Last update: 13:00 EDT, Oct 7.. Friday evening: Dinner and informal interaction time Saturday 19 Oct., 9--5: Main Business meeting with topics of broadest interest Saturday evening: Dinner and informal interaction time The demand for special topic sessions for Friday and Sunday AM was small, so we have not scheduled anything formal. Note that one of the most frequent comments from earlier meetings was `allow more time for informal interactions.' *****************AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE BUSINESS MEETING**************** I am adding and modifying this file as suggestions come in. At this point this is more a list of talking points than a program. I have not yet tried to make any time allocations. Clearly there is more than we can discuss in much detail in one day. I welcome input on your priorities. INTRODUCTION Once around the table; who we are and what are our main concerns. (1--2 minutes MAX each) MONEY Local funding Many state schools have severe budget problems. Some private university endowments have been hard hit. How bad is the situation? Are there systematic trends? Do any of us have creative solutions? NSF & NASA How are things going? Better than two years ago? Are proposing rules becoming too intrusive? For NSF proposals the secondary evaluation criteria (Education & Public Outreach; dissemination of results; connections with other disciplines) will become more important. What will the impact be? The NSF would like input from us on how NSF positions, both rotators and longer term, more attractive. Private Do you have any successful techniques for private fund raising that you are willing to share. If most money flows from alumni/ae and those with longterm connections to schools, then we might be fairly open. What kind of relationship do you have with your development office? What do you think about joint fund raising for very large projects. Advocacy What are you doing in DC (or state capitals) to promote astronomy? Do you get any help from school legislative liaisons? your administrations? EDUCATION Are you doing anything to help your faculty become better teachers? Undergrad ``Astro 101'' related topics have been extensively discussed at AAS sponsored meetings. There is on ongoing controversy about the content of such coures: The ``education movement'' concentrates on the basics---things like the phases of the Moon, eclipses. These require a lot of time to properly teach to that fraction of students who do not understand beforehand. The other side argues that this approach cheats the students out of exposure to many of the most interesting topics in modern astronomy. Undergrad research School based and national observatory based REU programs. Locally based research opportunities How do grad schools view the success of programs as far as preparing students for grad school. Who makes use of national observatory support? What kind of support would you like? What can or should we do with students who develop a strong interest in astronomy as a career but have a poor physics or math background. Graduate programs Trends in graduate applications: better/worse, US/foreign, etc Perceptions of how well liberal arts schools are preparing students for grad school When talented students apply to grad school but know they want to take a year off before actually going, do the grad schools want them to apply and then defer or do they prefer the students wait to apply until 6 months before they really want to go? What are the best predictors of grad school success? Grad recruiting. Are some of us funding a grand tour for 4th year students? Are there any trends in lecture courses vs research? What kind of qualifying exams are we using? What happens to terminal masters students? EPO Liaisons with ed schools for teacher education Education-related fund raising EPO faculty positions: who has them? how are they funded? Many high schools are dropping their astronomy course for juniors/seniors. Since HS are evaluted based on the number of AP courses in their program, should we encourage ETS to develop an AP astronomy exam? SMALL/LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE BREAKOUT SESSION * sharing resources among colleges for research * curriculum development in astronomy labs * collaborations possible within small colleges * research opportunities for undergraduates * summer research options and ways to increase effectiveness of research in liberal arts setting POSTDOCS What has your experience been with nationally funded prize postdocs? (Hubble, Chandra, etc.), as compared to local endowed and local PI funded postdocs? Recruiting: are you getting enough good applicants? The postdoc holding pool. FACULTY ISSUES Salary trends Are applicants for primarily teaching positions prepared for the jobs they're seeking? Retirement issues Are you facing a retirement bubble in the next decade? What are you doing about it? Early retirement: creative packages; inducing where desired SURVEYS AND STATISTICS Most of us spend time doing survey for the AIP, NSF, etc., and writing observatory reports for the AAS. Yet I get the impression that many of us do not use the surveys and others do not participate in potentially useful surveys. What surveys have you found useful? What changes could be made to make survays more useful? I DON'T RECALL THIS BEING IN THE JOB DESCRIPTION What are we as chairs being asked to do which we did not anticipate: publicity agents; public relations; level of fund raising activity; Coping with departmental program reviews. What incentives do we get for being Chair? NATIONAL FACILITIES; TELESCOPE ACCESS Status & perceptions PHYSICS VS ASTRONOMY For separate departments What is the nature of your interaction For combined departments How do the astronomers fit in the combined department? How are resources, particularly new faculty positions allocated? THE NEXT MEETING?