Budget Woes, Calls for Efficiency Imperil Physics
Physicist Carlos Handy moved from Georgia to Texas in 2005, excited about building a physics program at Texas Southern University. But after serving as chairman of the department for six years, he may soon have to oversee its dismantling.
State budget cuts have placed a premium on efficiency-boosting measures in higher education. This year, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the agency that approves and disapproves degree programs, implemented a more stringent annual review system for eliminating those with low enrollment. Programs that fail to graduate an average of five students per year over five years face being cut (current ...
Comments (26)
George McGonigle
Physics is a foundation stone for all of the physicall sciences, including engineering. I cannot imagine eliminating one year of physics in the cases of students seeking degrees in science or engineering. Those enrolled in liberal arts curricula could be forgiven for eliminating courses in physics but even in these cases a foundation in physics, properly taught, would be a sensible choice. Those students seeking degrees in business might also be forgiven from taking physics but, again, education in the physical sciences is closely related to knowledge of the worlds in which business operates.
DO NOT ELIMINATE PHYSICS FROM ALL CURRICULA JUST BECAUSE OF LOW ENROLLMENT. Instead, encourage students to take physics courses that relate to their degree plan.
d f
All that math and science is too hard. Jes follow guv good hair's approach. Change your major to animal husbandry, or sports communications. And, of course, mix in a whole lot of jumpin around yellin and screamin at football games. Good hair sure knew what wuz more important. If all you can ever do in life is run for office, especially in Texish, then math and science is no longer important. Besides, his invisible man in the sky friend has it all worked out for him anyway. So, why bother with being intelligent? Wisdom and intelligence have never been a pre-requisite for holding public office in Texish.
Tim Covington via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This is scary. If you have a child in Texas, I recommend you send that child out of state for a college education. There is a simple fact. Physics is the basis for all modern science and engineering. Without a grounding in physics, graduates in other science related departments will be second rate at best. And, good physics professors will not want to be in a non-physics department.
WUSRPH
Since scientists are liars who manipulate data to get federal funds, evolution is a fable and students should be "trained" to accept only “facts" approved by conservatives and religious right-wing leaders, why do we need any of this stuff in college or the public schools? Let's make Rick and his friends happy by going back to the ONLY TEXTBOOK needed to answer all questions--"The Holy Bible"....
Samantha Davis de Cowen via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I do not think physics should be eliminated, but I do not follow your logic. If people send their children elsewhere, they will accumilate more debt and our other programs will suffer by low enrollment. If UT accepted military service credits, as MIT does, from those with physics backgrounds, then fewer would have to choose other programs (at either UT or abroad.)
David ??? Matocha via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Tim, I took my 1st physics class at SHSU from professor Covington. Any relation?
Mike Openshaw via Texas Tribune on Facebook
"Low enrollment in physics is a widespread problem. " THIS is the problem; ignoring it by leaving shells of a department behind, with professors with little to do won't solve it. This problem in the 'hard sciences' starts way earlier (and it must be noted that its acceleration has occurred in the same timeframe of ever-increasing federal involvement in education).
Tim Covington via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Samantha - How expensive is it to send you child to a school where the degree is worthless?
David - No relation to me.
Stephen Lloyd via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The powers that be that lord over Texas education want this state to be full of dumb, unquestioning people.
PrincessGalaxy Residentsecondlife via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Yeahh..Interesting ...
muadib muadib
This is directed to the "ex tsu".
This sounds like the disgruntled ex employee fired because of fraud, as reported in the Houston Chronicle two years ago; or another guy who was arrested for alleged dereliction of a minor. Then again, it could be Satan himself.
Eric Bittner
For three years, I was a member (and chairman for one year) of the American Physical Society's Committee on Careers and Professional Development. One of the surprising things I learned was that more CEOs of companies are Physics majors than any other single degree. This is because many physics majors work in startup companies based upon some form of specialized technology. Second, physics majors consistently outperform Bio and Chem majors on the MCAT. This is according to data on the MCAT's web-site.
Why are physics majors successful? It's because our training is very rigorous and very intellectually demanding...probably the toughest major on campus! It's not for everyone. I would argue, however, that everyone going to college--especially now--needs some background in basic physics just to have a baseline of scientific literacy. We can not simply shutter a core department.
John Doe
I and my fellow students are glad that finally they are getting rid of that evil Chair. He doesn't know how to teach and frighten students all the time. If he's thinking so good of himself he should be find the another job in the Ivy League or he must be mediocre! The way he treats people, Goes Around Comes Around!
muadib muadib
It is unfortunate that the Texas Tribune allows clowns to divert attention from a legitimate problem. It is possible to bring libel charges against the TexasTribune for allowing fools to trash the efforts of hard working people, such as Dr. Handy. In so doing, one can determine the identity of the fools bringing their personal gripe against a hard working, student oriented, Dr. Handy. TSU has mechanisms for entertainig legitimate charges against any State employee. The persons pretending to be "ex tsu" or "tsu student" should actually do something instead of hide like rats.
