We have four external reviewers coming to campus in November to review programs in three of our departments.  On November 2-3 we will have two reviewers here for GGP.  The reviewers will be meeting with faculty mostly in small groups on Monday and Tuesday morning.  These meetings are being scheduled as requested by the reviewers and you will have a full itinerary prior to their arrival.  The exit interview with the entire faculty will be Tuesday, November 3 beginning at 3:45 PM (place TBA).   On November 19-20 we will have one reviewer here for PAMS and one reviewer here for MTH.  The reviewers will tour facilities, meet with faculty, staff and students, and anyone else they request to meeting with.  The full itinerary will be distributed to all faculty in the department.  The exit interviews with the entire faculty will be Friday afternoon.  The exit interview with all PAMS faculty will begin at 3:00 PM (place TBA) and the exit interview with all MTH faculty will begin at 4:00 PM (place TBA).

Budget’s - Please watch President Nietzel’s Financial Outlook button on the homepage of the Missouri State University website.  We will be making some very, very important decisions over the next several months and I hope that you will each provide your input.  There will be opportunities university-wide as well as within the college.  I will be discussing options with department heads, the CNAS faculty advisory committee, and the CNAS student advisory committee.  I will be seeking everyone’s feedback via this blog as well as an all-college meeting as we proceed.

There are four events between now and November 18 that I want to call to your attention.

1.  October 24 is Expanding Your Horizons.  There will be 200 middle school girls on campus to do experiments and learn more about careers in STEM areas.  The event is primarily held in Temple Hall but sometimes we use Kemper Hall.  We will be having lunch and the career fair in PSU.

2.  October 26-31 is Homecoming Week.  A number of our alumni will return for advisory board meetings, meetings with friends, and maybe even the football game.  This is our time to shine.  Let’s show off our research and our labs and all of the wonderful work that students and faculty do everyday on this campus.  Let’s open our classroom doors and let everyone peak in and here about what we are teaching and the wonderful work that you do in the classroom everyday!  Enjoy the week.  I look forward to meeting a number of CNAS alumni during the week.

3.  November 14 is the MAKO Undergraduate Mathematics Research Conference.  http://math.missouristate.edu/43564.htm 

4.  November 18 – There will be a sustainability fair on the Missouri State University campus.  This event has two purposes.  First we want to celebrate our successes related to sustainble practices and second we want to lift up our commitment to sustainability on this campus and attempt to live up to the sustainability statement that was adopted in 2008.  Watch for more information on the Missouri State University website or the sustainability website – http://www.missouristate.edu/sustainability/.

I will be attempting to give you some needed deadlines and information through this blog so I hope that you will check it regularly. 

Majors Fair is Wednesday, September 23 – I look forward to seeing everyone’s displays.  This is a great opportunity to share our strengths with our current students and to prepare for all of the fall recruitment fairs that we will be attending.

Dr. Nietzel’s state of the university address is Tuesday, September 29 in the PSU Theatre. 

Many of you have mentioned over the years that you wished we had help so that we could provide more summer camps – especially related to STEM fields.  The president and provost have funded a “Science Education Project Director” position to help us do more.  This new position will report to me.  The search committee is meeting this week and I hope that the ad is out within the next two weeks.  The person in this position will be charged with seeking funding for summer camps as well as recruiting students to participate and help with coordination.  None of this will happen without faculty support as well and I certainly hope that some of this might turn into research projects and/or publications for faculty.  It is expected that both CNAS and COE faculty would be involved as co-PI’s or senior personnel on the grant proposals.  The position is funded for three years and it is hoped that the position would be grant funded after that time period.  I know that we have had a number of successful programs in the past and if you are interested in participating again, please let me know.

