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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 9, 2011)
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 The Clackamas Print 3 ath grant provides opportunities By Brian Baldwin News Editor e you a math major? What about engineering? Does etical math press the right buttons for you? Does bought of 300- to 400-level math courses give you rflies in your stomach? If you suffer from a one or of these choices, then the math department here at Lamas Community College may have the prescrip- for you! lackamas and Portland State University have Led a $200,000 grant to develop a math course that Simmons and Mark Yannotta, math instructors, lling the “Bridge to University Mathematics.” [that grant, CCC received $35,000, according to otta. This course will help prepare students who mathematics or engineering majors prepare for the ¡tion to 300- to 400-level mathematic courses taught iversities. e course is designed after Portland State University’s Larsen’s Math-344 group theory curriculum. Larsen notta’s PhD adviser, and he leapt at the chance to both his goals and Yannotta’s. e saw an opportunity for me to adapt his curricu- for community college students in a way that was stent with my larger goal of supporting transfer ts. In general, there is very little research in math tion on community college students, so by study- is implementation, it was a win-win for both of tated Yannotta in an e-mail. “Larsen consulted with eekly the first time I implemented the curriculum as interviewed Bruce as well. He has offered sug- ns throughout the entire lifespan of the grant, but ately, he has encouraged us to adapt the curriculum deem appropriate.” ording to Simmons, this course will primarily t the math and engineering majors on campus who know high level math. is is a kind of course that is offered at probably fall four-year institutions and not many two year tions,” said Simmons. “A lot of students who are into the science technology and engineering are dto take one or two 300- to 400-level classes, and lien a rough transition.” wording to Simmons, the 300- to 400-level math are more proof based and theoretical and the Aments and graded work are very different than the level that is taught at most two-year institutions, tviously this class’s material has been taught by I instructors over the past few years as Math-299 at slow pace to give students a feel for the material, 'o years ago it was taught... ‘Let’s do half a term Nathan Sturgess Clackamas Print Mark Yannotta, a math instructor at Clackamas Community College, has been working toward getting a math grant for some time now. He wants students at Cackamas to be able to work at a higher math level. of Math-344 at a slower pace to get people acclimated.’ Research Steffen Moller, Yannotta, Simmons or whoever Last year we started to dovetail additional material on will be the representative from the math department will how to do proofs and number theory,” said Simmons. have to present the details of the course such as what the “We have run this course in various forms at CCC objectives are, why the department wants to offer this since 2005. We have presented our work at our state con ’ course and what students are expected to get out of the ferences and other community college instructors have course to name a few of the requirements. been very supportive of our efforts; however, no school And so Yannotta and Simmons still have work to do has actually produced a course like this mainly because before they present the course design to the college. they don’t think they will get enough students to make “We need to make one more pass at revising the cur- the class run on a consistent basis,” stated Yannotta. rculum this spring and then present it to the college’s This course does not align with any required courses curriculum committee early next fall,” stated Yannotta. at other schools so this course will be considered an “While Larsen’s curriculum forms the basis of the class, elective, according to Yannotta. But because of the 30 to Bruce and I have adapted and supplemented some of it to 40 percent content overlap between this class and PSU’s better fit the needs of our students. Our class does not go Math-344, Yannotta has received positive feedback as far into group theory as Math-344, but we go deeper, from previous students that have taken the course that it because we can go slower and we are not required to ‘get helped them adjust to the university level math. through’ a prescribed list of topics.” According to Dean of Curriculum, Planning and G: Romance creates credibility ue in student government office tinued from Page 1 re is no official rule ver,” Fava said. y Brown, the adviser to also backs Fava’s com in the rules to in-office “There aren’t any,” she We’ve had, historically, folks who have dated ve been officers and/or officials.” a explained that she had to do with Briare’s elec- o office and that the deci- as actually made by a of officials on a panel, was on the ASG panel ted Briare, but it was a ous decision from every- iva also stressed that she are had not been seeing er before or during the process. No, I was not dating g that process. As I’ve fore, my role on student ent has been my life years now, and I won’t or put that at risk in any e or form,” Fava said. s disagree, saying the was, indeed, a conflict. ■/j ^ntly the members of I Gwere made aware of the I w relationship between I hva (president) and Sean I (vice president), which ti to the hiring process,” u togwoong Han, an ASG ■ who recently resigned in K a letter to The Clackamas Print. (See Letter to the Editor for the full letter.) Briare explained that he and Fava started a personal relation ship during the winter break after his election. David Kinsella, Political Science Chairman of the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University, said that there may be a conflict of interest if Briare didn’t qualify and Fava made an exception for him. “It seems that the issue is straightforward,” Kinsella stated in an e-mail. “If the constitution specifies qualifications for office holders, including vice presi dent, and if Mr. Briare does not meet those qualifications, then he should not have been per mitted to run for office. Public vote, non-public vote; tell the students, don’t tell the students - all of that is immaterial. A per son should not stand for election if she/he is not qualified to hold the office. “The question of a conflict of interest is therefore mute. Either the rules were followed, or they were not. Now, if ... Ms. Fava, the president, (has) the authority to make an excep tion to the election rules, and in fact did so in order to make the candidacy of Mr. Briare viable, then indeed (her) personal rela tionship with Mr. Briare would Bon’t let tlje toolbes of jfenris f i gljt jilone against corruption. create a conflict of interest, stated Kinsella. When Briare was first elect ed to his new position, there was already debate about his qualifi cations as he had not yet been on ASG for two terms as stated in ASG’s constitution whereas his opponent, Sage Losh, had been on the team for over a year. Briare said he still believes he can do the job because, “It (the relationship) hasn’t affected my work at all,” he said. “When we’re here in the office, it’s office time. My personal life, and her personal life have noth ing to do with the office. “The reason I stepped up to this position is because I thought it would be for the benefit of the team,” he said. “Even though I have only been here for a short period of time, I’m a team player, and the team has always come first for me. This is my personal life and it has nothing to do with the team. Just because we work in the same office it doesn’t change where my focus is. When I’m here, I’m giving a 110 percent to the team; (I’m) i "MafhZone student access codes" ' ! for Math 60, 65, 95. ! ¡These code are for the 4th edition book. ! i $30 I have several. ■ I I I I I I Contact ellism@clackamas.edu to set up purchase or come by office at Dye 139.