The old physics program at TSU was populated by physics pretenders. One individual with a Ph.D. from UH stole his old UH-professor's funded DARPA grant and sold it to DoD as his - until Dr. Handy discovered the falsehood. This was published in the Houston Chronicle two years ago. Another taught within the Physics department for years in violation of SACS guidelines - Dr. Handy discovered it and had him transfered to the correct department. He was one of the cronies of the old physics department that did nothing for physics. A third idiot lost his teaching license following charges of statutory rape. Dr. Handy encouraged him to move on. These are probably the persons insensed about Dr. Handy - protecting the money of the citizens of Texas.
Sounds like Dr. Handy was the sheriff that Clark Atlanta did not want but Texas desperately needed.
toni cairo
So what happens to all of the money gov Perry accepted from the gov't to increase STEM education and retention if we're cutting these very programs in the name of "budgeting"?
ex tsu
Why is my comments of Carlos Handy's illegal activities no longer available through the Online Archives? Did CRH (Muadib aka RAT) buy out Texas Tribune? It sounds like a cover-up. Hmm, We'll call Commissioner Paredes again to make sure he's aware of it!
ex tsu
Why the MaudDib is so quiet. Probably he is busy to find a good criminal defense lawyer or bug the Coordinating Board members. BTW, your bald head looks like Satan than anybody else (I can sent you 2 horns as my fairwell gifts) Haha!
http://davidfeldmancomedy.com/2007/09/15/30-seconds-stanley-satan
Daniel Marble
The problem is bigger than physics. The THECB is killing STEM programs in many fields and especially at smaller rural schools.
The main point is that the state will receive NO SAVINGS by these actions. While I would certainly agree with the importance of STEM and physics in particular, even a person who believes we can't afford these programs like the THECB head should understand that the THECB position makes no fiscal sense since they lose money rather than save even without considering future effect of these students on the Texas economy.
Faculty in most of these schools already meet 100% of their workload teaching required service courses.
They teach upper-level courses for free because they want to prepare these students in a field that the teacher loves. Cutting these programs will only reduce students in classes already being taught making for less revenue generated and lead to fewer students obtaining technical degrees that lead to high paying jobs.
Several physics programs have tracks in nuclear engineering sharing resources with Texas A&M and one has a medical physics track. These programs were developed to address shortages in nuclear power workforce and medical physics which the State itself along with industry said were vital. The state and federal tax payer has already spent money buying equipment to train students in these programs and now they cut the program.
The state's short sighted approach also cut the Texas Electronic Coalition for Physics that uses technology to pool students and faculty from multiple small rural institutions for greater efficiency and which have several universities that don't have physics majors but use those courses as part of physics minors. Thus, these other programs are also affected when major programs at other institutions are cut even though they themselves were not directly cut. The fact that other students were in the class doesn't count just those with majors.
The THECB also cut technical programs like computer science at community colleges that teach students for far less money than what is spent to train them at research universities. Thus, a technical education will become less accessible for Texas across the state especially for anyone who is not in a large metropolitan area or affluent. So much for closing the gaps.
Texas universities have budgets. Let the local presidents live within their budgets and make decisions based upon their costs. Each one of them knows that if a course is short they may not get the state's portion of the funds and if a faculty member isn't generating enough SCH in one class then the faculty need to generate additional funds in another. Promote efficiencies across systems like the TECP or with the System's sharing courses rather than divide and conquer. Do something positive for education and quit trying to make a one size move at the state level policies that ignore any real savings and that intentionally or unintentionally preferentially promote large schools, urban schools, generic majors with lower job prospects. Given that the THECB either didn't read or care about any of the information provided by the Universities and worked straight from a number set, real savings could be found by firing every THECB staff member and using a computer. It would have made the same poor decision, but then we could have at least had some real savings.
Peter Deming
If minority kids are serious about STEM field why don't they go to Tier 1/2/3 college to pursue their dreams. There are plenty of scholarships and incentives for them. There is no reason for them to go to the bottom of food chain like TSU unless there are deceptive recruitment practices going on!
muadib muadib
Jesus Christ - another idiot (no, moron) named Peter Deming.
The State awareded no more than 5 B.S. degrees to Blacks in each of the last six years. Why? Maybe the State's educational system is so poor that many Blacks don't get inspired to major in physics. Maybe the best Blacks leave the State because the flagship Texas schools are not perceived smart enought, or good enough (i.e. mentoring, etc.) to accmodate their needs.
If you look at the qualifications of the faculty in the physics department at TSU - they compare to the quality of faculty at Rice, UT-Austin, certainly UH.
For instance
Dr. Daniel Vrinceanu - one of the top physics Ph.D.s out of Georgia Tech, with prestigious Fellowships at Los Alamos and Harvard. Close collaborator with foks at Rice University. One of the top 50 American researchers in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics.
Dr. Chistopher Tymczak, Ph.D. from Texas A&M. One of the top experts in large scale electronic structure calculuations. Staff scientist at Los Alamos Laboratory for 9 years. Close collaborations with Chemistry and Physics at U. Houston.
