About the NCS-AAPT

Mark Your Calendars for the Spring 2025 Meeting  

March 28-29, 2025, at Elon University [click for details]

The North Carolina Section-American Association of Physics Teachers is aware of the program cuts that have been proposed at UNC-Greensboro. We solidly support the Physics faculty at UNCG in their service to students and the public.  Here are our concerns for reducing the Physics and Astronomy program: 

-Physics programs of study contribute much more than just the number of majors. It exposes more people to the science discipline, especially underrepresented and underserved groups.  Elimination of offerings will limit students’ access to hands-on research opportunities as well as harm the recruitment of future science educators.

- Physics degree programs like the one at UNC-Greensboro are vital to the surrounding community. Not only is the UNC-Greensboro physics department contributing to building an educated workforce for the area for the numerous STEM jobs growing in the Triad region, but the department is heavily involved in community outreach. The UNC-Greensboro Department of Physics and Astronomy contributes to the community through public outreach such as public nights at Three College Observatory and the Petty Planetarium.  The observatory is part of the collaboration of three colleges: NC A&T, UNC Greensboro, and Guilford College. UNCG physics department members are pivotal and imperative in running the TCO telescope, spectrograph and the data analysis and reduction system. UNC Greensboro is a vital component in keeping this observatory active. Losing the faculty to continue this partnership would be a great community resource loss.

-The UNC-Greensboro Department of Physics and Astronomy contributes to the education of the general public through guest speaking engagements around the Triad.  This in turn supports funding.

- Physics is the science that serves as a foundation for all STEM fields.  Such a loss will negatively impact interdisciplinary activities that advances in technology thrive on.

The North Carolina Section-American Association of Physics Teachers strongly supports the work of Physics Education research in providing tools that allow us to better understand how we learn and for people to pursue their curiosity well after a class.  We are not satisfied with only a select few knowing and understanding science.  Limiting offerings in any physics program will hinder students’ ability to gain skills and experience that helps them adapt to any applications.

The North Carolina Section-American Association of Physics Teachers calls upon the Board of Trustees of UNC-Greensboro to strongly reconsider the decision to cut the physics program before serious permanent damage is done to physics and astronomy education in the central North Carolina region.