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A

A-21, OMB Circular
OMB Circular A-21 are the governing principles for determining costs applicable to grants, contracts, and other agreements with educational institutions. See Andrea Shaevitz (210-B Van Allen Hall) for clarification of guidelines and interpretation.

ACE (formerly SPOT forms)
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) requires faculty and teaching assistants (TAs) to be evaluated by students. Faculty are strongly encouraged to use the standard ACE form but may choose to create a separate form using specific evaluation questions. According to the CLAS DEO Manual, "student evaluation of teaching must include a question on oral communication competence." [Faculty members who wish to have their ratings published by the student government must use the standard ACE forms.] Faculty should not review the evaluations until the grades are posted.

Absences
Faculty and TAs should notify Aaron Votroubek (211 Van Allen Hall, 5-0134) in advance (in person or via email) when they will be off-campus during the semester (excluding holidays and breaks). Professional and scientific (P&S) and merit staff should notify their supervisor by submitting an absence report form (http://www.uiowa.edu/~eforms/hr/absncrpt.pdf).

ADA
The Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against a qualified individual with a disability in all aspects of employment. Disabled students must register with Student Disability Services in Burge Hall. The University is required to make certain accommodations for students and employees with disabilities. For more information, go to the University's ADA site.

Adjunct Faculty
An individual who provides instruction in any degree program, with or without compensation, should hold an adjunct appointment. Adjunct faculty are generally P&S staff members and hold a terminal degree in Physics and Astronomy or related field. They may provide instruction in courses for academic credit, supervise student research, or support teaching of others. Adjunct faculty appointments carry faculty rank; the teaching expectations of each rank should be similar to those for the same rank on the tenure track. The appointment may be a non-salaried, renewable term appointment of one to three years. For further details, visit the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences web site on adjunct faculty appointments.

Administrative Review
Related to staff conflict management, Administrative Review is an avenue to question those issues not subject to formal grievance procedures. It is also a mechanism for staff to report violations of the ethics and responsibility statement which staff observe. Full details of the Administrative Review are found in the Operations Manual III-28.2.

Advising
Faculty advise both the graduate and undergraduate students. During Academic Year 2004-2005 Professor Reno and Professor Kleiber will serve as undergraduate directors as well as first-year student advisors. Professor Kletzing will also serve as first-year graduate student advisor unless the student is connected with a faculty research group. Faculty should be available to meet with students during the advising period or make arrangements in the event of absence.

Advisory Board
External panel comprised of faculty, alumni, leaders in industry, educators, and students whose function is to advise the department on issues related to teaching, research, and fund raising.

Goal:  To improve the quality of the educational experience and promote partnerships between students and faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and teachers, employers, and alumni. The Board meets once a year.
Purpose: 
  1. To learn how the department can better prepare students for careers in the private sector.
  2. To provide students with marketable skills.
  3. To nurture first-year students by having a better understanding of their abilities and needs.
  4. To market our students to potential employers.
For more information, visit the Advisory Board web site.

Affiliated Centers and Departments
Faculty in the department do collaborative research with faculty in other departments, e.g., the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, the Optical Science and Technology Center, Departments of Radiology, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, and Mathematics.

AFSCME
Members of the merit staff (general service staff) are represented by a collective bargaining agreement. Pertinent information is posted on the AFSCME bulletin board outside room 214 Van Allen Hall. More information is available on the University's Collective Bargaining Information web site.

Alumni Fellows
Distinguished alumni formally recognized by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Nominations are in the fall. Information about the Alumni Fellow program is available on the web.

Alumni Relations
Alumni receive an annual newsletter, are represented on the Advisory Board, and are approached in the annual funding drives. The goal of this initiative is to make alumni active partners in making The University of Iowa and the Department a better institution. The University of Iowa liaison for Alumni Relations is Michael Kingan

Applied Mathematics Program
In this Ph.D. level program students may get an applied math degree with an emphasis in physics. Contact Bill Klink (304 Van Allen Hall, 5-1757) for more information.

Applied Physics Coordinator
Professor Charles Newsom is the Applied Physics Coordinator.

Responsibilities:
Applied Physics Degree
The curriculum is a blend of a traditional bachelor's degree in physics and professional training in a technologically relevant field. The program has a required cooperative education component. Earning the degree would enable the student to find employment after graduation or pursue graduate studies. Check out the Applied Physics web site for a list of program descriptions.

Associate Chair
The DEO appoints the Associate Chair to be in charge of educational issues in the department and to serve as ex-officio member of the Executive Committee and the Educational Operations Committee.

Audits
Internal auditors provide independent appraisal services to the President of the University. The auditors have unrestricted access to University functions, records, properties, and personnel. Contracts and grants are subject to federal audits.

Authorization Forms for Releasing Information
Authorization forms are available in Word file format for releasing academic information to third parties and for letters of recommendation.

Awards & Scholarships
The Department has several awards and scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students. The list of graduate student awards are available at http://www.physics.uiowa.edu/scholarship/scholarships_grad.html, and the undergraduate student awards list is available at http://www.uiowa.edu/financial-aid/scholarships/libarts.html#PHYSICS.
Last updated February 9, 2006.
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