[Plsfaculty] [CATMAIL] Ad hoc Curriculum Re-Imagined Committee

Thu Mar 21 14:52:07 MST 2024

Hi Ravi and all,

Apologies, I didn’t intend to delay so long to address your valid questions – it’s been a busy couple of days. Let me get back to you shortly, and no longer than first thing in the morning, before faculty meeting. I started preparing a draft document with bullet points to guide the ad hoc committee’s survey but have not completed it. I believe this information will clarify the objective and goals.  In brief, selected course data/metrics will be studied and summarized by the ad hoc committee and me. The information once collated will become the tool for the grad and undergrad Curriculum committees to evaluate the SPLS courses/curriculum. The emphasis is on specific criteria, per CALES request to all units.

Thanks for your patience, more soon -

Judy

Judith K. Brown
Regents Professor
School of Plant Sciences
The University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721 USA
Office: 520-621-1402
Cell: 520-490-2109
Email: jbrown at ag.arizona.edu<mailto:jbrown at ag.arizona.edu> or jkbrown at arizona.edu<mailto:jkbrown at arizona.edu>

From: "Palanivelu, Ravishankar - (rpalaniv)" <rpalaniv at arizona.edu>
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 6:58 PM
To: "Brown, Judith K - (jkbrown)" <JBrown at ag.arizona.edu>, "Beilstein, Mark A - (mbeilstein)" <mbeilstein at arizona.edu>
Cc: "Mclain, Jean - (mclainj)" <mclainj at arizona.edu>, "Plsfaculty at list.cals.arizona.edu" <Plsfaculty at list.cals.arizona.edu>, "Staten, Michael E - (statenm)" <statenm at arizona.edu>, "Chorover, Jon - (chorover)" <chorover at arizona.edu>
Subject: Re: [CATMAIL] Ad hoc Curriculum Re-Imagined Committee

Hi Judy,

Thank you for providing context and some explanations for the rationale behind your forming the ad hoc committee and for offering to speak about it in our Faculty meeting on Friday. I also look forward to hearing from Barry on Friday.

I'd like to revisit the initial email sent by Mark and me and emphasize our request to gain further insight into the ad hoc committee you've established – its mission, tasks, and objectives. Clarifying these details will help prevent unnecessary duplication of effort and streamline our committee functions.

Thank you
Ravi
--
Ravishankar Palanivelu, Ph. D.
Professor
School of Plant Sciences
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona, 85721
Phone: 520-626-2229
Fax: 520-621-7186
Web: http://ag.arizona.edu/research/ravilab
________________________________
From: Plsfaculty <plsfaculty-bounces at list.cals.arizona.edu> on behalf of Brown, Judith K - (jkbrown) <JBrown at ag.arizona.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2024 4:47 PM
To: Beilstein, Mark A - (mbeilstein) <mbeilstein at arizona.edu>
Cc: Mclain, Jean - (mclainj) <mclainj at arizona.edu>; Plsfaculty at list.cals.arizona.edu <Plsfaculty at list.cals.arizona.edu>; Staten, Michael E - (statenm) <statenm at arizona.edu>; Chorover, Jon - (chorover) <chorover at arizona.edu>
Subject: Re: [Plsfaculty] [CATMAIL] Ad hoc Curriculum Re-Imagined Committee

This is the way i’d like to proceed Mark.  Please go with the flow.

Your committee and the curriculum committee have there hands full right now and i wanted to start the ball rolling before the summer break.  Your committee and undergrad curriculum committee will have the lion’s share of the work to arrive at the final plan after the faculty have time to brainstorm.

I’ve summarize the background and charge for now.

