Wisconsin Section, American Association
of Physics Teachers
Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting
October 25, 2014, at Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
After a wonderful and fun morning
talk/poster session and lots of great workshops, we all hiked over to the
Physics building for the business lunch meeting.
Meeting Start Time: 11:57 pm (which is actually a few
minutes late, but this was OK since we were all munching on box lunches [that
werenÕt actually in boxes], and Melissa had to run out to get a few more). President Matt Evans presiding. His first order of business was to thank
Melissa and the Marquette folks for a job well-done in bringing WAPT to Milwaukee. These thanks, of course, go to all of
the people working behind the scenes, as well. Loud clapping acknowledged their
excellent work!
1. Minutes
of the last meeting (October 26th, 2013) – Erik Hendrickson
Motion
to accept the minutes (which were inadvertently left at UWEC – sorry!) was
made by Gary Baier, seconded by Jim Madsen. Please find these Minutes posted on the
WAPT website. Motion passed
unanimously by a voice vote.
2.
TreasurerÕs Report for 2013-14 – Erik Hendrickson
Please see the full text,
including a nice graph, of ErikÕs Report (which was distributed on green paper),
but a few items were highlightedÉ
A. It was reported that our 1-yr CD earned
$9.46 last year. Expenses were
described briefly, including the costs of last yearÕs meeting.
B. It was noted that we once again remembered
to put the Òfirst timersÓ awards on the registration page this year, since we
do have the funds to try to entice new people to attend. Remember, the idea is to include the Ò1st
timerÓ awards on the meeting registration page that offers $50 awards to the
first 10 people who register for their first WAPT meeting ever and for the
first 3 people who register who are from a two year college. For people who are driving to the
meeting and need lodging, the awards are $50. For local attendees, the award covers
the cost of the meeting (dues, lunch, etc.). Make sure to invite new people from your
schools to attend and sign up for these perks!
C. Motion to accept the printed treasurerÕs
report as distributed was made by Jim Madsen, seconded by Gary Baier. Motion passed unanimously by a voice
vote.
3. Section
RepresentativeÕs Report – Jim Mallmann
Please see the full text of
JimÕs Report (which was distributed on white paper with colorful printing/photos),
but he highlighted a few itemsÉ
A. Jim pointed out that the AAPT is looking
for all of us to encourage new members to join (and for each of us to join, as
well!). They would really like to
create more connections between local and national issues.
B. Jim noted that the Winter AAPT Meeting
is in San Diego, CA, and the Summer Meeting is at the University of Maryland. Just to plan ahead, the following Winter
Meeting (2016) is in New Orleans, LA, and the Summer 2016 meeting is in
Sacramento, CA.
C. He reminded us that if anyone would like
to serve on any of the national committees (there are 18 different ÒareaÓ
committees), he could nominate you or you could self-nominate. The National Office would like to get
more members involved at the national level. Remember, even if you are not a member
of a national committee, you can be a ÒfriendÓ of a national committee (you
still attend the meetings, get emails about the happenings, etc.).
D. Jim mentioned that he is always
available via email to answer any of your questions about AAPT.
E. Motion to accept the report was made by Jim
Madsen, seconded by Gary Baier.
Motion passed unanimously by a voice vote.
4. High
School RepresentativeÕs Report – Gary Baier
Please see the full text of GaryÕs
Report (which was distributed on purple paper)
A. The Summer AAPT Meeting in Minneapolis was
GREAT!
B. Please get involved in the AP Physics
discussion with your colleagues once you head home. The AP Physics 1 us debuting this
year. Each and every campus will
need to check with their Chair and with Admissions and with the RegistrarÕs
Office to figure out what college course(s) this new AP Physics course will
count for.
C. Encourage new teachers to use
ementoring.aapt.org! This program
tries to connect newer high school physics teachers with a mentor through email
communication and Skype/FaceTime contact.
They are also looking for good mentors (consider signing up!).
D. Motion to accept the report was made by Jim
Madsen, seconded by Matt Evans.
Motion passed unanimously by a voice vote.
5.
Two-Year College RepresentativeÕs Report – Carey Woodward, Jr.
Again, please see CareyÕs
full written report (which was distributed on tan paper). He mentioned that he received no input
from his Wisconsin colleagues this year, so what follows are his highlights
based on previous yearsÕ discussions (please contact him with any issues youÕd
like to see brought up in the future!)É
A. There continues to be pressure on the
2-year colleges to offer online labs.
B. More high school teachers are wanting to
teach the 2-year college courses as concurrent enrollments, but many of them do
not have the requisite physics background, so they are being turned down. The 4-year schools should be aware of
what this may imply, regarding the transfer students they may eventually see.
C. The collaborative engineering programs
are still being discussed. If you
have input on these, please let Carey know.
D. More discussion on Òreverse transferÓ is
ongoing. Reverse Transfer is a
process where academic credits for course work completed at a four year
university are transferred back to the studentÕs community college to satisfy
associate degree requirements. Some
students transfer into 4-year universities before completing an associate
degree at a community college, with a percentage of this group gaining a
bachelorÕs degree eventually through a combination of credits from both
institutions.
E. Motion to accept the report was made by Gary
Baier, seconded by Jim Madsen.
Motion passed unanimously by a voice vote.
6.
Committee Reports
a)
Awards Committee – Phil
Young (who was not present)
There were no nominations this year.
If you think thereÕs someone deserving of a WAPT award,
make sure to share this information with any member of the Awards Committee at
any time throughout the year. We
continue to look for and recognize excellence in the Wisconsin physics
education community.