Program Reviews in CNAS – Computer Science progress report was presented to the BOG in May.  FID is working on their action plan.  GGP external reviewers will be here on November 2-3, 2009.   PAMS external reviewer will be here November 19-20, 2009.  I am reviewing the latest draft of the MTH SWOT analysis and action plan.  I am also reading the AG self-study.  We hope to have reviewers on campus for MTH and AG in late 2009 or early 2010.  BIO and CHM have started their self-studies and their first drafts are due March 1, 2009.

There will be a sustainability fair on campus November 18, 2009.  At this fair you will learn what Missouri State University is doing to be sustainable, you will learn about various faculty research projects involving sustainability, you will learn about student and faculty groups concerned with sustainability issues, and you will learn some actions that you can personally adopt to become more sustainable.  There will also be opportunities for you to share with Missouri State administration recommendations on what our next steps should be related to sustainability initiatives.  Watch for more information.

We hope to have a new/improved MNAS website and recruitment materials by November 1.  We have collected some possible degree program options and we will be posting some so students will be able to see examples of the variety of possibilities.  All CNAS faculty with current research projects will also be highlighted on this site so that students can contact faculty directly about opportunities to work in research groups.

A list of latest funding awards received by CNAS faculty: 

• Chris Barnhart: Award from The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the project entitled “Mussel Biologist”.  The award is in the amount of $21,751.00.
• Chris Barnhart: Award from The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the project entitled “Propagation and Culture of Winged Mapleleaf and Pink Mucket Musselss”.  The award is in the amount of $8,000.00.
• Alicia Mathis: Award from The National Park Service for the project entitled “Fire Effects Monitoring in Central Great Plains NPS Units”.  The award is in the amount of $79,298.00.
• Robert Pavlowski: Award from Olsson and Associates, Inc. for the project entitled “Geomorphic Assessment of Lackman Tributary, Lenexa, KS”.  The award is in the amount of $8,000.00.
• Robert Pavlowski: Award from the City of Springfield for the Springfield MS4/TMDL Monitoring Project.  The award is in the amount of $19,746.00.
• Lynn Robbins: Award from The Missouri Army National Guard for the project entitled “Acoustic and Mist Net Surveys for Bats With Emphasis on Endangered Bats from Macon”.  The award is in the amount of $28,087.00.
• Diane May and Shuo-Sheng Wu: Award from SEMA for the project entitled “Barry County Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan Update”.  The award is in the amount of $19,200.00.
• Dan Beckman: Award from the Missouri Department of Conservation for the project entitled “Ozark Cavefish Distribution and Life History Related to Mining in Jasper and Newton Counties”.  The award is in the amount of $42,190.00.
• Jane Hood: Award from the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce for the project entitled “Economic Development Services-Cost of Living Index Price Report”.  The award is in the amount of $750.00.

Congratulations to all faculty!!!  I know that several submissions have gone in the last month and I wish you all the best.

I hope you are having a great semester.  If you have any questions or comments please email me.

It feels like fall and the semester has started off with great news on Legacy Day.  We are well on our way to meeting our capital campaign goal and I am confident that CNAS will be a major player in the campaign.

Funding for external projects continues to flow in to CNAS.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for submitting the proposals. 

Faculty Research Grant Proposals are due on September 28 – http://graduate.missouristate.edu/facultysupport.htm (Don’t forget to give your department head and dean time to read your proposal and write their comments.)

Ø  If the department feels the need to change performance rating criteria for faculty evaluation for compensation you must do so by October 2. 

Ø  All application materials for promotion (including promotion to senior instructor) and tenure are due to department heads by October 9.

Ø  Departmental committees review all promotion/tenure materials and submit their recommendations and rationale to the department head by October 30.  (Candidate receives a copy and has three days to review, respond and sign.)

Ø  Summer Fellowship Proposals (university funds) are due November 2 – http://graduate.missouristate.edu/facultysupport.htm

Ø  Sabbatical Applications will be due to the Dean’s office on November 2.

Ø  Department head reviews all promotion/tenure materials and submits recommendation and rationale to candidate by November 20.  (Candidate receives a copy and has three days to review, respond and sign.)