Dr. Daniel Bessis, one of the world's foremost authorities in Mathematical Physics. Graduated from La Sorbonne in Paris (not Paris Texas). Winner of the 1970 French gold medal for Theoretical Physics. Close colleague of Dr. Roland Glowinski at UH and Dr. Mario Diaz at UTB. Do a Google on the "BMV Conjecture" - one of the top 10 unsolved problems in mathematics. It stands for the Bessis, Moussa, and Villani conjecture. He has solved world class problems in Graph Theory. Was a permanent consultant at Los Alamos
Dr. Carlos Handy - pioneer in the formulation and computational implementation of what is now called Semidefinite Programming to Quantum Operators. All degrees from Columbia University. Columiba University is one of the toughest academic programs around - where students have to "do it on their own" - read the College Tour books. If you think it was a "set aside" set up - ask them how many Blacks they have produced in 40 years. He discovered this 10 years before most people realized it. It defines a new paradigm for computing difficult (i.e. singular perturbation dependent) Quantum physics problems. Has worked for nearly 30 years in producing minority Ph.D.s that do make a difference.
Dr. Mark Harvey - Fellow at the MD. Anderson Cancer Center. Nuclear physicists. Graduate of one of the best Historically Black Institutions in Physics: Hampton University. Leading TSU's Health Physics program - the only one in all of Houston.
So what say yee - bozo. Think before you open your mouth or put crap on paper.
muadib muadib
Correction:
The State awarded no more than 5 B.S. degrees in physics, to Blacks, for each of the last six years. What did UT-Austin do? What did TAMU or UH do? Idiot
Eric Bittner
Actually, Peter Deming has a good point. Physics majors tend to be more academically motivated than the average student--it's a tough degree and a rigorous program! More than likely minority student considering a major in physics will be in the top 5-10% of his/her high school graduating class, will more than likely look to the really top physics programs, and more than likely receive ample scholarship support to go there. This isn't a slight against the TSU physics faculty--I'm well acquainted and friends with many of them. It's the way college recruitment works.
The fact remains that physics, chemistry, math, & biology are core sciences and we as a state and nation NEED more well trained and educated scientists in order to remain the eminent producer of innovation and technology. Furthermore, even non-physics majors need to be exposed to and have some knowledge of the basic principles of physics and scientific thought in order to make sense of modern technology and society.
muadib muadib
I dont' disagree with Eric Bitner's position. Indeed, any student that knows he/she wants to do physics already is implicitly in the top percentage of his/her graduating class. As such, they have a lot of options,and more than likely, TSU is not among them. However, where are these top students? Certainly not in Texas, by THECB's own records. In May 2010 Texas only produced 4 B.S. degrees in physics awarded to Blacks. The true record should be 5 (TSU prdocued 2). Thus TSU produced 40% of the B.S. degrees awarded to Blacks. What did the flagship schools do? What did the other schools do? This Statewide low productivity continues for many years before 2010. So what is the State's excuse? That all the good Black High School students, interested in physics, leave Texas? That's a possibility. So too is the possibility that such students might enroll in these schools and not continue in physics (i.e. lack of mentoring, individual attention, etc.). This is also a bad indictment against the leading Texas schools. TSu is unique in that it has a vested interest in this population, and by so doing can increase the State's production of Black STEM Ph.D. graduates.
Besides, the good Black students that might not attend/or succede at the flagship Texas schools, there are some very good students that prefer a Black immersion in their undergraduate experience. Personally, I believe that if you can compete in a majority environment (both technically and socially), then you should go to a majority school, since that is the real world "professionally speaking". I so advised one such student. However, there are very good students that will prefer an HBCU setting either because of social adjustment issues or family influence.
Then again, there will be very good students that come to TSU and don't realize that their true calling is physics (i.e. they like math and are by nature problem solvers).
My strong position against Peter Dement was against his "knee jerking, Pavlovian disposition" that TSU is an inferior school. Yes, TSU-physics may not have all the logistical resources at its immediate disposal, but it does have brain power. What happened at TSU before the physics program started is not TSU (NOW)-Physics' fault. What is correct is that they made radical changes and departures from the old habits of doing nothing! The graduation rates for 2012, 2013, etc. will underscore this point.
George McGonigle
As an electrical engineer, I took 2 years of physics and I have to say I not only didn't enjoy the experience but I found the course work boring. Maybe it was me...maybe the instructor I had...took these courses right after WWII so UT was scratching around for teachers...especially in math ans science. In any event, I support the need for physics for scientists and engineers...assuming it is welll taught.
Katrina Mosley
Unfortunately, it is NOT well-taught at TSU!
muadib muadib
Dear Ms. Mosley:
How can you make a general, unqualified, statement? Is it that we are a Black school and thus you assume we are no good? Have you taken a physics courses at TSU? Have you taken all the physics instructors? At any institution there will be better teachers than others. Please don't embarass yourself, or perhaps betray your prejudices, by making uninformed statements. They make you look stupid.
Wishing you all the best,
Respectfully yours
Muadib