[Plsfaculty] Follow up question from faculty meeting

Sun Nov 19 15:51:49 MST 2023

Hi all,

I have attached a file showing enrollment in all SPLS-associated undergraduate and graduate degrees from 2014 to present for those of you who are interested in seeing them. These numbers are from the College’s COMPASS site and are a ‘snapshot’ on the Fall census date for each academic year.

The reason I am sending this to you now is to correct the record because Janis was incorrect when she said that enrollment in our BS in PLS program has been declining – indeed, we currently have the highest enrollment in this major that we have had since 2014 and have seen an increase in enrollment each year since 2017 (red numbers in table, below)! I have written to Janis to let her know; I think she (or whoever provided her with the data) might have only been looking at enrollment in the major for students with no emphasis (bottom line in my table, below) and since we introduced emphases to the major in 2020, the enrollment numbers have been shifting to new lines in the COMPASS site and must be added together by the viewer since COMPASS does not provide the total.

Actual numbers for Fall Semester CENSUS DATE
Academic Program
2014-15
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24

B.S. in Plant Sciences
33
26
26
23
34
38
45
46
47
48
General Plant Sciences emphasis

1
10
11
14
Plant Health Sciences emphasis

1
4
9
11
No emphasis or undeclared emphasis
33
26
26
23
34
38
43
32
27
23

I agree with Dave that we’ve done everything the upper admin has asked, and I too am frustrated that they still ask for more to solve problems that we had no hand in creating. It’s even more frustrating when they base their criticisms of/plans for us on faulty information (this is not the first time this year that I have had to correct their information for them)!

-Samantha

From: Plsfaculty <plsfaculty-bounces at list.cals.arizona.edu> On Behalf Of Baltrus, David A - (baltrus)
Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2023 10:25 AM
To: Galbraith, David W - (galbrait) <galbrait at arizona.edu>; Plsfaculty at list.cals.arizona.edu
Subject: [Plsfaculty] Follow up question from faculty meeting

Hi all,

Just wanted to follow up on a couple of discussion points at faculty meeting yesterday. First is that (and apologies for my own ineloquence on this, it was definitely not my intention to even give the appearance of slight towards any of our faculty or programs), since the Dean started, he has told SPLS to work to our strengths and grow in the ways that work best for us. From what I can see, we have done everything they have asked and have actually grown all aspects of our program in all directions. I think we are now an incredibly strong teaching and research program and while the main Plant Sciences major might be the numerical focus of some in the Dean's office and has declined, it's important for us to continually highlight how we have built this program into a well-rounded School. At the heart of it, I think this is what one of the most frustrating aspects of the recent financial crisis is...we've done everything that upper admin has asked and yet their solution is to do more, more. And to do more over time frames that are unreasonable given how academic bureaucracy works.

Second, following on a comment/response from Ramin/David at faculty meeting yesterday with David answering that he passes along everything he knows/has. One of the issues that's causing the most confusion and frustration right now amongst faculty is a lack of understanding of the context of the fiscal challenges we are facing. I don't know whether changes like forsaking lunch at faculty meeting or spending less on seminar cookies is a situation where we're rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic or actually making a difference. I understand that every little bit helps to bridge a gap, but outside of a ~1.5 million dollar figure I don't understand what the gap actually is in the context of the overall operations budget. So, I'd like to echo Ramin's question to better understand the financial situation in the School. From what I understand, CALS directly gives us the bulk of our money for a budget each year... please correct me if I'm wrong on this. I don't know that seeing a bunch of numbers in a spreadsheet will help everyone in a clear way. However, I think a better understanding of a few simple metrics, even at a ballpark level, will provide a much better context for all of us to understand the situation:

  1.  approximately how much did SPLS receive from CALS for this financial year?
  2.   Do we receive any money for general operating expenses from sources outside CALS?
  3.  How much does it cost to operate SPLS at a bare minimum salary-wise while maintaining all salaries at present levels?
  4.  How much are we billed by CALS (or upper admin?) for operations and maintenance for buildings / rooms / electricity etc....if at all?
  5.  How much other "cash on hand" do we have that can be spent on operation expenses if need be (not startups or other accounts that I agree should not be touched at all)?
  6.  I tried not to be too granular or specific about "discretionary funds" like money for cookies and whatnot while acknowledging that cookie money has to come from somewhere, but am I missing any other significant source of either income or operations expense that SPLS absolutely must cover in order to function?
I think that the general sense of confusion at finances is leading to a decent amount of stress for all of us and that stress manifests in frustration at many levels, and so any information that would provide a better context for understanding the state of SPLS in the context of what it takes to operate and function vis a vis the state of the University would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

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