Thanks

Judy

Judith K. Brown

Regents Professor

School of Plant Sciences

The University of Arizona

Tucson, AZ 85721 USA

Office: 520-621-1402

Cell: 520-490-2109

Email: jbrown at ag.arizona.edu<mailto:jbrown at ag.arizona.edu> or jkbrown at arizona.edu<mailto:jkbrown at arizona.edu>

From: Mark A Beilstein <mbeilstein at arizona.edu>
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 3:57 PM
To: "Brown, Judith K - (jkbrown)" <JBrown at ag.arizona.edu>
Cc: "Plsfaculty at list.cals.arizona.edu" <Plsfaculty at list.cals.arizona.edu>, "Mclain, Jean - (mclainj)" <mclainj at arizona.edu>, "Staten, Michael E - (statenm)" <statenm at arizona.edu>, "Chorover, Jon - (chorover)" <chorover at arizona.edu>
Subject: Re: [CATMAIL] Ad hoc Curriculum Re-Imagined Committee

Hi Judy,

Thanks for the response. I guess I'm still confused as to the need for an ad hoc committee when existing committees already are tasked with addressing our curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels - a fact you noted in your response. There is also an Undergraduate Recruitment Committee tasked with increasing enrollment in our courses and majors. It would be good to understand more about how you envision this committee contributing and coordinating with existing committees. You've listed a number of urgent issues in your email and these sound like the basis of a much more involved discussion among our faculty. I again request more information beyond a simple introduction of the new ad hoc committee at our faculty meeting. My GSPC update will be brief and since Matt Jenks cannot attend I assume there will be time for a robust discussion and brainstorming which should involve our entire faculty.

Since the entire faculty are copied here, I will let others indicate whether they agree and would like to hear more about the topics you outlined in your email, as well as ways in which you expect the new ad hoc committee to address them.

Thanks,

Mark

On Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 2:23 PM Brown, Judith K - (jkbrown) <JBrown at ag.arizona.edu<mailto:JBrown at ag.arizona.edu>> wrote:

Hi Mark

I’m pleased to know you’re reading the emails. To economize on time at faculty meeting this week, i planned on introducing the topic briefly during announcements, and and ask Barry who is Chairing/Matt-co-chairing for a very brief update,  given the ad hoc committee has only initiated their study.  When completed, the committee will present a summary and recommendations for further brainstorming and discussion at our meeting in May, which is as noted, is on the agenda for the May faculty meeting. If there is sufficient interest to meet in greater detail before summer break (coming quickly), a half day or more could be devoted to the topic to set the stage for an action plan to be taken up by the Grad Program-Curriculum and Undergrad Curriculum Committee. I discussed this possibility briefly with Ramin and Shelley who both have been involved in past discussions and revamping, as does Samantha, somewhat more recently.

I’ll provide a preview. Based on UA and national concerns among universities, enrollment is expected to decline soon and in the future. We have been asked to begin strategic review of our curriculum and align for present and future needs.  One immediate need is to envision which courses are the highest priorities – core/required courses and faculty resources available to teach those courses. Goals are to make our courses more appealing to students, increase enrollment as is possible, and brand/market our degree programs to highlight our unique positioning in arid crops and abiotic/biotic stresses, as well as fundamentals of plant sciences and plant pathology.  This is in line with urgent students’ requests to offer required courses annually, among others. This is in line with an analogous mandate from Dean Burgess to increase overall course enrollment and Mike Staten’s request to either top teaching low enrollment courses or arrive at a strategic-creative solutions to retain w/ greater enrollment numbers. Likewise, we are asked to remove caps on courses because this can restrict enrollment. Increased enrollment could lead to resources such as TA’s or graders for example, also to be considered as we re-imagine our grad and undergrad curriculum.

We’ve heard most of this already based on memos and zoom/live meetings. The urgency also presents itself given the loss of at least 14% of our faculty FTE because of the current and near-future budget shortfalls. We do not anticipate these latter positions to be filled.  As retirements ensue, the understanding now is that those positions likewise will not be filled. It has therefore become our responsibility of the SPLS faculty to review/develop/revise and execute a viable curriculum for our current students and one that will appeal to future students recruited into our majors and considering shared majors enrollment as well. This is my take on it.

