Preliminary Case Statement

CASE STATEMENT - Science Facilities
Point Loma Nazarene University

Introduction

The need for new and expanded science/math facilities is expressed by three themes; Service to Students, Service to Society and Service to Science. Each theme is an expression of the synergy that has given rise to an excellent science/math program that has outgrown the “Sputnik” era science facilities currently in use. Failure to build the new facilities will hinder the long-term growth and effectiveness of the existing programs.

Service to Students

The need for new science facilities at Point Loma Nazarene University is rooted in the traditions of small liberal arts teaching universities where students are the primary reason for existence of the university. The traditions of such institutions include, low faculty to student ratios, small class sizes, commitments of faculty to interact with students outside of the classroom, primary focus of the institutional mission on undergraduate students and opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in research that leads to publication in professional journals and presentations at professional academic conferences. The nature of faculty-student relationships at Point Loma reflects the liberal arts commitment to the whole student, not just their intellectual development.

At Point Loma Nazarene University the traditions of the liberal arts teaching university are expressed in the need for new science facilities.

Point Loma’s faculty to student ratio 1:15 makes it possible for science and math professors to provide an open door policy for students.
Math professors cultivate a climate where students are welcome to stop by faculty offices anytime the doors are open to ask questions. The math faculty keeps regular office hours to facilitate the faculty student culture of interaction.
The science faculty has created a leading science program by focusing on students. Dr. Vic Heasley, science faculty member for 38 years says it this way, “The role of faculty is to jump start people. To help them believe that they can do things they don’t believe they can do. A good faculty member does more than teach.”
Point Loma’s summer undergraduate research program makes it possible for students to interact with faculty in ways that stimulate students to pursue graduate and advanced degrees. From 1991-1995 Point Loma Nazarene University ranks 6th among private universities and colleges in California in number of undergraduate science and math students that complete Ph.D. programs.
Point Loma’s emphasis on faculty-student interaction in the class room, lab and summer research programs makes it possible for undergraduates to publish in professional journals and present at professional academic conferences. One example is Aaron Patrick who has published one paper and is co-author of three more scientific research papers. As an undergraduate student, Aaron will have published more articles as an undergraduate student than many post-doctoral science students.
Wesleyan theology that forms the theological identity of Point Loma Nazarene University provides room for discussion of ambiguity and paradox that often exists in the Bible. Point Loma’s theological tradition influences the way science is taught because our faculty has room to explore issues like creation head on without avoiding some of the difficult questions that similar institutions from other theological traditions may seek to avoid. The result is better teaching for students.
Point Loma’s faith tradition fulfills the liberal arts emphasis on developing the whole student when faculty model the integrity and ethics required to produce honest and credible research.
Finally, students are well served because the faculty-student research environment prepares students for the real world work environment. Point Loma’s science students have experienced lab settings that students from most other college science programs do not have until they reach graduate school. The result is that our undergraduate students are prepared to enter the workforce earlier than most other science students.

Point Loma Nazarene University’s service to students faces a crisis

The dynamic undergraduate science program presented above is facing a crisis due to the existing “Sputnik” era facilities that currently house the science and math programs.

Valuable faculty resources of time and creativity are spent overcoming cramped lab spaces. Research experiments have to be set up and taken down so other classes can use the same space. Faculty spends valuable time moving lab equipment from one lab to the next because lab sections have to be scheduled in different rooms. The result is that time that could be spent interacting with students is lost to overcoming the limitations of an out of date science structure.
Student expectations for science education have increased because many high schools now have better science facilities than Point Loma. One result is that many people cannot see past the aging facility to discover the top science and math programs that exist within the facility. These students then do not have the opportunity to be engaged in one of the top undergraduate research science programs in the country. Because student recruitment is hindered by the aging facility, so then our service to society and our service to science is diminished.

Service to Society

In small liberal arts institutions when students are served well society is served well. A liberal arts education provides the educational experience that allows a student to think critically across several academic disciplines and are the best prepared to exercise responsible citizenship and to live lives of quality through understanding, intellectual leadership, caring and service. In the Math Department and the Science Department at Point Loma Nazarene University a liberal arts education means that we provide more than vocational training. We seek more than just good scientists and doctors, we seek to produce individuals who are competent to lead quality lives that have knowledge foundations in several academic disciplines that make it possible for them to think analytically and critically in multiple dimensions.

