Hi there. I read your message with interest. I am a student at Eastern
Illinois University where the Botany and Zoology Departments just merged
as of July 1 despite opposition by students, faculty, emeriti, alumni,
employers, etc. Our fears were that Botany would lose out. It's
happening here just like at dozens of other universities. Botany
faculty and course offerings have decreased. The Botany degree (BS) has
been eliminated and relegated to a mere concentration. OUTRAGEOUS!!
We have heard that people in power here want to remove Botany from the
curriculum. The Intro to Botany course was slated to be eliminated -
combined with intro to Zoology --> Intro to Biology 5 credit class
(monster). Luckily, it did not pass the faculty vote.
We fear future attacks on Botany will occur.
What we can do:
1. Make sure more mergers of Botany and Zoology Depts do NOT take place
unless assurances are made that Botany courses and faculty will not be
lost
2. Make the strong case for the importance of botany in our daily lives
3. do not let nonbotanists make botanists feel like they (botanists) are
inferior
It is a trend, partly due to ignorance. The nonbotanists here either
don't know about the high-quality and unique Botany program we have
here, or they don't care. Others are on power trips and want to
gain/exercise power over others. They are playing politics with
students' futures!
Our situation here is a mess. 2 exceptional faculty have left for
another university, leaving a student with only a BS teaching a 3200
level majors course (in Botany). SCANDALOUS!! For the first time in
years, we have no graduate courses in Botany being offered this
semester.
I could go on and on, but I've expressed the main points.
Hang in there, and fight for saving botany!
Kevin Franken
>Greetings,
>>I have just been talking with a professor at another University who is
>involed with writing a grant proposal for a curriculum for
preprofessional
>track students. This is a multi-campus endeavor. He was told that
>preprofessional students need only life skills and Botany had no life
>skills so it could be removed from the curriculum. When he asked what
> a life skill was he was given an example of pH. Two Universities had
>already removed Botany from their Intro Biology course. Is this a
>growing trend or just continued ignorance on the part of nonbotanists?
>I'm a little steamed since I, as a Botanist, am expected to know lots
of
>nonbotanical things.
>>How do we defend our profession?
>>Cyndy
>>>>--
>Dr. Cynthia M. Galloway
>Associate Professor
>Dept. of Biology
>Campus Box 158
>Texas A&M University
>Kingsville, TX 78363
>>(512)595-3790
>FAX: 512/595-3409
>>>
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