Faculty Meeting Minutes
College of Forest Resources
Anderson Hall Room 22
Monday November 24, 2008, 10:30 a.m.
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 10:35 a.m. by Gordon Bradley, College of Forest Resources Faculty
Chair. Doug Sprugel moved and Bob Edmunds seconded the motion that the faculty approve the
Minutes of the November 10, 2008 Faculty Meeting. The minutes were approved by a vote of 35
Approve 0, Oppose, and 6 Abstain of 47 eligible.
ATTENDANCE
PRESENT
Bare, Bruce
Bolton, Susan
Bradley, Gordon
Eastin, Ivan
Edmonds, Robert
Ford, E. David
Gustafson, Richard
Halpern, Charles
Harrison, Robert
Lawler, Joshua
Marzluff, John
Moskal, L. Monika
Perez-Garcia, John
Ryan, Clare
Sprugel, Douglas
Toth, Sandor
Vogt, Daniel
Vogt, Kristiina
West, Stephen
Wirsing, Aaron
Zabowski, Darlene
ABSENT
Agee, James
Allan, G. Graham
Bakker, Jonathan
Briggs, David
Brown, Sally
Bura, Renata
Doty, Sharon
Ettl, Gregory
Ewing, Kern
Franklin, Jerry
Fridley, James
Gara, Robert
Glawe, Dean
Greulich, Frank
Hanley, Donald
Hinckley, Tom
Hodgson, Kevin
Johnson, Jay
Kim, Soo-Hyung
Lippke, Bruce
Manuwal, David
McKean, William
Paun, Dorothy
Peterson, David
Rabotyagov, Sergey
Reichard, Sarah
Schiess, Peter
Strand, Stuart
Torgersen, Christian
Turnblom, Eric
ALSO IN ATTENDANCE
Williams-Guillén, Kim
Fink, Lois
Smith, Nevada
The names that are grayed out are not eligible to vote. Total faculty eligible to vote during Autumn
Quarter 2008 is 47; a quorum is 24.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• The next Research Forum will be December 1, 2008. Vincent Gallucci speaking on
“Unconfounding the Effects of Climate Density”
• Sabbatical applications are due December 1, 2008 to the Chair’s office.
• Regarding Peer Evaluations of Teaching, please let Nevada who will be evaluating which of your
courses.
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•
The Dean has made an offer to Marc Stern, who was voted as an acceptable candidate for the Human
Dimensions faculty position and was ranked first by the faculty. Dr. Stern is considering the offer
and will visit Seattle again very soon before making his decision.
• Sandor Toth was elected by the faculty to serve on the Elected Faculty Council to complete a term
that ends June 2010.
• The Faculty voted to approve the Sharon Doty’s promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure and
Clare Ryan’s promotion to Professor.
PRESENTATIONS
No presentations were scheduled.
FACULTY ACTIONS
Proposed Visiting Scholar Appointment
• Rob Harrison moved and John Marzluff seconded the motion that Tzung-Su Ding, Ph.D. be
considered for Visiting Scholar. This appointment is being sponsored by Soo-Hyung Kim and Josh
Lawler. Dr. Ding received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis in 2001 in Ecology
and is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Forestry at National Taiwan University.
While here Dr. Ding will work on macroecology of avian seasonal migration in East Asia and other
Pacific Rim Regions looking at the relationships between bird migration, primary productivity, and
climate in collaboration with Josh Lawler. The appointment will be from February 1, 2009 to
January 31, 2010. Desk space is available in Dr. Lawler’s laboratory. Computer resources will be
provided by both Drs. Kim and Lawler. Other resources for his research will be provided by a grant
Dr. Ding was awarded by his home institution. The faculty voted to approve this appointment. The
results of the vote are on file in the faculty office.
DISCUSSION
• Updates from faculty regarding the College of the Environment (CoEnv).
Rick Gustafson, who is serving on the CoEnv Vision and Governance Committee, reported that
input was gathered from our College, Marine Affairs, and Ocean and Fisheries. He stated that Earth
and Space Science, while initially reluctant to join the CoEnv, has now decided to join. Ocean is
expressing a preference that the CoEnv have a physical science focus without social sciences.
Fisheries has been concerned about the process. Clare Ryan, who is also serving on this Committee,
and two of her social science colleagues are looking at how Human Dimensions should be worked
into the CoEnv. Among other options, they are looking at whether the social scientists should be
joined as a department in the new College. The Committee is also considering how to involve and
work with faculty that don’t come in with a core unit such as Civil and Environmental Engineers and
Biologists. The Committee is considering how to foster and develop interdisciplinary activities.
