School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Faculty Meeting Minutes
January 22, 2013, 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Anderson Hall Room 22
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Director Tom DeLuca at 10:35 a.m. Graham Allan moved Sharon Doty
seconded the motion that the faculty approve of the minutes of the January 8, 2012 Faculty Meeting. The
minutes were approved by a vote of 32 Approve 0 Oppose 6 Abstain of 42 eligible to vote faculty.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Update on endowment applications. A fair number of nominations were received and Dr. DeLuca
deliberated for quite some time. It was a difficult decision. He advanced recommendations to EFAC and
then to the Dean. The recommendations then go to Board of Regents to be considered at the February 14,
2013 meeting of the Board. He is pleased to announce that the Ridgeway will be awarded to John Marzluff,
Denman to Josh Lawler, Scott Professorship to Jon Bakker, and the Lockwood to Sharon Doty.
• Update on III-ONRC. Anybody who wants to be associated with the III process please contact Dr. DeLuca.
We hope to integrate the concept of sustainable living systems into a model we can put on the ground in
Forks. The Forks Art Center needs to be rebuilt after a fire. Currently SEFS and Built Environments are
working with the City of Forks to develop a design to use regionally sourced materials in a sustainable
design. Dr. DeLuca encourages faculty to get involved. Everything is just at the beginning and now is a
great time to get involved. Funding for the pilot project to rebuild the Rain Forest Art Center and
Community Building comes from the insurance payment because the building burned.
FACULTY ACTIONS
• Proposed Research Associate Appointment
Graham Allan moved and Bruce Bare seconded the motion to approve the appointment of Se-Yeun Lee as a
Research Associate. This appointment is sponsored by Josh Lawler. Dr. Lee received her Ph.D. in Civil and
Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington in 2009. Dr. Lee has been a postdoc in
Civil and Environmental Engineering since July 2009 working with Dr. Alan Hamlet. Dr. Hamlet has taken
a position at Notre Dame and asked Dr. Lawler to mentor Dr. Lee’s work on modeling the potential impacts
of climate change on wetland hydroperiods across Washington state. She will be provided a desk in Dr.
Lawler’s lab and access to computer resources. She should require no additional resources. The faculty
voted to approve this appointment. The results of the vote are on file in the Director’s office.
• Proposed Curriculum Change
Bruce Bare moved and Sharon Doty seconded the motion that the faculty approve the recommendation of
the SEFS Curriculum Committee for a new summer-only course offering, ESRM 442, Forest Ecology of the
Sierra Nevada and White Mountains. This course has been taught for several years by Dr. Lutz as an ESRM
490 offering in summer. This new ‘real’ course number will benefit students in several ways: 1) The actual
course content will appear on the transcript (Forest Ecology of the Sierra Nevada vs. Special Topics); 2) The
content being listed as a course in the catalog will improve visibility and enrollment of the course, as well as
differentiate the offering; 3) Students can use up their allocation of 490 credit, thus a differentiated course
number is important for an on-going offering. The faculty voted to approve this curriculum change by a
vote of 30 Approve 3 Oppose 5 Abstain of 42 eligible to vote faculty.
• 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. The MOU will be available at the meeting. This proposal was discussed but was tabled to
a future meeting.
PRESENTATION
• Anne Guerry of Natural Capital made a presentation describing the different projects that Natural Capital is
involved in. They are working in 20 places around the world in terrestrial and marine applications. They
want to help people understand what we get from nature use and to use that understanding to inform
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School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Faculty Meeting Minutes
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decisions and help people and the ecosystems they depend upon. The current head of the organization is
Mary Ruckelshaus.
Ms. Guerry anticipates that no more than four people at a time would be coming to SEFS to work. They
have been working out of a small office at NOAA for a while and the employees rotate through the office.
They have looked at other locations in the city, but would like to be on campus. It was noted that the Dean
would like to have Natural Capital close to campus as well.
The MOU would be with the College and not with SEFS. Faculty hoped that UW could eventually partner
in this organization, but until that time they hoped that our contribution would be recognized in appropriate
ways. Dr. DeLuca asked faculty to read the draft Memorandum of Understanding and provide feedback that
would be forwarded to the Dean’s office. Anne Guerry can be reached at anne.guerry@stanford.edu.
Natural Capital’s website is: www.naturalcapitalproject.org.
DISCUSSION
Open discussion will take place.
• Anne Guerry of Natural Capital will be available to answer faculty questions.
UPCOMING MEETING
The next School of Environmental and Forest Sciences Faculty Meeting will be on Tuesday, February 12, 2013
from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Anderson Hall Room 22.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 11:36 a.m.
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