Hi. My name is Kevin Franken. I'm a senior Environmental Biology major at
Eastern Illinois University. Currently, there is a proposal to merge the
Botany and Zoology Dept's into the Dept of Biological Sciences. The vast
majority of the Botany faculty here OPPOSE it because they fear the
high-quality Botany program here will suffer (and for many other reasons).
In past mergers at other universities, it has been said that Botany faculty
and course offerings DECLINE after such mergers.
What I'm looking for is DATA/EVIDENCE to support that idea. Do you or anyone
you know have access to such data or can get a hold of such data showing a
decline of Botany faculty and course offerings AFTER a merger with a Zoology
Dept? If you have such info, please show the Botany faculty #'s and course
offerings BEFORE the merger and AFTER. If yes, could you send that
information to me via email or regular mail? My fellow students and I are
trying to bring evidence to our Student Senate, Faculty Senate, and
administration. Such info. would be very useful.
Do you have any advice for our movement here? Do you know any
names/emails of faculty at other universities who I could contact
regarding this?
Also, EIU currently offers a BS degree in Botany and Zoology and
Environmental Biology, if the merger goes through, only a BS in
Biological Sciences will be offered, with an option in Environmental
Biology, and a concentration in Botany (and other areas). I don't think a
degree in Botany is the same thing as a concentration in Botany, do you?
How can we ensure our strengths in organismal and field botany are
preserved?
Do you know the names of any listserv's/newsgroups I could post this msg on?
Thank you for your time.
Kevin Franken
1930 W. Delray
Peoria, IL 61614
309-692-1729
Please send responses to me (kfranken2 at hotmail.com), the newsgroup, or both.
Please indicate which newsgroup you saw my msg on.