Math and Computer Science faculty pursue a philosophy of teaching more than just mathematical skill, they seek to teach students how to be problem solvers. The problem solving skills developed in this department has broad application to all areas of life in society as students learn to think through issues and problems.
The lack of adequately sized and equipped labs means that Point Loma cannot serve enough students in both the Math/Computer Science department and the Science departments. Currently the existing lab space restricts the number of lab sections that can be offered thereby hindering our service to an ever technological and science dependent global society.
Society is best served when students, both majors and non-majors have a greater opportunity “to do” science. The lack of lab space and rooms large enough to provide collaborative learning experiences limit the opportunities “to do” science. The experience of doing science provides society with students who will be prepared to make informed choices about many of the issues that will be facing the generations to come as stem cell research, bio technology and other science issues mature in the public arena of debate.
Point Loma Nazarene University is privileged to have provided the undergraduate research experience that has been foundational in the preparation of so many person who now fill teaching positions at medical schools, research universities, bio-tech firms, pharmaceutical firms and other positions of influence and responsibility in the sciences around the world. The high percentage of our science students who complete their M.D. and Ph.D. degrees is directly related to the experience received in the undergraduate research programs. The high numbers of our students that complete doctoral programs suggests that math and science students from Point Loma are better prepared than most undergraduate students because our students know their way around a lab and the sophisticated instrumentation required for research.

Point Loma’s service to society faces a crisis

The existing limitations of the current Sputnik era facility means that Point Loma is not serving society as effectively and efficiently as we can due to the lack of lab space to schedule enough sections of lab experiences for students. The additional proposed facilities will make it possible for Point Loma to extend our service to society by increasing the numbers of students that can have the opportunity to do science in meaningful ways.

Service to Science

Educating students to serve the exploding needs of a technologically advance society is admirable. However, Point Loma’s faculty and students also provide service to science.
Within the culture of the Math/Computer Science department and the various Science departments is an underlying assumption that undergraduate students can make scholarly and academic contributions to the fields the students are preparing for. This basic assumption charts the course for pedagogy, undergraduate research and curriculum development within all of the science related departments. Point Loma Nazarene University provides a context for students in which service to science is valued early in their undergraduate educational experience allowing our students the opportunity to be better prepared for graduate and advanced work in the disciplines of their choice.

Science is served not just in the development of doctors, teachers and researchers but also through the general education science courses required of all students at Point Loma. The liberal arts tradition seeks to develop the whole person intellectually. Therefore, Point Loma’s general education science requirements make it possible for all students to obtain an understanding of the science necessary to be conversant about many of the issues that are of contemporary concern.
Point Loma’s undergraduate research program avoids “recipe” science where students seek to replicate laboratory experiments that have been replicated hundreds of times before. Dr. Michael McConnell, biology professor observes, “I think all of us buy into the idea that we should let students get a taste of non-recipe laboratory experiences where they go in and it’s their job to figure something out and it’s not just a matter of simply repeating something that’s been done in dozens of labs hundreds of times before by following a recipe. That’s not a bad experience – I don’t mean to belittle it too much since being able to follow a recipe is a valuable trait too, but being able to create your own recipe takes you quite a ways further. Or being able to modify an existing recipe so that the outcome is more to your satisfaction is taking it further.”
Science as a discipline is served because the research conducted in the undergraduate research program adds to the body of knowledge in significant areas. Our research program must provide value to science for it to be helpful to students. For example:

Chemistry students researching with Dr. Dale Shellhammer explore molecules with fluorine atoms and how they are created. The undergraduate research in this area has added to the understanding of how fluorine acts in the creation of many medical and pharmaceutical compounds.
The students of Dr. Vic Heasley research the problems created by the chlorination of public water supplies. While chlorination solves significant problems in the public water supply, it also creates downside with formation of contaminants in public drinking water. This research benefits society and science by increasing our understanding of the unexpected consequences of chlorination. Science is further served by the development of significant numbers of M.D.’s and Ph.D’s that become influential in the development of scientific research and the training of other science students.

The restrictions of the current facility also make it nearly impossible to increase the number of faculty. There simply is no more space for faculty offices or the lab space additional faculty would require.

Point Loma’s service to science faces a crisis

The crisis of Point Loma Nazarene University’s service to science is evidenced in three ways. First, the lack of contemporary facilities is having an impact on our ability to recruit students to be trained for the service of science by our undergraduate research programs. A second impact is in the area of recruitment of younger science faculty as we anticipate a generational transfer between soon to retire faculty and the faculty to follow. To maintain the current level of excellence we must be able to attract very bright and energetic faculty. The current facilities make recruiting the best available young faculty talent problematic because most young faculty cannot see how they can pursue their research interests in the current lab and teaching facilities. Third, the level of production of research that directly benefits science is constricted by the current facilities. The hours spent by faculty manipulating cramped lab space could be better used for the service of science with the construction of a new facility that would not require faculty human capital resources to overcome building limitations.

The Vision of Point Loma Nazarene University for a Science/Math Complex

Clearly Point Loma’s math and science programs transcend the typical undergraduate liberal arts programs with the focus on faculty/student interactions, creative research opportunities, student publications and presentations, commitment of faculty to the early development of the student’s interest in research and preparation for graduate and advanced education. The exceptionally high percentages of undergraduate students in Science that go onto complete M.D. and Ph.D. degrees are an outcome worthy of acclaim and investment. It is the vision and intention of Point Loma Nazarene University to provide the facilities necessary to both maintain and extend the excellence and scope of the Science and Math programs at the university