UCCS CHEM 481/581,
BIOL 481/581, General Biochemistry I
Course Syllabus,
Fall 2008
Course:
Instructor:
Required:
Course description:
This course is designed to present details of biochemical processes
normally presented in the first semester of a two semester biochemistry
course. This includes Water, amino
acids, proteins, protein purification & characterization, enzymes,
catalytic mechanisms, enzyme regulation, and membranes and lipids.
Prerequisites: BIOL
302, CHEM 332.
Attendance: Attendance
is not required, but students who come to class generally do better. There may be material covered in class not in
the text. Students are responsible for
obtaining any missed materials and announced class changes. Students who miss an exam without PRIOR notification to the instructor
may be given a grade of zero. No
makeup quizzes are given but
your lowest score is automatically dropped. If you have proof that you are called to
active duty, have a University excused absence, a doctor’s note saying you
cannot attend class, or are hospitalized, you will be given a grade on the
missed quiz equivalent to the average of your other three quizzes. Most students find it helpful to briefly
review the chapter before it is covered in class, and then reread the chapter
and work problems and questions after lecture.
Final Exam: The final exam will be given on Monday, December
15th, from 10:50am-1:20pm. DO
NOT plan to be gone this day. No makeup exams
(early OR late) will be given to anyone unless they meet one of the criteria
described above in the Attendance section.
Regrading of Exams: A request to regrade an exam must be made in writing on a
separate sheet of paper, stapled to the exam (do NOT write on the exam itself)
and turned in to me within 48 hours of when they are returned in class. In your
request, you must explicitly outline why your answer is correct, NOT why you
think the answer given is incorrect. If a formal request is made, the entire
exam may be regraded. If partial credit has been given to a problem, it is
unlikely to be negotiable. After 48 hours have passed, the grade will not be
changed.
Final Class Grade: Under no circumstances other than a
calculation error on my part will a final grade be changed.
Miscellaneous
Information: Students are responsible for making
arrangements to drop classes, turn in student disability verification letters,
and other administrative requirements. Check the course schedule and catalog
for important dates. For the fall 2007
semester, the last day to drop this class will be NOVEMBER 2nd. I will
not sign drop slips after this date.
Students are expected to do their own work. The UCCS academic honor code will be
enforced, http://web.uccs.edu/studentconduct/academicprinciples.html.
This course syllabus and schedule are tentative and subject to change by the
instructor. The schedule is quite
aggressive, and we may not be able to cover all the material listed. If we fall behind on the material, the exams
and quizzes will be held on the same days shown on the schedule, but will cover
only the material we have done in class. You must use your UCCS email address
for all university business. I WILL NOT
REPLY TO ANY NON-UCCS EMAIL ADDRESS. When
writing e-mail, please identify your first and last name and the course
name. It would be helpful to include
something like “CHEM 481 HW question” in the subject line. Emails with unusual subject lines or
unidentifiable addresses will not be read.
Class Etiquette: PLEASE TURN CELL PHONES
AND PAGERS TO VIBRATE DURING CLASS.
Please avoid talking, reading newspapers, etc. during class, as it
distracts others. In case of cancellation or late start
classes due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances, coursework will be
continued in the next regular class period.
Grading for those registered for 481:
Lecture:
will count for 100% of your final grade and includes the following:
|
3 lecture
exams @ 100 pts. |
300 pts. |
|
3 lecture
quizzes @ 35 pts. |
105 pts. |
|
1 final exam
@ 100 pts |
100 pts. |
|
Total |
505 pts. |
Exams:
Three lecture exams and a final will cover material presented in class,
text reading, homework, and quizzes. No makeup exams are given unless you have proof that you are
called to active duty, have a University excused absence, a doctor’s note
saying you cannot attend class, or are hospitalized. In the case of short answer problems, all
work must be shown to receive credit. If
the correct answer is achieved fortuitously, partial credit may or may not be
given, depending on how the problem was approached.
Quizzes: Four short quizzes will be given
periodically throughout the semester during class. There will be NO makeup quizzes, either before or after the scheduled time. Under
special circumstances (see Attendance section) you will receive a score
equivalent to the average of your other 3 quiz scores. Only the 3 highest quiz scores will be
counted. This allows you to miss one
quiz due to illness, emergencies, etc. without being penalized.
Homework: No
homework assignments will be given for grades.
There will be suggested problems from the textbook that you should work
on in preparation for the exam, but none of these will be required or graded
problems.
Grade
scale: The semester grade will be based on the
following percentages, your percentages will be rounded to a tenth of a percent:
A = 100.0 to 91.0%
A- = 90.9% to 89.0%
B+ = 88.9% to 87.0%
B = 86.9% to 81.0%
B- = 80.9% to 79.0%
C+ = 78.9% to 77.0%
C = 76.9% to 69.0%
D = 68.9% to 59.0%
F < 59.0%
Grading for those registered for 581:
Lecture:
will count for 100% of your final grade and the point breakdown is shown
in the table below. The grading scale
will be the same as for those registered for 481. The main difference is that those taking this
as a graduate course will choose one of the topics from the textbook (from
chapters that we are scheduled to cover) and present a 25-30 minute lecture on
them. You can cover either the material
in the textbook, or choose to discuss recent literature (no older than 2000)
relevant to the topic. This presentation
will cover a topic of your choice. The
date you give your presentation will vary depending on the topic chosen and how
it fits into the schedule. You must see
me during the first week of the semester to discuss this in more detail. Topics must be finalized by the end of the
second week of the semester. The presentation will be graded on 5 main areas,
15 points each: Introduction, Scientific Merit, Slide Readability, Layout &
Delivery, and Graphics. If the presentation is shorter than 18 minutes or
longer than 37 minutes, 5 points will be deducted from the overall score. If it
is shorter than 13 minutes or longer than 44 minutes, 15 points will be
deducted from the overall score. The 25-30 minutes does NOT include the
question and answer session at the end of your presentation. You will be given
a grading rubric during the first week of class to guide you.
|
3 lecture
exams @ 100 pts. |
300 pts. |
|
3 lecture
quizzes @ 35 pts. |
105 pts. |
|
1 25-30
minute presentation |
75 pts. |
|
1 final exam
@ 100 pts |
100 pts. |
|
Total |
580 pts. |
Notes: Class notes will be online, http://www.uccs.edu/~sbraunsa/Images/481Notes/notes.html. You will need to use the password “481-summer06”
to open & print the documents. You
are encouraged to print these off and bring them to class to record notes &
additional comments.
WebCT: You will need a WebCT account to check your
grades in the course. The website is located
at http://webct.uccs.edu/webct/public/home.pl. The default password is Mmm####N, where Mmm
is the first three letters of your birth month, #### is the last four digits of
your Student ID number (NOT social security number) and N is the first letter
of your last name. This is case
sensitive and the first and last letters of the password should be capitalized.
If there is a mistake on WebCT, I must be notified within one week of
the grade being posted, or the grade will not be changed.
Student Disability Services: If you have a disability for which you are requesting an accommodation,
you are encouraged to contact the Disability Services Office within the first
week of classes. The Disability Services
Office is located in Main Hall # 105. (Phone # is 262-3354.)
Student Counseling Services: If you have a problem that you are not comfortable dealing with alone,
please contact the University Counseling and Testing Center, 324 Main Hall,
(719) 262-3265 for assistance.
Their counseling service is free for
students.