CCNY Science Division Newsletter Jan. 29

January 2007
To the Science Division Faculty and Staff:
The Fall 2006 semester came to a close with the usual end-ofthe-
year fanfare and celebration. The Science Division was among
the last to hold its Holiday Party on December 21, 2006. It was well
attended and filled with music, food and good cheer, as we recalled
some of the year’s accomplishments and toasted to even more
successes in the coming year. As we return to the classroom, I would
like to wish everyone a healthy and Happy 2007 and a very
successful new Spring Semester.
Middle States Update
Preparation for the Middle States accreditation visit
dominated the intersession period, and it will continue to dominate
our efforts during the spring semester. We officially welcomed Ms.
A.E. Dreyfuss as our Science Division Assessment Coordinator.
Many of you know A E already from her tireless and dedicated
involvement in the Peer Led Team Learning Project, her Workshop
leader training courses, and most recently, her participation in the
CCNY/MSKCC Partnership program. A.E. is now fully on board to
work with the Division in its preparation for Middle States. Please
stop by to greet her if you have not yet done so.
The Spring 2007 semester will be our opportunity to perform
a full Learning Outcomes Assessment cycle before the Middle States
visit in spring of 2008. The Departments have prepared their Mission Statements, their goals
and objectives, and their learning outcomes. They have also proposed assessment tools that
they will implement in their courses. The course syllabi have been written with the assessment
process in mind. As the semester begins the departments will collect data to establish whether
their learning goals are being met, whether they are appropriate, and whether the assessment
tools are effective. At the end of the year, they will make adjustments as suggested by the
results, and repeat the cycle once more in the fall of 2007, before the external team’s visit.
Meanwhile, we continue to examine all these documents and adjust them to reflect who we are,
and how we best serve our students.
Building News
We are also preparing for a semester of construction and renewal in Marshak and on the
South Campus.
The new Animal Care facility is expected to be ready for occupancy in mid-March. At this
time, housing of animals will be moved out of Marshak, and the planned renovations of Marshak
involving the façade will begin. Actual work on the façade's concrete will probably start in late
May or early June. Although some disruptions will undoubtedly arise, much care by CUNY,
DASNY and the City College administration is being spent on planning to minimize any harmful
effects on the research and instructional activities in our building.
Discussions and preparations for the South Campus construction of the new CCNY and
CUNY science buildings are also progressing. Vibration tests were recently conducted to
January 2007
evaluate the impact that excavation will have on the research activities of the New York
Structural Biology Center. The results will be available in March. Modifications to the current
plans may then be considered. Meetings of the contractors with researchers will re-start this
spring as we embark on the design Phase.
New PC Lab in Marshak
Located in the lower level of Marshak, in
rooms MR 044/045, the new Science computer lab
boasts 40 PC’s, two projection screens, two
wireless LCD projectors, and a wired lectern. It will
be used for PC-based instructional classes, such as
SCI20000, but will also be open to students
everyday from 9 AM to 7 PM for general computer
use. The new facility replaces the cramped PC lab
in room 602A, which will be converted to a research
lab for a Homeland Security project.
MR-2 is ‘Smart’
Installation of a new Audio Visual system in the large amphitheater MR-2 (formerly J-2)
has been completed. The 300-seat auditorium is now a “smart” classroom, with two large
projection screens, two wireless projectors and speakers, all of them controlled from a lectern
equipped with computer, document camera, and microphone. Instructors can either project the
same image on both screens or project two different images simultaneously (e.g., a PowerPoint
slide on one screen and handwritten notes on the other).
Research News
Two research conferences were held this past week on our campus, organized by
Science Division faculty:
• The “2nd Annual New York Structural Biology Discussion Group Winter Meeting”, arranged to
take place on our campus by Professor Tom Haines of the Chemistry department, was held
on January 24 in the Aronow Theater and the Faculty Dining Room. This was one of two
biannual meetings held by the New York-based research consortium. The increased
involvement of our campus faculty in this community was evident by our being able to host
this event on our facilities. Over 200 scientists and students convened to discuss the most
recent advances in the field of structural biology. Professor Ron Koder of our Physics
department was one of the invited speakers.
• A Mini-Workshop entitled “Yang-Mills Theories Nonperturbative Aspects,” organized by
Professors VP Nair and Alexios Polychronakos of our Physics department, with colleagues
in other CUNY campuses and institutions, took place on January 25-27 in MR 418.
Physicists and Mathematicians from around the world convened to discuss the recent
progress in the solution of this “Millennium Problem” in Mathematics known as the Yang-
Mills Theories. Professor VP Nair’s recent contributions to this research were among the
important results presented.
Maria Tamargo, Dean

http://www.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/news/news20070129/2007-Jan-DeanNewsletter.pdf