Letter to the Editor: Don't Cut the Physics Department

My name is Amy Skjordal, and I am a senior Math and Physics Teaching major at the University of Northern Iowa.  Although the Physics Teaching B.A. is not under consideration to be cut, the Physics B.S. is.  I believe this is a mistake that will impact the very future of UNI and the state of Iowa.  I believe that sometimes personal experience speaks louder than numbers and since the B.S. program actually has considerably more students than the B.A. it is obvious that numbers were not the only consideration when making program cut decisions.

My personal experience with the Physics department has been an experience I do not believe I could get anywhere else.  Throughout my almost fours years here at UNI I have been given the tools to teach Physics in an inquiry-based hands-on style that makes Physics real and meaningful to students.  I have been given a place at UNI where my passion for teaching math and physics can be developed and I feel confident that UNI is currently producing the teachers we need to radically change the education system as it is today - with the proposed changes however I am afraid this will not be possible.  

As a woman in Physics I find myself in the minority but I have never felt that I am of less importance to my Physics professors than my male peers.  From my first year at UNI I have felt welcomed, challenged, and encouraged by each professor in the Physics department.  They have pushed my limits of understanding in an effort to help me become the best Physics teacher I can be.

Isn't that what Iowa wants? Great, not just good, Physics teachers? The Physics department at UNI is helping produce great Physics teachers through the passionate professors in the department.  I have always been encouraged to ask questions and learn through my mistakes.  There has never been a moment in my almost four years at UNI that a Physics professor has been too busy to take time for me.  The professors here believe in our potential even when we may not see it within ourselves. I have never seen people as dedicated to their students as the professors in the Physics department.

I know a positive personal experience is not enough to keep a department, so here are some facts taken in whole or in part from https://sites.google.com/site/uniphysicsfacts/home:

1) The proposed cuts to eliminate all Physics B.S. degrees would decimate the department, eliminating the degrees of 80% of all physics majors and making it impossible to keep sufficient course enrollment for the department to continue any meaningful physics education program. Furthermore, the Physics department actually brings in money to the university, making its elimination a complete waste of taxpayer and tuition dollars. Given the relatively high percentage of UNI graduates who remain in-state, it is clear that the UNI Physics program is key to educating the scientists and science teachers who will help lead Iowa to future economic and technological prosperity.

2) Cutting a program based off an arbitrary number of graduates per year simply does not make sense.  According to the Physics Department 94% of ALL Physics departments in the United States graduate fewer than 10 students per year on average.  The University of Northern Iowa Physics department graduates an average of 5-10 students per year.  Requiring Physics to compete with the number of graduates of much larger programs does not make sense. When looking at the national average we are right where we should be.  This number alone should not be a reason to consider cutting the Physics programs.