Sandor Toth expressed concern regarding his students’ inability to get into courses in the
Department of Economics. Would there be some way to use the new College and cooperating
faculty to get the students into the courses perhaps by holding spots for CoEnv students. He
wondered if participating in the new College could be used as leverage by stating that faculty who
want to be involved in the CoEnv would have to have their courses open to CoEnv students. Other
units that CFR students have traditionally had difficulty getting into courses are the Business School,
Evans School, and Biology. Steve West suggested that this would be the time to raise this issue
(again) as it has been an issue for 30 years. If holding spots in courses could be sanctioned by the
highest levels of the administration, it seems this is the best time to negotiate it.
• Budget update provided by Dean Bare.
The Dean attended the meeting by request to provide information regarding the impending budget
cuts. He foresees the formation of three ad hoc committees. The first will be composed of CFR
faculty, staff, and administrators. This committee will be charged to provide advice on budget cuts
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and prioritization. The second committee has already been formed and is chaired by Bob Edmonds.
This committee will provide a review of CFR’s research centers and report on financial situation and
leadership. Their report is due on December 15, 2008. The third committee will look at the
structure of our new School. It is anticipated that the College of Forest Resources will become part
of the College of the Environment as a School. Dr. Bare would like to have ideas solicited about
how to structure the new School administratively. This committee will be appointed now and will
start their work in Winter Quarter.
The Dean reported on a recent meeting with the Provost. The search for a permanent director of the
UWBG has been put on hold. Thus, Sandra Lier’s appointment as temporary director has been
extended through the end of the next biennium. She works two days per week. An offer has been
extended to Marc Stern for the Human Dimensions faculty position. He is still negotiating with us.
The Dean wanted to to move forward quickly with this position because the Provost may be thinking
about cancelling searches. The Bioresources position search with Chemical Engineering may be
cancelled. When the Human Dimensions position is filled CFR will have 5 open faculty positions.
Jay Johnson has decided to retire next summer so this would make 6.
Faculty wanted to know who would run the new School. The Director of the School will not be
hired until the Dean of the CoEnv is hired. The search committee for the new Dean has not been
formed, so there may be a delay. The Provost has stated that she intends to have a national search
for the School’s director. The Dean indicated to the Provost that he would be willing to stay on for
another year and she said she would consider this offer. The Dean also suggested to the Provost that
the Director of the new School also hold an Associate Dean title. She thought this would be a good
idea, but did not want to assign specific titles until the new Dean was in place.
Faculty wanted to know if it has been decided that our unit in CoEnv will be a School. The Dean
said the name of the unit has not been determined and that we might want to change the name. He is
under the impression that she wants the word forest in the title. She calls our unit in CoEnv SFR-School of Forest Resources.
Will there be any reorganization of people? In three discussions the Dean has had with the Provost,
she has indicated that CFR will go into the new College as a whole unit.
What about the suggestion to have a department focused on social science? Insofar as it is
understood, 20 new faculty positions have been suggested of which 10 are planned for social
science. Whether or not there will be a department has not yet been determined.
Is there any more information regarding the RCEP process? The RCEP process has not been started
for any units. It is anticipated that CAUFS, CFR, and A&S will need to undergo an RCEP for the
units that will be joining the CoEnv. The plan is to start RCEPs in Winter Quarter. Each unit has to
be identified and needs to have the concurrence of the Faculty Senate Planning and Budget
Committee. There may be issues about the RCEPs considering the current budget situation. There’s
a chance the budget situation may cause postponement.
Regarding the budget situation. The state is awaiting the Governor’s budget. Right now UW has
been asked to return about $9.6 million to the State General Operating Fund. This is a permanent cut
which amounts to about 2.4%. This will be paid out of the central institutional fund. The projected
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state budget deficit is $4.5-5 billion. President Emmert has been told to prepare for a 20% budget
cut in the state general funds or ~$80 million per year of the next biennium. CFR’s budget is ~$6.5
million a year and we have been told to expect an 11% cut which is about $800K.
Units that are considered strategic may get money back. The five strategic areas are health, IT,
environment, urban living, and energy. The CoEnv is considered a strategic unit.
In considering where we will take the cuts, since the cuts are permanent, if we return open faculty
positions, they are gone.
Faculty expressed concern about TA support. Dr. Bare stated that we are fortunate to have open
faculty positions. If there were no open positions, then we would have a hard time paying TAs,
which currently are supported with $200K more than provided by the Provost’s office.
94-95% of CFR’s $6.5 million budget is salaries. Faculty cannot be furloughed without declaring a
financial emergency. Professional staff can be furloughed. The end of the biennium is June 30,
2009. Usually state budget monies can be carried forward, but that will not be the case this year.
In addition, the UW’s endowment has lost ~14%.
The Dean acknowledged that we have two significant concerns to deal with: the budget problems
which are shared with everyone else and also the uncertainty regarding the College of the
Environment.
UPCOMING EVENTS
• The next Faculty Meeting will be on Monday, December 8, 2008 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in
Anderson Hall Room 22. This is the Dean’s meeting and agenda.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 11:28 a.m.
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