Spring 2003
Contents
Program Review
“The Department of Mathematics is strong with excellent faculty who are approachable and committed to student learning,” says Dr. Bette Warren. After a six month long self study, a process which began in April 2002 and continued through the spring, summer and fall semesters with all faculty involved clarifying program goals, analyzing data, surveying students and alumni, the Department of Mathematics has a better picture of its strengths and areas for growth and improvement.
The department review is an initiative from the Provost’s office. Departments complete a self-study of their programs every five years. For the Department of Mathematics, each of our undergraduate and graduate programs were evaluated including:
Undergraduate Degree Programs
Graduate Degree Programs
“It was important that we get input from our students and alumni and that’s why we initiated an extensive effort to survey their opinions both online and through paper surveys”, says Dr. Ahlbrandt.
Graduate and undergraduate alumni surveys were developed during the spring term, 2002. Online versions of both surveys are still available on the department’s homepage. The paper surveys were mailed to nearly 1600 alumni. Just over 50 graduate alumni responded to the graduate survey and 90 alumni responded to the undergraduate survey. About half were completed online.
The student census was administered in mid-October. Every student enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate math class was surveyed; a total of about 2,479 surveys were filled out. The surveys asked students to answer questions about their program of study, reasons for taking the class, satisfaction with their classes, our tutoring center, and advising.
Among the strengths of the programs identified:
• Excellent faculty including 9 Distinguished
Faculty Award winners
• Commitment to support for students through the Math Student Services
Center (Tutoring) and the Math Den
• Support for student research through independent study, symposium
projects and honors internships
• Variety of special events for students – lectures by well-known
mathematicians, breakfast seminar with Nel Noddings, Pi Day, faculty lecture
series aimed at students
• Faculty in all areas strongly committed to teaching
• Significant research being done by faculty in all programs
Efforts for program improvement will focus
on:
• Increasing support for the tutoring center
• Updating software in our computer classrooms/labs
• Making portable computers and projectors more readily available for
classroom use
• Increasing support for individual student research projects
• Improving contacts with alumni including regular communication and
forming one or more advisory boards
• Improving marketing of our graduate programs.
“The program review is a good starting point for program improvement,” says Warren. “On May 28th, there will be a campus round table discussion where our results are presented and discussed with the campus community.”
Graduate and Undergraduate Alumni Surveys and Student Census
Graduate and Undergraduate Alumni Surveys
Graduate and undergraduate alumni surveys were developed during the spring
term, 2002. Online versions of both surveys are still available on the department’s
homepage. The paper surveys were mailed to nearly 1600 alumni. Just over 50
graduate alumni responded to the graduate survey and 90 alumni responded to
the undergraduate survey. About half were completed online.
"Even though there were not enough returns from the alumni survey to generalize, it was a good first step and part of our increased focus on keeping in touch with our alumni”, says Warren. Results from the alumni survey revealed that during their career undergraduate alumni who responded have been working primarily in education, 63% as teachers of mathematics (or some additional other fields). Other alumni have found careers ranging from product performance analyst at Mutual of Omaha to mathematical statistician for the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to an assistant professor of biostatistics at Brown University. Several recent graduates have gone to graduate school in mathematics (Michigan State, University of Wisconsin, Penn State, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle), applied math (New Mexico State University), statistics (University of Michigan), biostatistics (University of Michigan), psychology (University of Minnesota), economics (Rutgers) and sports administration (University of Louisville).
If you would like to complete the alumni survey go to http://math.emich.edu/new.html
A complete summary of the Alumni survey can be downloaded here.
Student Census
In mid-October, every student enrolled in an undergraduate
or graduate math class was surveyed; a total of about 2,479 surveys were filled
out. Our goal was to get a "snapshot" of all the students in our
classes and to assess student perceptions. The surveys asked students to answer
questions about their program of study, reasons for taking the class, satisfaction
with their classes, our tutoring center, and advising. Data was sorted into
three categories: 100 level courses, 200-400 level courses and graduate level
courses. The chart below gives the overall number of students who participated
in each survey and what percentage of the respective population is a declared
math major or is interested in becoming a math major.
Number of students |
Math majors |
|
100-level |
1847 |
16% |
200-400-level |
573 |
38% (34% math minors) |
Graduate |
59 |
76% (20% undergrads) |
Selected highlights from the surveys follow:
Among the students in our 100-level courses interested in becoming a math major, over 85% plan to teach in either the elementary or high school level. As reason for taking the course 59% said it was required in their program, 42% felt it satisfies a general education requirement, 21% thought it satisfied a prerequisite to a course in their program and 12% were taking the course at least in part because they were interested in the course content. 5% had other reasons.
Among the students in our 200-level courses:
• 39% of the students had consulted an advisor in the math department
and the mean rating of the advisor was 4.26 on a scale from 1-5.
• 32% had used the tutoring in the Math Lab and the mean rating for
the tutor services was 3.58.
• 27% of the students said they had a mentor in the math faculty and
the mean rating of the mentor was 4.57.
• The mean rating of the overall feeling about the math courses was
3.68 on a scale from 1-5.
The graduate survey revealed:
• 64% had consulted an advisor in the math department and the mean rating
of the advisor was 4.22 on a scale from 1-5.
• 40% had used Math Den, a room with a library and group study opportunities,
and the mean rating for the Math Den was 4.0.
• 40% of the students said they had a mentor in the Department of Mathematics
and the mean rating for the mentor was 4.58.
• The mean rating of the overall feeling about the math courses was
3.98
• The mean rating of the overall experience with the mathematics program
was 4.05.
A complete summary of the student census can be downloaded here.