FACULTY MEETING, JANUARY 14, 2004

ATTENDEES: Drs. Branham, Cave, Choate, Fasulo, Frank, G. Hall, Larson, Leppla, Liburd, Maruniak, McAuslane, McSorley, Stimac, Webb, Yu, and M. Litchfield.

Meeting convened at 1:15

Dr. Moses Kairo: A vote was called for Dr. Moses Kairo to be appointed as a Courtesy Professor and Graduate Faculty. Norm Leppla recommended to the faculty that Dr. Kairo would be an asset as a Courtesy and Graduate faculty member since he would be working with DPM students as a liaison between the UF and CAB International. The vote was unanimous.

Nomination for staff bonuses: Six staff members were selected to receive Bonus Awards from Provost and IFAS funds. These are Raquel McTiernan, Khuong Nguyen, Kathy Milne, Debbie Hall, Frank Woods, and Nancy Sanders. The Bonus Award Committee stated that it was very difficult to decide who would receive these awards. They suggested that this award be given on a regular basis and not just once in a while. Capinera stated that we previously set aside funds from our budget for this purpose, but currently lack the funds to do this. If faculty wished to contribute to a pool to award staff for their hard work, this could be arranged.

Alumni Fellowships: Capinera announced that there had been a notice received from the deans about additional Alumni Fellowships. This is due to increased enrollment. This is an incentive to continue to improve graduate enrollment. The student has to be outstanding and a new student. A Masters student that is continuing with a Ph.D. is considered a new student.

State Fair: The dates for the State Fair are February 5-16. Capinera asked for volunteers. He stated that the officials expect the department to have a booth every year and this is a good opportunity to interface with the public and let them know what we are doing. If you wish to volunteer you can also take the family. In the past the staff has also volunteered, enjoyed their stay at the fair and been a great help in manning the booth. This is also a good opportunity to see what is happening with other departments, universities, and private industry.

Union: Distributed information on potential to vote for faculty union. It is important that the faculty participate in the vote. Obviously you need to be informed if you are to cast a vote, unless IFAS is not going to participate. However, indications are that all units of the University will participate in the vote. The State Labor Board is handling this but no final decision has been made. How does the UF President feel about this issue? Most Presidents are against it but apparently most University faculty have elected to participate in the union. There are pros and cons about it, and more information about the consequences is needed. A potential negative aspect of being unionized is the possibility that the University will not be allowed to make counter offers for faculty who may leave.

Distance Ed: Where are we and where are we going? Skip Choate presented an example of his Distance Ed version of Insect Classification using a Power Point Presentation format. He discussed what was involved in developing and delivering this course. A major consideration is the student's access to equipment such as microscopes and laboratory supplies, as well as their computer skills since this class is delivered on a CD ROM. Simulating a "hands on" exercise via computer is a major challenge. Instructors must re-think teaching methods since students will not have direct contact with you. Students may work at their own pace on course exercises. Satisfactory completion of listed exercises and projects will determine the final grade. Self-graded quizzes are provided as tutorial material for students to review subjects, and written exercises (questions, drawings, crossword puzzles) are completed and may be submitted using email, FAX, or online form submission.

The first challenge is to make sure the content of your Dist Ed course is comparable to that offered to the classroom sections. The question was raised as to whether or not the students were required to submit a collection. Students are required to submit both a traditional collection and a cyber collection. Cyber species are "collected" on the Internet. Specimens for this part of their collection consist of a saved image and URL that are sent to the instructor via email. Previous experience with Dist Ed sections of introductory entomology has shown their collections to be better than those submitted by on-campus students.

Getting students to use the materials available to them, and particularly to think, remains a challenge. He likes to administer a diagnostic test at the beginning of the semester to determine background knowledge levels of the students. This consists of written questions and sight identification from insect photographs.

"The images on disc are kept to file sizes of 15-30 k each and make for quicker display."

Skip has created crossword puzzles that students can work. These are PDF files that may be printed out, completed, and mailed in or sent using FAX.

Graduate students must make a larger collection and complete a research paper on a family of insects. Their paper will consist of a literature-based treatment of an assigned family, listing species reported from Florida. Using published descriptions and keys each graduate student is to produce a diagnostic key for Florida species.

Certificate: What does a Distance Ed certificate consist of? A group of standard courses bundled together to obtain a specific certificate. Each certificate requires 15 credits and we propose certificate programs in urban and landscape pest management. Who will be interested in such a certificate? Members of the pest control industry, particularly higher-level employees, may wish to be associated with the University of Florida, and might be interested in obtaining these certificates. The state also requires academic experience totaling 24 credits as a substitute for 2 years of experience when applying for a Pesticide Applicators License, so a 24-credit certificate will be offered. All certificates will be offered at the graduate and undergraduate level.

We have started to convert lecture/lab courses to lecture and lab separately. This would be a way of spreading out the workload for instructors and students.

Masters Program in Entomology: A Masters non-thesis student, in order to participate in this 30-credit degree program, must apply like regular students and maintain a 3.0 average. The student will have a final exam and must come to campus for oral/written exams. The intent is to make it equivalent to the present program.

M.S. Degree in Pest Management: There is the possibility of offering a broad based pest management MS, too. This would build on the existing entomology-nematology course structure but also require courses from sister departments. To do this we would need a specialization in pest management, but currently we do not show specializations at the graduate level. We will be working with the graduate committee to rectify this situation.

Is there a market for these certificates? There are people out there in industry that want to be graduates of UF; we may get some of these people. We are trying to give students a flexibility to take courses suitable for their area of interest. The challenge is to be among the first, get our foot in the door before others. If not first, we can learn from others but we don't want to be the last. We will be hiring someone in a staff position for a few years to get this off the ground.

Toxicology position: Dr. McAuslane reported on the progress of interviewing candidates for this position. There are three candidates scheduled to come in for interviews and present research and teaching seminars. Capinera stated that when Dr. Yu retires, hopefully this person would be eligible to fill Dr. Yu's position. Presently, this position is a non-tenure accruing, three-year position. This is the plan at the moment. We would have to re-advertise, and hopefully, this person will be what we are looking for. This individual will not be required to teach.

Insect Physiology position: Dr. Hoy reported that inquiries are coming in and some look very promising. The deadline for applications is March 1.

Med/Vet Lab - Vero Beach: Dr. Maruniak reported that there will be two candidates for the Assistant/Associate Professor position at Vero Beach coming here to give a seminar and meet with the faculty. Dr. Kevin M. Myles will be here on February 3, and Dr. Christopher Mores on February 20.

Lepidoptera Curator position: Dr. Choate reported on the applications for this position and the closing date is March 1. This individual will be housed in the new Lepidoptera building, and a staff member of the Museum of Natural History.

Meeting adjourned at 2:45