Director of Undergraduate Studies FAQ

The co-Director of Undergraduate Studies Office is D209 Wells Hall. The office hours listed below are times I guarantee I will be present there; outside of the listed office hours you are welcome to drop by and try your luck to see if I am in.

Office hours are available every week; I rotate them between days of the week and hold them at different times so I can best serve students with different class schedules.

August

• Thurs 8/28: 11:30am-1pm

September

• Weds 9/3: 9:30am-11am
• Tues 9/9: noon-1:30pm
• Mon 9/15: 1pm-2:30pm
• Fri 9/19: 11am-12:30pm
• Thurs 9/25: 10am-11:30am

October

• TBA

If you'd like to book an appointment to speak with me, please fill out this form.

Feedback and concerns about curriculum and instruction of specific courses

If the course you wish to discuss satisfy one of the following, I'm your guy:

• the course number is between 299--499;
• the course number is 201;
• the course number is less than 299 but has an honors 'H' in its numbering;
• the course number is less than 299 but you are enrolled in an honors section (has an 'H' designation in the scheduler).

All feedback and concerns about all other undergraduate courses should be directed to Prof. Ben Schmidt.

All questions concerning MTH courses with number 500 and above should be directed at the Director of Graduate Studies.

Feedback and questions about our curriculum in general

Feel free to come talk to me.

Grades

If your question concerns grades in a class you are taking, you should speak with the course instructor; only in exceptional situations would I be involved.

Scheduling

For help enrolling in courses, or for figuring out what courses to take and other advice on academic progression, you are encouraged to speak with one of the mathematics advisors.

Graduation Requirements

For questions about graduate requirements for one of the degrees offered by the Mathematics Department, you should talk to one of the mathematics advisors.

Undergraduate Research

For general questions about undergraduate research in the math department, I can provide you with some basic pointers.

Interested in Graduate School?

If you are interested in getting an advanced degree in mathematics and related fields, I can provide you with some guidance.

Let S be the following set of courses:

• Any MTH course in upper division (numbered 299-499) except those specific to the actuarial program
• The teacher education course MTH201
• All Honors Calculus courses (designated by the letter H in their course number of section number).

My responsibilities as co-Director of Undergraduate Studies are:

• Assignment of undergraduate teaching for
  • Tenure-stream faculty
  • Courses in the set S
  • Note: For teaching assignments to Honors / Advanced Track courses, this is shared with the advanced track director.
• Curriculum issues (changes and reviews) concerning courses in set S (in coordination with the Undergraduate Studies Committee)
• Overall curricular issues concerning the majors offered by our department (in coordination with the Undergraduate Studies Committee)
• Addressing student feedback on courses in the set S
• Bug you all with teaching-related information and reminders (sometimes just passing through information from the College or the Provost)
• Recruitment of students into our major(s)

Beyond curricular issues, I also

• Organize the Distinguished Undergraduate Lectures
• Sign off on various academic administrative forms impacting undergraduate students
• Organize our events for the Alumni Distinguished Scholarship competitions
• Chair the Frame Teaching Award committee
• In coordination with the Undergraduate Studies Committee, select students for end-of-year scholarships and awards
• Organize our annual Student Math Conference

(If any of you are thinking of stepping into this position in the future, now you know.)

If you have questions, concerns, or ideas about teaching in general or about our curriculum (specific courses that are in the set S), feel free to just drop by a chat. The Undergraduate Studies Committee also welcomes proposals for new upper-division undergraduate courses, as well as proposals to revise and modernize existing courses. Talk to me if you are interested.