School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Faculty Meeting Minutes
February 12, 2013, 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Anderson Hall Room 22
CALL TO ORDER
• The meeting was called to order at 10:33 a.m. by Director Tom DeLuca. David Ford moved and
Jerry Franklin seconded the motion that the faculty approve minutes of the January 22, 2013 Faculty
Meeting. The minutes were approved by a vote of 30 Approve 0 Oppose 4 Abstain of 42 eligible to
vote faculty.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• 10th Annual Graduate Student Symposium is set for Friday, March 8, 2013. The Symposium will be
held in the Forest Club Room and will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A tentative schedule of events is
now available online (http://sefs.washington.edu/CFRGSS/schedule.htm). If one of your students is
interested in submitting an abstract for a poster or presentation, please contact Ellen Weir
(ellenf3@uw.edu). There will be an award ceremony recognizing the best presenters and posters at
the symposium. Graduate student, Miku Lenintine, talked to the faculty about the symposium. The
symposium is put on by graduate students for graduate students. Dr. Ford is the faculty advisor.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the symposium’s being held. The title of this year’s
symposium is the future of forestry. Miku is appealing to the faculty to attend because the graduate
students would like more faculty attendance. The faculty’s feedback is valued by the students. In
order to encourage participation the students will be calling upon the faculty to answer one question:
In one sentence or less what is the future of forest or environmental science or natural resource
management? The faculty answers will be posted on a big board on the day of the symposium. On
the day of the symposium the graduate students will be asked to answer the same question. The
answers will be available for all to review and consider. Dr. DeLuca is sure that there will be a great
turnout from the faculty.
• Peter Goldmark will be speaking in Franklin’s sustainability seminar at 1:30 p.m. in Savery 260.
• DeLuca pitched the SEFS 550 seminar. Renata Bura speaks tomorrow night. The faculty are
encouraged to attend. Everyone is having a great time afterwards at the reception. The Seminar will
be moved to 3:30 p.m. Spring Quarter in hopes that more faculty will be able to attend.
• Thomas Kinittle will be the speaker for the SEFS 2013 Sustaining our World lecture, his lecture is
titled: “Built Ecologies: regionalism and resource integration in the built world. The event is on
April 4, 2013 in Kane Hall. He is Vice President of HOK architectural firm, the largest architectural
firm in United States and one of the most progressive.
• It’s official! Sándor Tóth and L. Monika Moskal have been promoted to Associate Professor with
tenure. Two more will be moving forward next year. They are Sergey Rabotyagov and Aaron
Wirsing
• The College of the Environment Dean’s office is sponsoring workshops for junior faculty to help
them navigate the promotion and tenure process.
• SEFS hosted Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet on Tuesday February 5, 2013 who was on
campus to recognize the University of Washington’s being No. 1 again among large universities
(more than 15,000 students) for alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps. SEFS Peace Corps
Masters International students are part of the total number of students. Kudos to Ivan Eastin for this
accomplishment.
• Had positive Visiting committee meeting yesterday. The Committee had presentations from
Institute of Forest Resources, Cintrafor, Stand Management Cooperative and updates on the 520
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highway mitigation and Olympic Natural Resources Center. The Visiting Committee is very pleased
with what’s going on in the School.
• Let Josh Lawler know if you have any comments on the 40 applicants for the Freshwater Cluster
Hire that have been screened down from the 350 original applications.
FACULTY ACTIONS
• Proposed Memorandum of Understanding with Natural Capital
The faculty are asked to consider the terms of a memorandum of understanding with the
organization Natural Capital. A discussion of this MOU took place in the meeting. Faculty had
been asked to send comments about the original draft which were sent to the Dean. Assistant Dean
Stephanie Harrington revised the agreement incorporating a number of the comments from the
faculty, but Dr. DeLuca was asked to not distribute the current draft to faculty for comments as a
whole since this is an agreement between the College of the Environment and Natural Capital and it
is anticipated that the final agreement or contract will be drafted by a lawyer. The faculty were
asked to vote on the notion on whether or not they agree to hosting Natural Capital in our building
for 2 years (pilot project). Faculty hope we would receive at least 3 of the 4 RAs that Natural
Capital would provide. Mary Ruckelshaus has said she would push for UW to be partner in Natural
Capital. The faculty also will be asked to approve the notion that Dr. DeLuca would have the
authority to be negotiate for SEFS. Anderson Hall Room 214 has been identified as an ideal space.
