School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Faculty Meeting Minutes
March 13, 2012, 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Anderson Hall Room 22
CALL TO ORDER
10:30
The meeting was called to order at 10:45 a.m. by Gordon Bradley, who is filling in for Tom Hinckley, Interim
Director.
ATTENDANCE
PRESENT: Ernesto Alvarado, Susan Bolton, Gordon Bradley, Ivan Eastin, Bob Edmonds, Greg Ettl, David Ford,
Tom Hinckley, Jay Johnson, Fernando Resende, Doug Sprugel, Eric Turnblom
ABSENT: James Agee*, Graham Allan, Stanley Asah, Jonathan Bakker, Bruce Bare, David Briggs*, Sally Brown,
Renata Bura, Sharon Doty*, Kern Ewing, David Ford, Jerry Franklin, James Fridley, Robert Gara, Dean Glawe, Lisa
Graumlich, Frank Greulich, Richard Gustafson, Charlie Halpern, Rob Harrison, Kevin Hodgson, Soo-Hyung Kim,
Joshua Lawler, Bruce Lippke*, David Manuwal*, John Marzluff, William McKean*, Monika Moskal, Dorothy
Paun, John Perez-Garcia, David Peterson, Sergey Rabotyagov, Sarah Reichard, Clare Ryan, Peter Schiess, Stuart
Strand, Christian Torgersen, Sandor Toth, Dan Vogt, Kristiina Vogt, Steve West, Aaron Wirsing, Darlene Zabowski
ALSO ATTENDING: Nevada Smith, Michelle Trudeau
49 eligible to vote faculty during Autumn Quarter 2011.
*faculty member not eligible to vote Autumn Quarter 2011.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
10:35
• VISITS OF FINALIST CANDIDATES FOR SEFS DIRECTOR SCHEDULED
¾ Dr. Gary Machlis, Science Advisor to Director, National Park Service, and Professor of Conservation,
College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho Monday April 2 and Tuesday April 3, 2012
¾ Dr. Thomas DeLuca, Professor and National Environmental Research Council (NERC)-University
Joint Chair in Environmental Sciences, School of Natural Resources and Geography, Bangor University,
Wales, and Adjunct Professor, University of Montana Thursday April 5 and Friday April 6, 2012
¾ Dr. Dean Glawe, Professor, Plant Pathology, Washington State University; Professor (without tenure)
University of Washington Tuesday April 10 and Wednesday April 11, 2012
¾ Dr. Edward Kirby, Professor of Plant Biology, Rutgers University, Newark Thursday April 12 and
Friday April 13, 2012
• The School of Environmental and Forest Sciences won this year’s Silviculture Challenge against the
University of British Columbia. The 2012 Silviculture Challenge was hosted for the first time this year by
the Darrington District of the National Forest, the North Puget Sound Chapter of the Society of American
Foresters, the Darrington Area Business Association, and the Darrington Library, which stayed open extra
hours on Friday night so the students could use the Internet. The students worked in three to four feet of
snow to assess a stand of hemlock and Douglas fir on acreage that had been clear cut and replanted in 1955.
The competition is to develop a forest management plan. They then presented their forest management
ideas to a panel of judges, who scored the teams based on their ability to offer their ideas in language the
general public can understand and to prove they used the information they gathered in the woods as a basis
for their management plans. We’re now 3 and 3 with UBC. (parts of this summary by the Everett Herald)
• Conserving Plant Biodiversity in a Changing World: A View from NW North America began at 8:00 a.m.
today, March 13, 2012 and continues to 3:30 p.m. tomorrow March 14, 2012. There are continuing sessions
throughout the day. Please check out the schedule below and attend as you can:
http://depts.washington.edu/uwbg/research/Plant_Biodiversity_Conference_Schedule_2012.pdf
• 3rd Human Dimensions of Wildland Fire Conference "Shared Responsibility: Research, Management, and
Communities" April 17-19, 2012 ~ Hilton Hotel ~ Seattle, Washington, USA
http://www.iawfonline.org/HD_Seattle_2012/ Several SEFS faculty and students are attending and
presenting.
FACULTY ACTIONS
10:45
• None will be considered.
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School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
Faculty Meeting Minutes
Page 2
PRESENTATION
• No presentations are scheduled.
DISCUSSION
• Gordon Bradley led a discussion about the faculty portfolios which have been submitted.
10:50
At last September’s retreat we decided to identify what positions we might want to hire. A group was
established to look at this issue which included Bruce Bare and Beverly Anderson. The group convened a
couple of focus group sessions with different groups of faculty who came up with “opportunity areas.”
Faculty then weighed in via a survey. Faculty were then asked to submit a portfolio long form. 14 forms
were submitted. The purpose of today’s session is to discuss these 14 portfolios. Then they will be ranked
via catalyst. Portfolios that were submitted are to essentially replace folks we already have or add to our
current strengths.
Focus groups were asked “what’s the big things on the horizon?” How do they mesh with NSF focus?
Are the Entomologist/Plant Protection, Plant Pathology, and Wildland Fire Science able to be rolled into
one Ecosystem Health position? Is entomology important? Would anyone else put forward the pathology
position if Bob hadn’t? Should they be combined in the ranking?
The portfolio doesn’t handcuff the director into hiring in order of ranking, but gives the director the
opportunity to take advantage of opportunities. Director can be informed by what’s on the page and act
accordingly.
Faculty think it is important to have something in forest health area—entomologist and pathologist.
Ivan Eastin presented the International Trade, Marketing, and Quantitative Analysis position, stressing that
it is not a state position and that it has 5 years of funding. He hopes it will be ranked highly because the
funding is available. Susan Bolton suggested that he send a message to all the faculty about this. It is
important that positions contribute to the strategic mission of the unit and be considered by the faculty.
The portfolios that were submitted are: Biobased materials, Environmental and Land Use Law,
Environmental Communication, Environmental Anthropologist, Forest Environmental Analytics, Forest and
Environmental Economics and Management (Research faculty position), Forest and Urban Ecosystem
Health and Pathology, Wildland Fire, International Trade, Marketing, and Quantitative Analysis,
Entomologist, Soil Ecology, Wildlife Ecology.
A question was raised, but what knowledge do you want to teach and how do you want to teach it? The
faculty asks that the Curriculum Committee review the teaching needs so that we can hire people to fill the
needs of the core teaching requirements.
The portfolios were ranked by the faculty by an electronic survey.
UPCOMING MEETING
11:25
The next School of Forest Resources Faculty Meeting will be on Tuesday, March 27, 2012 from 10:30 to 11:30
a.m. in Anderson Hall Room 22.
ADJOURNMENT
11:30
The meeting was adjourned at 11:38 a.m.
Attachments: Faculty Portfolios
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