Minutes of the Faculty Meeting -- February 21, 2002

Present were: Drs. Capinera (JLC), Adams, Barfield, Boucias, Buss, Butler, Cuda, Dickson, Foltz, Frank, D. Hall, Hoy, Koehler, Leppla, Liburd, Maruniak, McAuslane, McSorley, Oi, Smart, Stimac, Walker, Webb, Yu, Cindy Tucker and P. Howell.

The meeting was called to order at 1:05 PM.

Dr. Capinera brought up two subjects that Dr. Cuda had raised via email. The first subject was the greenhouse well water problem. JLC stated that the well pump has problems and IFAS doesn't want to pay to replace the pump because it is used for irrigation. He suggested that the size of the pump could be decreased if the well was used only for the greenhouses. If that is the case, he would approach IFAS to see if they will help pay for repair or replacement of the pump, but that it might become a faculty responsibility. Dr. Cuda suggested that it may be possible to use dechlorinators if the water is being used only for limited, aquatic purposes. JLC said that it would also be possible to let the water stand for a day or two before using if someone needs well water. He also stated that we may have to extend the city water lines. Dr. Cuda asked if anyone present at the meeting needed dechlorinated water. There was no response.

The second subject was whether or not we wanted to acquire a site license for Annual Review of Entomology. Dr. Webb said that it is available at the library JLC said that the department does not routinely subscribe to journals, etc., but faculty subscribe and then place the journals in the library.

JLC next distributed to all in attendance a list of the departmental core course requirements for graduate students. He stated that the origin of the requirements most likely predates many of the faculty here now. Dr. Walker stated that in the past there had been some waffling about the requirements and that our core isn't like some other departments or at least is not always enforced. Dr. Smart said the requirements were put in place because some faculty were letting their students get by with doing almost no concrete coursework and graduating without a good entomological foundation. He said we need to be sure that we are getting the core information into the graduates and that they are broadly trained. Dr. Boucias stated that some graduates come with statistics and biochemistry courses already under their belts. Dr. Stimac recalls major discussions in the past regarding competency exams for MS students coming from other schools. Dr. Smart mentioned a biology competency exam. JLC stated that the committee has the discretion of guiding the student, but they do not have the discretion of waiving the core requirements. The purpose of the core requirement is to give additional background in entomology/nematology and to give a fundamental background in the sciences. There was a question if the faculty wanted to entertain variations. Dr. Boucias mentioned that he feels the core courses don't really do anything, especially for the students in his area. He stated that it has not been his experience that the requirements have changed the performance of students.

Dr. Boucias also mentioned that he felt that the qualifying exams should be open to faculty and anyone else who wanted to attend. JLC said that is the case. Dr. Smart mentioned that the exit seminar is also open to everyone, but in both cases usually the only ones who attend are the committee members. Dr. Boucias said one way of checking how are students are doing is by going to the qualifying exams.

Dr. Stimac questioned if the committees are really doing the job. He said that if the committee is working like it should, the requirements wouldn't be needed, but there are very few faculty members who will vote to fail a student.

Dr. Maruniak asked what are the quality issues. If the requirements are not in place, then other criteria will be needed. He said that if we do away with the requirements, what criteria do we use? Dr. Cuda then asked if there couldn't be some sort of "separator" for the MS students in the same vein as the qualifying exam, which is a "separator" for the PhD students. Could we come up with some sort of exam to assess the MS student's knowledge before the end of their 2 years? JLC said that the entire 2 years of coursework is necessary to bring the MS student up to the appropriate level of knowledge of entomology/nematology. Dr. Smart mentioned that in some departments, the written part of the qualifying exam is departmental, so it can be used to force students to study. Dr. Maruniak stated that the coursework should be tailored to the individual student.

Dr. Dickson said he doesn't understand what all the discussion is about because the way things are now is a good program. He said the students need the structure of the requirements and that he doesn't think anything needs to be changed.

Dr. Hoy mentioned that she is concerned that we need core courses to produce a trained entomologist or nematologist. If you don't have the broad base, you have a person whose knowledge is too narrow to compete in the job market. She asked which components do we want the students to learn. She said the committees are not willing to administer tests to assure students learn an area, so the requirements are necessary.

Dr. Maruniak stated that he always looks at the transcripts when candidates are being considered for new faculty positions, so seeing what courses the person has taken and the grade/score they received is very important to him. Dr. Koehler asked if a student can take a certain number of hours in entomology and not know entomology. Dr. McSorley suggested that there be a list of courses that are required and let the committee/student choose from that list. The list should not contain any special topics courses.

Dr. Hoy said she would be very hesitant to call someone an entomologist if they had not had several courses in entomology. Dr. Koehler stated that he thinks there should be required courses in the undergraduate program as well. Dr. Stimac asked if it is indeed possible to get a PhD degree in entomology without actually taking any entomology courses. Dr. Smart said that it is theoretically possible by taking all special topics courses.

Dr. Koehler stated that the Statistics Department will not be holding some classes because of layoffs. They will wait until faculty positions are filled to hold those classes.

