[PCA] Botany at Tennessee

[David Lincicome]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: BRYONET: Botany at Tennessee
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:44:19 -0500
From: dsmith22 at utk.edu 
To: <bryonet-l at mtu.edu>, jmglime at mtu.edu 



BRYONET

Colleagues:

The possible demise of the herbarium at Iowa seems to be another
symptom of
academic malnutrition that is destined to a state of starvation.  We
are
heading toward a third world status by crippling our informational
foundations in whole plant systematics.  This trend is infecting all
programs where whole plant science is being replaced by emphasis on
structural and mechanistic [mostly molecular] aspects of plants.

This letter is to make you aware of another grave situation that
threatens
the existence of the Department of Botany at The University of
Tennessee,
Knoxville.  For reasons not totally known, the Botany Department has
been
placed on a university list for review and consideration for
dissolution.
This decision has been spun from the upper administration, to identify
programs and departments within the university that don't meet
selected
criteria for productivity.  In the case of Botany we do not meet the
quota
of undergraduate majors, among other criteria.  Since we are a
department
nested in a Division of Biology, we are not competitive with
Microbiology,
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Biochemistry/Cellular and
Molecular
Biology.  These other departments appear more productive because they
benefit from higher numbers of majors; many of which are preparing for
pre-professional, health careers [Medical, Dental, Pharmacy, etc.]. 
Hence
it is unusual for such motivated students to select a Botany major for
their undergraduate degree.

It is my personal belief, and shared by many colleagues, that a
comprehensive university like Tennessee, will be self-abasing by
dumping
its Botany Department.  It is a poor investment by the powers of upper
administration to assure [guarantee] that a presence of strong plant
sciences will continue at Tennessee by distributing faculty into other
surviving departments.  The core and heart of a centralized botanical
faculty will be fragmented; and it is likely that attrition will result
as
faculty retire, or relocate, and their positions will be filled by
other
sorts.  Another key element is the fate of the Herbarium and its
staff.
While we have been told [?promised] that no faculty or key staff will
be
furloughed by a reorganization, that may be no more than a belief in
faith.

As most of us are veterans of administrative chess, we expect that a
decision to dissolve Botany has already been made.  And now we are
only
stepping through the process to legitimize and validate the decision.

However, I invite any of you who wish to join the resistance to write
a
letter of concern that addresses the irreversable consequences of loss
to
the national and international community of Plant Scientists.  In the
least, I would want my administrators to have to read the written word
of
concerned colleagues in the face of their decision.

If you choose to voice your concern, send a letter to:

Dr. Stuart Riggsby, Dean
College of Arts and Sciences
Alumni Memorial Building
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN  37996

and a copy of that letter to:

Dr. Edward Schilling, Head
Department of Botany
437 Hesler Biology Building
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN  37996

just to keep everyone honest.

Respecfully,

David K. Smith
Associate Professor and Curator
Department of Botany
UT-Knoxville
dsmith22 at utk.edu 
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