Remember, there are also national AAPT awards out
there. Think about nominating WAPT
members for these, as well.
b)
Publications/Promotions Committee – Jim Madsen
Reported that Matt Evans does A LOT of work on this. Thank you!! Remember, we now have a Facebook page (please
post things!). Also, please pass
along articles/videos that you usually share with your local colleagues to Matt
Evans and/or Jim, and theyÕll include them in a ÒnearlyÓ monthly Newsletter. Thanks, again, to Matt for sending these
out!! Good stuff!
c)
Workshops Committee – Melissa Vigil (Matt Evans searched for her
in the hallway)
There were eight excellent workshops this year and all
were well attended (40 people registered, and many more participants were
walk-ins)! Hooray!! People were excited to attend the
workshops and many wonderful discussions were had. (Lots of clapping!!) Start thinking of workshop ideas for
next year!
One thing to consider: How do we get more of a mixture of high
school and college instructors at each workshop? These conversations would be
welcome! Are the timings of the
parallel sessions working for people?
Do we need a new format for workshops? Please give Melissa or Matt feedback on
this issue.
d) A
motion was made to accept all Committee Reports as presented by Matt Evans and
seconded by Gary Baier. Motion
passed unanimously by a voice vote.
7. Old
Business
a)
None
8. Future
Meeting Sites
2015:
UW – La Crosse (Seth King & Jennifer Docktor) Try to run a joint
meeting with MAAPT again?
2016: UW – Oshkosh (Mark Lattery)
2017: ???
2018: ???
2019: UW – Whitewater was suggested???
2020: UW – River Falls (they are always
on the tens!)
Start
thinking of the possibility of hosting at your schoolÉ
9. New
Business
A. New
Meeting Registration website – Matt Evans
Working on improvements, especially being able to use
credit cards to pay for registering.
B. Posting of employment opportunities?
There
are many (too many?) places to look and they are different for middle/high
school versus colleges/universities.
AIP website, Physics Today, Chronicle of Higher Ed, WECAN, etc. Other suggestions? Matt said he would post these on the
WAPT website.
C. WAPT mailing list?
DPIÕs
list of physics teachers in the state is useless. If you have suggestions on how to reach
as many of our colleagues as possible, please send suggestions to Matt.
10.
Elections (Otherwise known as the railroading
portion of the meeting!)
Awards
Committee
(Past President - one-year term; High School Rep. -
two-year term; College Rep. - two-year term)
Past-President: Matt Evans
He
was elected by a voice vote after being nominated by Larry Stookey
and seconded by Erik Hendrickson.
College Rep.: Nathan Miller 2014-2016
He was elected by a voice vote after being nominated
by Jim Madsen and seconded by Gary Baier.
High
School Rep.: Paul Nevins 2013-2015
Workshops
Committee
(Chair/Vice President - one-year term; High School
Rep. - three-year term; College Rep. - three-year term)
High School Rep.: Amy Root 2014-2017
She
was elected by a voice vote after being nominated by Jim Madsen and seconded by
Gary Baier.
College Rep.: Matt Vonk 2014-2017
He
was elected by a voice vote after being nominated by Jim Madsen and seconded by
Gary Baier.
High
School Rep.: Tim Pasche 2012-2015
College
Rep.: Mark Lattery 2012-2015
Publications/Promotions Committee
(Chair - three-year term; High School Rep. -
three-year term; College Rep. three-year term)
High School Rep.: Larry Stookey
2014-2017
He was elected by a voice vote after being nominated
by Jim Madsen and seconded by Gary Baier.
College Rep.: Andrew Paul 2014-2017
He was elected by a voice vote after being nominated
by Jim Madsen and seconded by Gary Baier.
High School Rep.: Oakley Moser 2012-2015
College
Rep.: Melissa Vigil 2012-2015
Chair: Jim Madsen 2013-2016
Officers
Secretary/Treasurer (3-year term): Erik Hendrickson 2013-2016
Two-Year
College Representative (2-year term):
Cary Woodward 2013-2015
Elections:
High School Representative (2-year
term): Gary Baier 2014-2016
He was elected by a voice vote after being nominated
by Jim Madsen and seconded by Jim Mallmann.
Section
Representative (3-year term): Jim
Mallmann 2012-2015
Vice
President, Program Chair, Workshops Committee Chair (1-year term):
Seth King
He
was elected by a voice vote after being nominated by Larry Stookey
and seconded by Mike LeDocq. A loud uproar of clapping ensued! Thank you, in advance, Seth & UW
– LaCrosse!! See you next year!
President (1-year term):
Melissa Vigil
She
was elected by an incredibly boisterous voice vote & much clapping after
being nominated by Matt Evans and seconded by Erik Hendrickson. The second was actually rather difficult
to hear due to all of the congratulatory clapping!
11.
Closing Remarks & Adjournment
Matt
Evans: Thanks for being such a
GREAT community of educators! It is
always wonderful to get together to share and discuss the interesting
profession we all love so much. He
really appreciates that we all take the time to come together for this
important work!
The
following motion was made by Jim Madsen and seconded by Gary Baier:
A big THANK YOU
to
Melissa Vigil & Marquette University
for an
absolutely
FANTASTIC MEETING!!!
The motion unanimously
passed, as I could attest from the thunderously loud clapping of hands!
The
following motion was made by Jim Madsen and seconded by Erik Hendrickson:
A big ÒThank
You!Ó to Matt Evans for running such an efficient Business Meeting!
This motion unanimously
passed, as well.
!!!See everyone at UW – LaCrosee next year!!!
The meeting ended at 12:39 pm
(which is 1 minute ahead of schedule!).
Everyone started perusing amazing posters at the student poster session
being held in the same room, and then all were planning on heading out to the
afternoon talk session or workshop of their choice, while Matt once again realized
that he still has lots of stuff to clean upÉ
Respectfully submitted,
Erik
Hendrickson
Secretary/Treasurer