It is currently Lynne Hendrix office. We expect that there will be no more than eight people from
Natural Capital at any one time coming to work, but it is expected that there will usually be 3-4 on a
day to day basis.
•
•
How will RAs be awarded? We currently don’t know how NC will fund. Could be that there will
be a formal application process. Darlene Zabowski moved and Rob Harrison seconded the motion
that the faculty agree to a two year trial period for Natural Capital to be housed in SEFS and that Dr.
DeLuca would be the liaison with the Dean’s office representing the views, concerns, and vision of
the faculty to the Dean and Natural Capital Project while the terms of the agreement are being
negotiated. The faculty voted to approve these two motions by a vote of 28 Approve, 3 Oppose, 3
Abstain of 42 eligible to vote faculty.
Proposed Research Associate Appointment
Darlene Zabowski moved and Rob Harrison seconded the motion that Lauren Urgenson be
appointed as a Research Associate. This appointment is sponsored by Charlie Halpern. Dr.
Urgenson received her Ph.D. in Restoration Ecology from the University of Washington in 2011.
Dr. Urgenson is currently a Research Analyst in SEFS. She will be working on a project that
explores how multi-stakeholder collaborative groups use “desired future conditions” to plan for
landscape-scale restoration of fire-prone forests of the inland west. This position will start March 1,
2013 and is expected to continue through September 30, 2014 with potential for extension pending
future grant awards. Dr. Urgenson currently has an office and access to computing resources in
SEFS. No additional resources will be required. The faculty voted to approve this appointment.
The results of the vote are on file in the Director’s office.
Proposed Visiting Scholar Appointment
Darlene Zabowski moved and Josh Lawler seconded the motion that Silong Wang be appointed as a
Visiting Scholar. This appointment is sponsored by Rob Harrison. Dr. Wang received his Ph.D. in
Forest Ecology from the Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shenyang
China. Dr. Lee is a Research Professor at the Institute of Applied Ecology and is the Director of the
Huitong National Research Station of Forest Ecosystems. Dr. Wang will work on projects involving
soil carbon and nitrogen. The faculty voted to approve this appointment. The results of the vote are
on file in the Director’s office.
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•
Proposed Affiliate Assistant Professor Appointment
Darlene Zabowski moved and Rob Harrison seconded the motion that Eliezer Gurarie be appointed
as an Affiliate Assistant Professor. This appointment is sponsored by Aaron Wirsing. Dr. Gurarie
received his Ph.D. in Quantitative Ecology and Resource Management from the University of
Washington in 2008. Dr. Gurarie is a consulting bio-statistician and mathematical modeler for
Finnish Fish and Game Research Institute, NOAA Fisheries, University of Washington School of
Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences, and Great Lakes Fisheries Commission. Dr. Gurarie is expected to
participate in Dr. Wirsing’s ongoing study of wolf-deer interactions in Washington. He also teaches
in the QSCI program and has guest lectured in QERM. . The faculty voted to approve this
appointment. The results of the vote are on file in the Director’s office.
• Proposed Graduate Faculty Renewal
Darlene Zabowski moved and Sándor Tóth seconded the motion that the faculty approve the renewal
of Peter Kiffney’s Graduate Faculty appointment. Dr. Kiffney is an Affiliate Associate Professor in
the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. He has provided his current CV and a statement
of his interactions with graduate students for the past five years. The discussion of the appointment
brought out the point that he has not been active in SEFS for a very long time, and has been working
mostly with School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences. Faculty wondered if fisheries could take over
the affiliate appointment and then appoint him to their graduate faculty. This motion was tabled.
PRESENTATION
• No presentations are planned.
DISCUSSION
• No discussion is planned.
UPCOMING MEETING
The next School of Environmental and Forest Sciences Faculty Meeting will be on Tuesday, February
26, 2013 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Anderson Hall Room 22.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 11:28 a.m.
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