FACULTY MEETING MINUTES -- NOVEMBER 4, 2003

ATTENDEES: Drs. Barfield, Boucias, Buss, Capinera, Fasulo, Foltz, Frank, G. Hall, Hoy, Larson, Leppla, Liburd, Maruniak, McAuslane, Oi, Slansky, Stimac, Webb, Yu, and M. Litchfield.

Meeting commenced at 1:19 PM. Capinera introduced William Fleming and Susan Hudson from IFAS Personnel.

William presented an update on Tenure and Promotion for faculty. He pointed out that some of the acronyms used for different programs confuse some faculty, i.e., Salary & Performance Plan (SPP) or the 9% plan; Sustained Performance Evaluation Plan (SPEP); and Tenure and Promotion (T/P). He said that regardless of the FTE split you need to be as well rounded as possible. He also stated that faculty need to be exemplary or outstanding in two areas.

Next year the rules will change: instead of faculty going forward for promotion and tenure in the 5th year, it will increase by one year, and faculty will go forward in the 6th year to be awarded tenure/promotion in the 7th year. He also stated that if a faculty member felt confident that he had a well-rounded program he could go forward when he is ready, provided the chair agrees. All faculty are expected to have graduate students including faculty at research centers. The T/P committee look at the file as a whole to see how well rounded the faculty member is. It is important to have some service involvement. The committee also looks at funding, not only the amount but also what has been done with the funds. The number of publications in refereed journals is important as well as the quality.

There are workshops on Tenure and Promotion offered every spring. Full professors are welcome to attend as well as junior faculty. There are aids on the website, plus examples are handed out at the workshops. It is good for faculty to be recognized at the national as well as the international level especially those submitting packets for the professor level. Letters of evaluation are important, and it is good to have at least one letter and maybe more from someone at an AAU member institution. Only Texas A&M and UF are members of the AAU here in the south. Susan passed out information on the website for the Tenure and Promotion issues. William reminded the faculty that it is important to read the guidelines before putting together their packets.

Peer evaluations for teaching are important. If you are teaching and you have a peer evaluation it is very important to include this in your packet. There is in development a program for peer evaluations for extension.

The three-year progress report is to assist an Assistant Professor, who has been here three years but not tenured, to stay on track. A committee in IFAS reviews these reports and then feedback is given to the individual faculty member to let them know what their strengths and weaknesses are in order for them to present a strong packet for Tenure and Promotion. The three-year review does not require letters of evaluation and is internal to IFAS only.

The Sustained Performance Evaluation Plan (SPEP) was discussed at length. This is a post-tenure review and should be a positive indication of the faculty's progress, or show where they need improvement. Every seven years, after tenure has been granted, the faculty is looked at analytically and a list of those individuals who are eligible for the SPEP is sent to each college and then to each department. If there are no problems with any of the faculty on the list the Chair just puts an okay by the faculty's name and sends it back to the college. If there is a faculty member who needs to be looked at then he/she has to submit a report of their progress and plans for improvement. The question was raised if reassignment could come from this process. The answer was that it possibly could, i.e., extension, teaching, research, this could be opened up for discussion with the chair. The stages for this review are administrative, deans and the T&P committee. Faculty evaluations are not public record. The UF has a very good system for faculty discipline and if you have any disputes there are avenues you can explore. You can call William Fleming in IFAS personnel if you have any questions.

William brought up the question of whether or not IFAS will be in the union. He said that there was no answer at this time.

The Salary and Performance Plan (SPP) had 85 eligible faculty. Packets are due on December 6 and the committee meets the first part of January to decide who will receive the 9%. The guidelines are the same as for Tenure and Promotion covering a seven-year block of time. The packets are rated by the chair of the department, then by IFAS, and then by the committee in Academic Personnel. The chance of receiving the 9% is about 1/3, with approximately 25 awarded.

Capinera thanked William for coming and presenting this information to the faculty.

Wayne Hunter, who is a faculty member at the USDA in Ft. Pierce, was voted on for Courtesy and Graduate Faculty status. Dr. Maruniak mentioned that he had worked with Dr. Hunter and that he was very productive and was anxious to work with students. The vote was unanimous.

Capinera passed out the CREES - National Research Initiative Program update on changes occurring. The impetus is on the amount awarded by grants not being sufficient and the awards will be increased. The contact person is Mary Purcell.

Capinera passed out copies of the building map as a homework assignment. The map needs updating to make it more current and each faculty member is to make corrections and return the map to Capinera within 2 days. Some changes on space were made by the Administrative Committee this morning. These were: 1) the new insect physiology position will be located in 3221, 3222, 3223, 3247, with the associated office in 3206; 2) Faith Oi will be moved to 3228 and 3229; 3) Virendra Gupta will have temporary use of 3006; 4) Pete Coon and Rebecca Baldwin, both of whom are teaching extensively and for which student access is important, will share 3212; 5) the temporary toxicology position will use 3237, 3238, 3256, 3255, with associated office in 3213.

The question was raised as to the space allocation for Emeritus faculty. Capinera stated that it is a courtesy to provide space for Emeritus faculty that are actively involved with the department programs, though such space allocations are made on a space-available basis. Those who only come in occasionally have been or will be doubled up. We have to pay special attention to the expanding research programs and visitors/post-docs and so far have been able to accommodate requests. The question was raised about the insect collection that Gupta has, and what will become of it. Capinera said that the DPI would take some or all of this collection as space there becomes available due to transfer of Lepidoptera to the new Lepidoptera Building.

We have had more requests for bulletin boards. The ones that were made by the IFAS cabinet shop now cost $425 each and other (non-matching but wood-framed) ones cost $250 each. Budget is very tight so faculty should look at sharing boards. Capinera suggested that a faculty committee could make sure that everyone has enough space to display posters and research accomplishments. It was suggested that a marquee be placed in the lobby of the research wing with the capabilities of announcing new posters and awards. The department newsletter could call for new posters to display. Hoy and Buss suggested that some research be done to look at new (lower cost) technology to display posters. Capinera recommended that faculty research this and get back to him with suggestions.

Graham White will likely be hired as a Research Scientist, a non-tenured track faculty position, with the Medical Entomology group at the USDA and housed in the Entomology Building. He will be a real asset and is anxious to be involved with the department. This is a two-year grant-funded position and he will be a university employee.

Al Wheeler, a Cornell graduate who is retired from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, has indicated that he might like to relocate here. He is very productive. He went to Clemson after retiring and is involved with graduate students there. If he comes here he would like for us to provide office space for him.

Faculty was reminded that students are required to take seminar courses, Masters 1 credit and Ph.D. 2 credits, including oral presentations. The Graduate Committee will come up with guidelines for students. Dr. Hoy discussed her class that she is offering in the spring and encouraged faculty to have students take this class. Students will be required to give oral presentations. Dr. Foltz also suggested that students take his course that he is offering in the spring on Invasive Forest Pests. Dr. McAuslane suggested that faculty turn in a list of seminars that they would like to offer to give graduate students an opportunity to plan seminars.

Dr. Leppla encouraged the faculty to attend the seminar on Thursday to hear Moses Kairo. He is from the Caribbean and has been nominated for courtesy faculty to enable him to participate in the DPM program.

Dr. McAuslane reported that we have 29 applicants for the Insect Toxicology position. The search committee hopes to have a decision on who will be interviewed by the end of December.

Meeting adjourned at 2:45 PM.