FACULTY MEETING MINUTES, OCTOBER 10, 2002

Attendees: B. Adams, C. Barfield, D. Boucias, E. Buss, J. Capinera, J. Cuda, T. Fasulo, J. Foltz, P. Lawrence, N. Leppla, O. Liburd, J. Maruniak, H. McAuslane, S. Webb, S. Yu, and M. Litchfield.

Meeting convened at 10:33.

Dr. Jerome Hogsette has applied for promotion and his credentials were briefly discussed. Faculty were asked to please hand in their ballots to Myrna and if they did not receive a ballot to see Myrna.

Capinera passed out two items: "UF/IFAS Actions By Pay Plan Due to Budget Reductions" and a "Summary of graduate and undergraduate degree awards for the past eight years". UF is down 325 positions in the last two years. We have the same workload with fewer employees. IFAS has lost 135 faculty positions in the last two years.

The number of departmental undergraduate degrees is 20+ per year over the last five years. In addition, the department has from 10-12 Masters degrees and approximately 10 Doctoral degrees awarded each year. So the enrollment for the department is healthy. Credit hour production has increased, nearly tripling, which is good for the department's stature, stability, and security. It has grown from 4% to 7% of the total IFAS teaching. The department is above average for Ph.D.'s but less than average for undergraduates. DPM degree graduates will not be added into departmental degree tallies, but student credit hour production is included.

Capinera announced that Vassie had surgery and will probably be out for six months. Ute is planning to retire in about two months. We are going to go ahead and recruit someone to fill in for Vassie and they will be cross-trained to take over Ute's position when she retires. We will be looking for someone who will, hopefully, grow into Sharon's position someday. The workload is still the same and Sharon and Ute are trying to do both their job and Vassie's at present, so thanks for your patience.

IFAS rolled over some $$ from last year and the department received $25,000. Capinera asked the faculty what they wanted to do with these funds. He thought that rolling it over into an account for equipment might be best. We still have indirect cost dollars and another way to save it is to roll these funds into that account. Maruniak asked if these funds could be used for matching construction cost? Capinera said to make a case for spending these funds and present it to the Departmental Administrative Committee. The committee has been very supportive of requests except for purchase of vehicles. Lawrence asked if it could be used to hire OPS to minimize the extra work in the labs. In this way it would help everyone. The question was asked, "When does it have to be spent?" Capinera stated that it needed to be spent within the next month, so equipment-type purchases were best. Liburd asked if vehicle purchases were out of the question. Capinera responded that any equipment items were possible so far as he was concerned, but that the Administrative Committee historically avoided matching requests for vehicle purchases due to the high cost. He also stated that he presents to the committee the history of recent matching funds allocations so the committee members will know who has received what over the past years. It seems reasonable that individuals who have not received regular allocations of matching funds should receive special consideration for larger purchases. Faculty wanted to know who was on the committee. Presently it is Adams, Buss, Crow, Choate, and Webb.

Another issue was brought up that is related to the funds that were given the department. The Florida Reach-In expenditure has been fairly modest except for the humidity controllers. Humidifiers burn up and the company that made them to our specifications charges a high amount to replace them. We would need approximately $5,000 to purchase 12 humidifiers for the chambers, and we are making this purchase about every 18 months. After discussion it was concluded that in most cases humidity control is not needed, and that we can reduce the number of operating humidity controllers to half.

Capinera introduced the question of whether or not to invest in a security system for the reading room. Books and journals are constantly left out and some disappear from the room. We could invest in a couple of security camera systems for $1100.00. It was asked who would monitor the system and it was mentioned that this would probably be delegated to Nick. Maruniak stated that donors get upset about missing items that they have donated. Perhaps it would be less painful if we did invest in a security system. Capinera stated that he did not know how well it would work but it may deter some from taking items out of the room. Discussion followed, with Buss asking about bar coding the items so they could not be removed from the room. Capinera said that the library-type bar coding system only worked if there was someone there to provide oversight. We will move ahead with purchase of a monitoring system if it seems feasible and affordable.

Capinera brought up the planned UF 150-year celebration. Each department has been asked for documentation on the most important accomplishment made in research. He asked that the faculty think about it and if they have any thoughts or come up with some documentation to write it up. Discussion followed with faculty suggesting several areas such as IPM, Biocontrol, and the development of Sentricon (which will probably be claimed by Ft. Lauderdale). Boucias mentioned that insect communication might be an area that could be presented which has been widely published. Capinera said that it should be research accomplishments not publications. Adams stated that there was a lot of pioneer work in Nematology in Florida. Capinera suggested that he check with the older faculty members to see if there was some documentation in this respect and see if he could come up with something.

The trends in UF Endowment funds for 10-year trend was passed out. The information at the top of the page shows the receipt to UF in aggregate and grant accounts. The bottom section reflects true endowments, and shows the stock market's downward trend in the last two years. The foundation says it has decreased by 6%/yr. However, the value of the endowments (principal) has been reduced by 20%, and the payout (interest) has been reduced from 5% to 4.5%. This will reduce our ability to support students on endowment funds.

Margaret Gahan, who with her husband Jim have endowed a fund for graduate students, has recently signaled that she would give $1 million from her estate to fund an Endowed Professorship. She is still living at home with the assistance of a nurse. Jim Gahan was a graduate from the University of Maryland so they have split their support between the University of Maryland and the UF.

Capinera announced that Grover Smart has prostate cancer; he doesn't know exactly how serious it is at the moment or what treatment he will be having. Heather McAuslane represented the graduate committee in his absence.

Heather introduced the problem with incoming students not taking the biology GRE before they are admitted. According to a letter that Dr. Smart sends out, the student is supposed to take the biology GRE exam before they are admitted, or they can take it during the first or second semester they are here. These exams cost the student $130. There is a website that is supplied to the student so that they can look up the information.

Students continue to delay taking the exam until they are ready to graduate. The Graduate Committee proposed that if the student enters the department and has not taken the biology GRE, he/she must present evidence of having registered for the exam, or register for a course in biology the next semester and also take the exam. This led to a protracted discussion on whether the students should be required to take the biology GRE before they are admitted, and the purpose of the exam. Discussion followed on the merits of a screening exam for new students to gauge their knowledge and to determine what courses they needed to take. Should they be required to take a diagnostic exam? Should the competency exam that was used be overhauled and used again to determine the extent of the students education. The discussion seemed to reflect a belief that the biology exam should be used as a screening test to detect the strengths and weaknesses of the student, and to determine what courses they should take (to be determined by the student's committee). Faculty were asked to ponder this, and it would be discussed again at the next faculty meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 11:45.