both states. Students and faculty from UCA gave 13 presentations — eight oral and five posters– on topics ranging from northern snakehead life history and alligator gar movements to the impacts of gas drilling on aquatic ecosystems. A UCA graduate student, Ram Pandey (co-mentored by Dr. Laurie Warren and Dr. Ginny Adams) won the Best Student Paper Award for his presentation entitled “Acute effects of atrazine and nitrate on Hyalella azteca (Amphipoda) in laboratory exposures.” Dr. Ginny Adams, current president of the Arkansas Chapter, planned and organized the meeting in conjunction with the president of the Oklahoma Chapter. Many members of the UCA Fisheries Club, a nationally recognized student sub-unit of the American Fisheries Society, played an integral role in coordinating meeting events. Richard Walker was awarded Outstanding Subunit Student for the UCA Fisheries Club, as he has been instrumental in organizing activities for this relatively new Registered Student Organization on campus. Student attendance at the meeting was aided by funding from the UCA Student Government Association, the Department of Biology, and extramural grant funding to faculty. The following students attended the meeting: Clint Johnson, Ed Kluender, David Mitchell, Richard Walker, Loren Stearman, Ram Pandey, Chris Fuller, Kasey Nix, Nicki Jensen, Allyn Fuell, Harry Richardson, Kyle Meeks, Michael Edmonson, Brandon Clemons, Brandon King, Sarah Pavan, and Joe Larson.