Dear all,<br><br>Thank you, Ramin and Bentley, for your thoughts. A few reflections:<br><br>1. In fall 2012, we chose to offer two journal clubs for students in our School. The expectation (and outcome) was that both would do this:<br>
<br><span style="border-collapse:separate;font-family:Helvetica;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;font-size:medium"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125)">.... not only educate them (the students) about the most
recent findings but also to train the students to read and interpret the
data independently. </span></span><br><br>Karen's course has done so in the context of plant biology; the course that I have coordinated with Dave and Rachel has done so in the context of microbial biology. Much as Karen has selected papers from wide-ranging areas of plant biology, we too we have selected papers from wide-ranging aspects of microbial biology. <br>
<br>Importantly, students from both of our graduate majors were free to enroll in either
course, or both, as they wish: there were no restrictions.<br>
<br>2. Further, we chose to have parallel courses in fall 2012 so that (1) students could gain the aforementioned skills while being updated in the areas of research into which their work broadly falls, and (2) discussion groups would remain at a reasonable size. The microbial biology course typically has brought together 12-16 participants per week, for example, which is a manageable size for a good discussion. <br>
<br>3. At present, there is no restriction on graduate students who might wish to participate in journal club courses in other schools/departments. Students from my group, for example, sometimes have taken discussion courses in EEB. This enhances their graduate experience by complementing what they get in their home department, and would 'count' as fulfilling a journal club requirement.<br>
<br>4. Also, at present there is no restriction on our faculty with regard to offering journal club courses within our School. I have offered such a course for students interested in the recent literature regarding fungal biology almost every semester since 2005. Should faculty identify a group of students with strong interests it seems logical to provide a study group/journal club forum. <br>
<br>5. Our goal for spring 2013 was to offer faculty the opportunity to teach a journal club course that they feel would serve students in our School. Marc kindly volunteered to lead one; the course he will teach will serve some of our students very well. We could call this the 'school-wide journal club,' but instead thought that it would be appropriate to complement it with a course resembling Karen's excellent one from this fall, as some students will have limited interests in fungi. This motivated my open call. <br>
<br>My highlighting Marc's generosity in offering such a course is not meant to deter any other faculty from offering a thematic or plant-focused or school-wide course.<br><br>6. Your idea of alternating PLP and PLS courses each semester strikes me as a viable model and this is worth our evaluation as a faculty. My preference is that instead of a 'professors on parade' kind of structure, journal clubs be organized by one or a few faculty at a time; this tends to foster more interactive discussion, in my experience, within a given semester. Thus we would need buy-in from faculty willing to invest in this effort.<br>
<br>To conclude: these are my thoughts and are offered mostly to say thanks for the points you both have raised. I believe that discussions in person are likely to be more fruitful than by email, so perhaps we can raise these issues in our Curriculum and Graduate Program committees, with warm welcomes for input from interested faculty, and then can present a perspective at a future faculty meeting?<br>
<br>In the meantime, I hope that we will find excellent journal club opportunities for all of our students in 2013. Thank you to faculty who might be willing to lead one, and for all who would like to continue this conversation with our committees/in person.<br>
<br>Betsy<br><br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 6:03 PM, Fane, Bentley A - (bfane) <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bfane@email.arizona.edu" target="_blank">bfane@email.arizona.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<div>That is a very sound idea. Breadth of knowledge is becoming more critical. In the absence of broad, school-wide journal club, perhaps we should expand on your idea. As many faculty hold joint appointments in other departments and with the increasing
emphasis on collaborative research, perhaps we should encourage students to alternate between a PLS journal club and one taught in another department?</div>
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<div>On Oct 25, 2012, at 4:37 PM, Ramin Yadegari wrote:</div>
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<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125)">Dear Betsy, et al.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125)">Perhaps it would be most beneficial to our students to alternate a PLP- and a PLS-focused journal club every semester. In line with the view of many of us who supported
the idea of a school-wide journal club, this would encourage and enable a broader education of our graduate students and participation by our faculty members. The original idea was to help the students of all levels in reading and interpreting the literature
that may or may not be directly related to their research area, as means of broadening their education and potentially creating research links within the school. My understanding of Karen’s journal club (PLS 595B) is that she chose papers from a wide-ranging
area of plant biology in order to not only educate them about the most recent findings but also to train the students to read and interpret the data independently. I would prefer to see the same approach maintained by our faculty members in a consistent basis.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125)">Best,<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125)">Ramin<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif"><span> </span><a href="mailto:plsfaculty-bounces@CALS.arizona.edu" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">plsfaculty-bounces@CALS.arizona.edu</a><span> </span>[mailto:<a href="mailto:plsfaculty-bounces@CALS.arizona.edu" target="_blank">plsfaculty-bounces@CALS.arizona.edu</a>]<span> </span><b>On
Behalf Of<span> </span></b>Betsy Arnold<br>
<b>Sent:</b><span> </span>Thursday, October 25, 2012 11:56 AM<br>
<b>To:</b><span> </span><a href="mailto:plsfaculty@ag.arizona.edu" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">plsfaculty@ag.arizona.edu</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b><span> </span>[Plsfaculty] Journal clubs, spring 2013<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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Dear colleagues,<u></u><u></u></div>
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A vital aspect of our graduate students' training lies in learning to critically evaluate the primary literature. To this end, students are encouraged to enroll in "journal club" courses throughout their graduate careers. In fall 2012, two such courses have
been taught in our School: one by Karen Schumaker, and one by me, with co-leadership by Dave Baltrus and Rachel Gallery (SNRE).<u></u><u></u></div>
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For spring 2013, Marc Orbach has graciously volunteered to lead a journal club focusing on Current Topics in Fungal Biology. He expects that this will focus on signaling, development, and population biology, and he plans to tailor the topics to best serve
the students who enroll. Thank you for teaching this course, Marc!<u></u><u></u></div>
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At this point we are seeking another faculty member who might be willing to offer a plant-centric or 'thematic' journal club. Would you be willing/interested?<span> </span><br>
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Please contact me ASAP if you'd like to do so, and feel free to send questions my way.<u></u><u></u></div>
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With many thanks,<u></u><u></u></div>
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Betsy Arnold<u></u><u></u></div>
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--<span> </span><br>
<span style="font-size:7.5pt">---------------------------------<br>
A. Elizabeth (Betsy) Arnold<br>
School of Plant Sciences<br>
The University of Arizona<br>
Tucson, AZ 85721<br>
<br>
<a href="http://arnoldlab.net" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">http://arnoldlab.net</a><br>
<a href="mailto:arnold@ag.arizona.edu" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">arnold@ag.arizona.edu</a></span><br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><font size="1">---------------------------------<br>A. Elizabeth (Betsy) Arnold<br>School of Plant Sciences<br>The University of Arizona<br>Tucson, AZ 85721<br><br><a href="http://arnoldlab.net" target="_blank">http://arnoldlab.net</a><br>
<a href="mailto:arnold@ag.arizona.edu" target="_blank">arnold@ag.arizona.edu</a></font><br><br><br>