Dr. Buss stated that she thought we should have 3 general specializations with options in each specialization. Dr. Maruniak said he gets the idea that what's being proposed is "what's the least number of units required to be called an entomologist?". JLC said we need to have a minimal amount which is also flexible.

Dr. Cuda said that the PhD program has checks and balances but the MS doesn't have such checks until the final exam. He feels that students need to have their progress assessed before the final exam. Dr. Webb asked if it isn't possible to determine a student's progress through daily interactions. Dr. Cuda said it is possible to some degree but not always.

Dr. Liburd said that in 3 different schools with which he has experience, the entomological requirements are about the same as here, so why change. JLC said that he is comfortable with the program as it is but we need discussion.

Dr. Smart said that students should come into the program with biochemistry and take physiology after they begin their program here. It doesn't always happen that way, but that's the ideal way.

Dr. Koehler said students should take 12 ENY credits with no 6905, etc.

Dr. Boucias asked if insect ID is important, when will we get a teacher? JLC said Skip is teaching ID.

Dr. Koehler stated that the Zoology ecology course is good.

Dr. Boucias said that he is concerned about changing instructors because when you change an instructor, you change the input. If a course is a core requirement, shouldn't the same instructor always be responsible for that requirement?

Dr. Barfield stated that he felt there should be some place on the form where you can provide a rationale for coursework. JLC said he feels the faculty is committed to the students and do a good job but that structure is needed. Dr. Barfield said we should have 5-6 courses and require 3 of them.

Dr. Butler said that we should require prerequisites so that instructors could teach the graduate courses at the proper level. Dr. Hall stated that the deans have asked not to have prereqs listed because the computers will kick out any students who've not had the prereqs, even if they have the instructor's permission to take the course.

Dr. Koehler said we need structure and flexibility because of students at the Centers. Dr. Maruniak said that Dr. Nation has put his course on tape. JLC said that the Centers qualify as campus.

Dr. McAuslane said that she feels classification is necessary. Dr. Maruniak said he feels med vet entomology should be a requirement. Dr. Hoy said biocontrol could be added in. Dr. Hoy also said that ecology should be included in all the other courses. Dr. Adams said ecology and the other courses should be higher level courses. JLC said students need reinforcement from their previous courses, so some repetition will always be necessary.

Beneficial courses are physiology and classification. The student should take ecology if he/she doesn't have 4 credits of other ecology.

Dr. Smart said there are no official PhD requirements, but rather "if you graduate from this department" requirements. Dr. Leppla said he thinks pest management should be a requirement.

JLC said we are edging toward ecology/pest management, with 3 undergraduate credits of ecology or other ecology based courses. Dr. Hoy said even if the student has a general ecology background, they still need exposure to insect ecology Dr. Koehler said to separate ecology and pest management.

Dr. Stimac said if there is a broader range of requirements, will that cause there to be a spread of available students in each class? Instead of 15 students, 5 in 3 classes, would there instead be 3 in 5 classes?

Dr. Koehler said students should be able to demonstrate their ability in 4 areas before graduation. The graduate committee should decide which courses in which areas.

Dr. McSorley suggested molecular biology. Dr. Hoy said other departments around the country require insect molecular biology.

Dr. Stimac said that the way statistics is structured now is not good because students can't apply it to entomology. Dr. Hoy said that it has been her experience that students will avoid statistics if it's not required. Dr. Maruniak suggested bioinformatics. JLC said that flexibility in meeting the statistics requirement has always been the case.

Dr. Koehler suggested that med vet could go in ecology or pest management.

Dr. Hoy said that the general entomology requirement could be taken by a graduate as the Graduate Survey of Entomology course.

Dr. Adams said it was his experience that if a student has not taken a course, then do it as a TA for that course. That forces the student to learn the material exceptionally well. Dr. Smart said the deans want graduates to TA at least one lab. Dr. Hoy said this is much better done at the PhD level.

The general consensus regarding the course requirements was as follows: Physiology, classification, general ecology, pest management = required; statistics and biochemistry = optional with committee decision.

There should be an open meeting of the graduate committee to review for a list of ecology and pest management requirements. If a student has a general ecology course as an undergraduate, they have the option to take insect ecology. If they have not had an undergraduate ecology course, they must take the insect ecology course.

We will re-visit this topic at the next faculty meeting and discuss the graduate committee's recommendations.

JLC asked about the nematologists and their requirements. Dr. Dickson said there is nothing on the list of requirements about plant parasitic nematodes. This is a very important area. He said he has struggled several times for hours and hours to help students learn plant parasitic nematology because their advisor told them that his course wasn't required and then the student found out he/she needed the course. He said he doesn't intend to tutor students anymore but force them to take the course.

JLC said the Graduate Committee will draft requirements and there will be a vote in the future. Dr. Maruniak asked if there will be a chance for amendments and options.

Dr. Hall mentioned about the University Undergraduate Scholars Program. He will distribute information into the faculty mailboxes, and encourages faculty to nominate deserving undergrads.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:45 PM.