FACULTY MEETING MINUTES -- OCTOBER 7, 2003

ATTENDEES: Drs. Buss, Capinera, Choate, Fasulo, Foltz, Frank, D. Hall, Hoy, Koehler, Leppla, Liburd, McAuslane, Stimac, Webb, and Debbie Hall, R. Martyniak, C. Tucker, and M. Litchfield.

Meeting convened 1:20 PM.

Capinera announced that the department had received final approval to fill the Insect Physiology position. Marjorie Hoy and the search committee will proceed with the process of advertising and interviewing candidates.

Capinera passed out a memo from Dean Luzar showing the Fall 2003 College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Enrollment Data. The department's undergraduate enrollment is down and we need to do some recruiting of undergraduates. There is a new website that encourages undergraduates to enroll in Entomology. The department's graduate program is the largest in IFAS. Capinera thanked the faculty for supporting graduate students and helping to increase the graduate student enrollment.

Phil Koehler presented the results of the Distance Education Committee's work. This committee was formed in the spring of 2003 and worked hard all summer to produce a Distance Education Curriculum. Those on the committee were Phil Koehler (Chair), Rebecca Baldwin, Eileen Buss, John Capinera, Skip Choate, Pete Coon, Debbie Hall, Nick Hostettler, Heather McAuslane, Jane Medley, and Faith Oi. Koehler passed out a copy of the proposed curriculum and method of delivery of the courses and labs. He also passed out a listing of the different certificates to be earned, the courses and number of credits required to obtain these certificates and the semester in which the course would be offered. The implementation of the Distance Education Program will begin in January of 2004. Koehler presented a PowerPoint presentation showing the faculty how the courses may be presented. He demonstrated how to add sound to the presentations and what equipment to use. He suggested using MP3 recorder ($250.00). You can plug the recorder into the computer and download the sound file. These PowerPoint presentations will be on CDs that will be sold to the students for their use in completing the course. There is a need for certain individuals to be able to take these courses and they are distributed from Florida to Taiwan to Alaska. In some cases it is necessary to have lectures presented separate from the labs. A question was raised about the copyright of using photos and films in the PowerPoint presentations. Koehler said that he had checked on this and as long as they were being used for instruction purposes there was not a problem. We could also have "expiring files" that limit the usefulness of the CD to a particular semester, or require that the CDs be returned. A question was raised about whether or not the CDs would work on any computer. The label on the CD should state the type of programs and equipment needed to use the CD. The PowerPoint program allows you to print out your PowerPoint presentations for the students to take notes. There has already been some positive student input on the use of these PowerPoint programs. The question was asked, "How long does it take to process the audio portion?" Koehler said that it takes no longer than the actual time of presenting the lectures and sometimes less. What about the interaction with students? Course management software allows students to ask questions through the use of email. This is similar to the student actually coming to your office to discuss the course. It was suggested that a Chat Room could be set up with a time for the students to chat with the instructor as well as with other students. Rebecca Baldwin has been doing this for the past few semesters for the web based course of Principles of Entomology. With the microscopy equipment that we have now we are able to obtain excellent photos of specimens and download the photos to the PowerPoint presentations. It is a challenge to get students to participate in activities but Rebecca was able to collect specimens from students by giving instructions on how to collect, pin, and ship them. A question was raised as to how to handle the final exam for Master students. The student would have to travel to Gainesville to participate in their final exam. Support for producing these programs for Distance Education would come from staff.

Promotion/Tenure candidates were discussed. Bill Howard from Ft. Lauderdale is eligible to be promoted to Full Professor. Jim Cuda from Gainesville is eligible to be promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure. Dakshina Seal from Homestead is eligible to be promoted to Associate Scientist. Faculty was instructed to turn in their votes to Myrna by Friday, October 10.

Capinera reminded the faculty that Dr. Tim Grout, the last candidate for the faculty position at Lake Alfred, would be giving a seminar on Wednesday, October 8, at 10:30.

Capinera asked if there was any other business that needed to be presented. Maruniak suggested that the faculty should attend the interviews for the new President of the UF in order to give their input. The interviews will be held on Wednesday, October 8, between noon and 6:00 PM.

Capinera announced that William Fleming would speak at the next faculty meeting about promotion and tenure.

Meeting adjourned at 2:20.