The discussion planned for our May meeting is intended to pave the way to next steps in brainstorming and discussion and to guide the curriculum committees/Undergrad and Grad to fully develop the curriculum, sequencing, re-branding and complete this task before fall 2024 deadlines for revising or creating new course syllabi. Potentially viable strategies (similar) have been developed in the past when faced with budget cuts or to address other strategic modifications, but most have apparently not made it out of the gate.  Ramin reminded me of such discussions and has offered to assist when the time comes. He is  attempting to locate those documents or PPT presentations that could save time and potentially avoid completely re-inventing the wheel.

When i planned the Agenda for Friday, i was aware you’d be occupied with recruitment activities-follow up so initially did not include you for an update this week, but both because it is timely, and Matt Jenks has a conflict, you’ll have a slot on the agenda this week.  This will offer an opportunity to apprise on the status of grad recruitment and any other relevant items from committee activities (please see the revised agenda).  Gentle reminder to place updated Guidance documents for Grad Program Committee and Grad Curriculum. Also, when was the Grad Curriculum last reviewed/discussed, and who might know the whereabouts of the outcomes and recommendations, also useful as we move forward.

I attach the revised Agenda for Friday and the SPLS 2024 strategic plan for everyone’s consideration as documents are revised and we plan for the near-present and future success of SPLS graduate and undergraduate academic programs.

Thanks,

Judy

From: Mark A Beilstein <mbeilstein at arizona.edu<mailto:mbeilstein at arizona.edu>>
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 12:11 PM
To: "Brown, Judith K - (jkbrown)" <JBrown at ag.arizona.edu<mailto:JBrown at ag.arizona.edu>>
Cc: "Arnold, Betsy - (fungi)" <Arnold at ag.arizona.edu<mailto:Arnold at ag.arizona.edu>>, "Baltrus, David A - (baltrus)" <baltrus at arizona.edu<mailto:baltrus at arizona.edu>>, "Schumaker, Karen S - (schumake)" <schumake at arizona.edu<mailto:schumake at arizona.edu>>, "Bucksch, Alexander - (bucksch)" <bucksch at arizona.edu<mailto:bucksch at arizona.edu>>, "Woodson, Jesse D - (jessewoodson)" <jessewoodson at arizona.edu<mailto:jessewoodson at arizona.edu>>, "Mcmahon, Michelle M - (mcmahonm)" <mcmahonm at arizona.edu<mailto:mcmahonm at arizona.edu>>, "Palanivelu, Ravishankar - (rpalaniv)" <rpalaniv at arizona.edu<mailto:rpalaniv at arizona.edu>>, "Yadegari, Ramin - (yadegari)" <yadegari at arizona.edu<mailto:yadegari at arizona.edu>>, "Orchard, Samantha - (orchard)" <orchard at arizona.edu<mailto:orchard at arizona.edu>>, "Pauli, William Duke - (dukepauli)" <dukepauli at arizona.edu<mailto:dukepauli at arizona.edu>>, "Jenks, Matthew - (jenksm)" <jenksm at arizona.edu<mailto:jenksm at arizona.edu>>, "Wickramage, Amritha S - (amritha)" <amritha at arizona.edu<mailto:amritha at arizona.edu>>, "Mclain, Jean - (mclainj)" <mclainj at arizona.edu<mailto:mclainj at arizona.edu>>
Subject: [CATMAIL] Ad hoc Curriculum Re-Imagined Committee

Hi Judy,

Ravi and I noticed on the proposed agenda for the May 17th faculty meeting that an ad hoc Curriculum Re-Imagined Committee will present findings. This is the first we've heard of this committee and we would like to hear more about the committee's charge and responsibilities. I request that you add an agenda item at the faculty meeting on Friday, March 22 to update the faculty. In particular, members of our committees would like to know more about how the responsibilities for this ad hoc committee are distinct from the existing GSP and Curriculum Committees.

Members of these committees are copied here.

Best,

Mark and Ravi

Committee Chairs of GSP and Curriculum

___________________
Mark Beilstein, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Director of Graduate Studies

Bart Cardon Fellow

School of Plant Sciences

P.O. Box 210036
Forbes Building, Room 303
Tucson, AZ 85721-0036

____________________
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/plsfaculty/attachments/20240321/85c55076/attachment-0001.htm>