[Plantsci] Questions for March 26 Tues SPLS All-Employee meeting 10:00-10:50 am

Mon Mar 25 12:16:01 MST 2024

Hi Alex

Others are reviewing the slides from the budget meeting, which we have all been provided a link. The information is coming from these discussions. It is not my information.  Please review that and consider questions relevant to the publicly available information from our Dean and administration.
I believe your question is best addressed by Jeff Ratje who together with others in CALES brought together the information. I suggest reviewing the slides is the best place to begin.

See the college website postings to keep abreast of townhall recordings, budget meeting slides and the rest. It can be a lot to keep up with, along with messages coming from the Faculty Senate, President and Provost offices, etc.

We all understand the extraordinary impact of our research and training grad and undergrad students, while a lot of attention right now is being focused on teaching revenue.  Likewise, much good and benefit comes from our Extension faculty.  I would remind us all that we know our contributions are hugely valuable and keep perspective.  Remember part of the university’s concern right now is diminishing student numbers but there are many good things happening at this R1 university and we should all give our unit kudos for the tremendous research programs we have. During times like this, some forget to emphasize the good. Let’s do that ourselves, keep our spirits up, and keep up the work we do. We contribute far less teaching to the college than some other units. We also contribute far more research dollars than other units.  Do what you can to help by bringing in grants and teaching to your assignment and all will be well, in my opinion.  All in all we are in a good place even though we are not being told that per se, it is because of the preoccupation with the worrisome unknowns. They will pass. I did not intend to convey gloom and doom, apologies if that was the message that came across. That was not my intention.

Thanks
Judy

From: "Bucksch, Alexander - (bucksch)" <bucksch at arizona.edu>
Date: Monday, March 25, 2024 at 10:20 AM
To: "Brown, Judith K - (jkbrown)" <JBrown at ag.arizona.edu>
Cc: "plantsci at list.cals.arizona.edu" <plantsci at list.cals.arizona.edu>
Subject: Re: [Plantsci] Questions for March 26 Tues SPLS All-Employee meeting 10:00-10:50 am

Dear Judy,

Thank you for the opportunity to ask questions to the deans office. I respond to your request during the faculty meeting to ask my questions directly to the deans office.

You reported to us that the deans office demonstrated to you how SPLS is financially behind most other units in CALES. However, this conflicts with the projection data for our unit that the deans office published on March 11 on the COMPASS website. In fact, the projections for SPLS are good according to the deans office! I attach you the Projection summary.

I think if there is an additional financial crisis looming over our unit that impacts the way we do our work as you reported, then we need to discuss this data at the very beginning of the meeting and get the data explained in detail. I think it is outmost important to fully understand the data used to judge our work and understand where you were coming from in the faculty meeting. Therefore, I ask for an explanation of the data that your report was founded on.

It would also be helpful to distribute the data showing us in a financially bad light before the meeting. In that way, we can prepare sound and thoughtful questions instead of ad hoc opinions. Looking forward to you sharing this data with us because an improved understanding will benefit all of us and keeps the meeting on time.

Thank you for your support of our unit,
Alex

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[cid:image002.png at 01DA7EAE.331E1630]

Dr. Alexander Bucksch
Associate Professor - School of Plant Sciences
BIO5 member
GIDP Faculty in Data Science & Statistics and Applied Mathematics

e: bucksch at arizona.edu
w: http://www.computational-plant-science.org
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abucksch/

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http://www.ipps8.org/

We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples. Today, Arizona is home to 22 federally recognized tribes, with Tucson being home to the O’odham and the Yaqui. Committed to diversity and inclusion, the University strives to build sustainable relationships with sovereign Native Nations and Indigenous communities through education offerings, partnerships, and community service.

On Mar 23, 2024, at 6:43 PM, Brown, Judith K - (jkbrown) <JBrown at ag.arizona.edu> wrote:

Dear Everyone,

You are invited to share your questions in advance of Tuesday’s meeting.
Please forward to me before the end of the day Monday March 25th.

https://arizona.zoom.us/j/83409301693

Available to help answer your questions will be myself and the following from CALES:
Mr. Jeff Ratje – broad UA-CALES questions, budget
Janice Rutherford -  CALES budget questions
Leslie Bonilla – SPLS business office and budget questions

Thank you – see you all there,

Judy / Dr. Brown

P.S. There is a class in the room at 11:00 am, so we’ll need to vacate the room no later than 10:50am. Thanks for your cooperation.
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