FACULTY MEETING MINUTES -- MARCH 17, 2004

ATTENDEES: C. Barfield, E. Buss, M. Branham, S. Choate, B. Crow, D. Dickson, T. Fasulo, H. Frank, D. Hall, G. Hall, A. Hodges, M. Hoy, P. Lawrence, J. Maruniak, Luis Matos, H. McAuslane, R. McSorley, F. Oi, F. Slansky, J. Stimac, C. Tucker, S. Yu, and M. Litchfield

Meeting convened at 1:20

Capinera opened the meeting by welcoming the faculty to the new lab. He stated that the dean had contributed $130,000 for microscopes in addition to the renovation costs. The lab should be fully functional and it has an automated screen. He requested the faculty to look around to see if there was anything that needed fixing, for now is the time to say something. He then demonstrated the automated screen and projectors. The question was raised as to whether or not there would be a demonstration on how to use the automated screen, which buttons to use, and the use of the laptop. Either Steve or Nick will give a demonstration for the faculty and teaching assistants. The entrance door to the lab will be keyed so that any key to the building will open the door. The door to the prep room will have a separate key that can be obtained from Myrna. She will have a sign-out sheet for you to check out the prep room key (and access to the designated laptop computer) and the keys to the microscope cabinets. The noise from the fans in the rear of the room was so loud that it was difficult to hear the speaker. Dr. Capinera said he would check to see if anything could be done about the noise. The question was raised as to whether this room could be used for lectures and/or seminars. Capinera said that it wasn't designed for that purpose, but could certainly be used for this when all other conference and seminar rooms were in use. Are there any extra chairs that we could bring in to use if needed? We have some stackable chairs located in the storage closet in the administrative wing that will be moved to the prep room for this purpose. Capinera suggested that when ordering supplies for teaching a lab that instructors need to include protection paper for the tabletops in order to keep the chemicals from harming the surface of the table.

Capinera passed out information on the new mentoring program from William Fleming, Director, IFAS Personnel Affairs. We now have a pre-tenure program where new faculty submit their packet to the T/P committee in IFAS for review. This program enables the new faculty to better prepare for the final submission of their Tenure and Promotion packet after six years of service. Some faculty are eligible to submit these packets before the sixth year if they feel ready to do so. The provost has mandated that we have a mentoring system to assist new faculty in preparing for tenure and promotion. Marc Branham is our newest faculty member and Bob McSorley has agreed to mentor him. Question was raised as to the formal policy for pre-tenure and promotion. Basically, the College Tenure and Promotion Committee and the Deans review the packets. Should the department have an ad-hoc committee to review these packets and should it be on a volunteer basis? This could be a valuable tool to help faculty put together their P/T packets. Should the mentor ask two faculty to review the packet anonymously? Why does it have to be anonymous? Should the ad-hoc committee review the packet in addition to the faculty requested by the mentor? Discussion followed. Vote was taken to have a non-anonymous ad-hoc committee and was passed unanimously. Capinera stated that he would appoint three faculty members to review these packets.

The toxicology position has been filled and Mike Scharf will begin July 1, 2004.

The dean has approved the replacement of a vet/med faculty position. Phil Koehler will put together a search committee. We have also been approved to hire a youth/apiculture position, if the budget is not reduced by the legislature. The extension dean is excited by the youth position. If we are unable to find a youth/apiculture position we could request a youth/lepidoptera position.

Dr. Hoy reported on the progress of the Physiology position. The committee met and discussed several applicants. Physiology is a very diverse field. The committee needs more time to review all the applicant files. The committee raised the question, "Should we hire someone that is primarily a toxicologist?" We have recently hired a toxicologist on a non-tenure accruing line with the expectations of it becoming a tenure-tract position. Discussion followed regarding the hiring of a faculty member with a toxicology background or one with biochemistry background. Also discussed was whether to hire someone fresh out of graduate school or someone with more experience since there are several Associate Professors that have applied for this position. It was decided that the committee look for a physiology candidate with some biochemistry and/or molecular background. The committee will meet again in the next week whenever Pam is able to set up a date and time. Dr. Hoy encouraged each of the faculty to attend the seminars of all the applicants that are chosen in order to make an informed decision for hiring.

Don Hall presented the possibility of offering a Ph.D. program for students just receiving their bachelors' degree and skipping the M.S. The Graduate Committee met and discussed this issue but wanted to get input from the faculty. Should there be a formal policy and criteria for these students? The students who enter this program should be exceptional. The student should be able to demonstrate the potential to perform research and write scientific papers. A couple of requirements would be high GRE score (in the 80% range), and a paper stating well defined research goals. This could be part of the formal application for the Ph.D. program and critiqued by the Graduate Committee. Discussion followed with questions raised about grant writing experience, GRE scores demonstrating the potential of student's performance, publication record, and student not performing up to potential. It was suggested that if the student does not perform up to the potential for a Ph.D., would they have to revert to a Masters degree What effect would this have on the student and their potential employment? Do we want to have students go directly for a Ph.D. without a Masters degree, and should we have criteria? The Graduate Committee will meet again and try to come up with a proposal and criteria to present at the next faculty meeting.

Skip Choate reported on the Lepidoptera Curator Position to be housed at the Museum. They have narrowed the applicants down to three from six very good applicants. The position is primarily a curator but they are expecting to add some teaching requirements to the position. All of the chosen applicants have some teaching experience.

Meeting adjourned at 2:40