Ø  College Dean reviews all promotion/tenure materials and submits recommendation and rationale to candidate by December 16.  (Candidate has three days to review, respond, and sign.)

Minimum qualifications – CNAS tenured faculty with funded external research grant in the past 5 years.

CNAS Faculty Fellow for Research Duties

ü  Provide one-on-one help to faculty who want some extra help on grant writing – organization, clarity of objectives, inclusion of required materials (e.g., undergraduate teaching component, ethics, outreach to schools/community, space, vendor quotations, and deliverables),  and budgets.

ü  Coordinate and offer a workshop on grant-writing for college faculty each semester or at least once a year.

ü  Build a team and help that team submit one major proposal in the year.  (Dean’s office already has 3-4 ideas.)

Term – One year but the position is renewable upon application and satisfactory performance.

Successful candidates will receive a one-course release during the spring semester and a stipend of $2500 for the fall 2009 semester and $2500 for the spring 2010 semester.  (Typically the candidates would receive a course release for both semesters but I can’t do that this fall with the late start.  I realize that this may make for a slow start this fall but I still think that we can get something accomplished.)

To apply – Send a letter of interest addressing the qualifications requested, any experience on a federal review panel, and any other ideas you would have for this position to CNAS Dean’s Office by 5:00 PM, September 10, 2009.

To nominate a colleague – Send a letter to the CNAS Dean’s Office and we will notify and encourage your colleague to apply.

The CNAS Administrative Team will serve as the search committee for this appointment.

The state of the college powerpoint is posted on the website – http://www.cnas.missouristate.edu/. If you have any questions about the presentation please let me know.

All CNAS Committees will meet in the next month.  Committees membership and committee charges will be posted on the website shortly after the first of September.

Cool News –

One of our own is on PBS next month!!!!  “Paving the Way” is showing Sunday, September 20^th (part one) and Sunday, September 27^th (part two) and Judy Meyer (GGP) is in it!!!!  I got the DVD early and have seen it.  It is awesome and I hope you take the chance to view it.  http://www.pavingtheway.tv/

National Science Foundation – Kyungtae Kim (PI) and co-PI’s – Jack Steiert, Brian Weaver and Lifeng Dong just received word that their MRI proposal for a Spinning Confocal Microscope was funded.  CONGRATULTIONS!!

National Science Foundation – Janice Greene received word that her proposal for a wet lab at Bull Shoals Field Station was funded.  CONGRATULATIONS!!

Please send me other examples of “cool news”.  I would like to lift up good things happening with faculty and/or students.

As most of you aware we have a new associate dean.  Pawan Kahol has agreed to serve the college as associate dean and his appointment will start on August 17, 2009.  This clearly means that we have leadership challenges in the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Materials Science but I am confident that a leader will arise this week and that the department will have an acting department head appointed by August 17.

I wanted to let you know that the Board of Governors Academic Affairs Committee has requested a report on research from the Provost.    In attempt to show them something more than numbers, Frank Einhellig agreed to collect up all books and publications from 2008 and take them to this meeting.  The CNAS stacks that I have received from the deaprtments are truly impressive and I know that it will have a enormous impact.  I hope that this becomes an annual event for the board.  I plan to make copies of these papers before I send them back to the departments as I want to be displaying these regularly as well.  Our advisory board members, alumni, and friends need to know the outstanding work that you do.  Please share a copy of future publications with my office.

August Events to put on your calendars!

August 20 – CNAS State of the College Address at 10:30 AM in Meyer Library Room 101

August 23 – New Student Convocation at 2:00 PM

August 24 – Classes Start!!!!!

August 28 – Legacy Day – opening of Siceluff Hall, picnic for all in the evening

September 14 – All Faculty Reception from 3-5 PM in PSU

September 29 – President’s State of the University Address – NOON in PSU Theater

I will be busy from now until classes start.  First a dean’s conference in Arkansas, then a short vacation, then finish my syllabus and prepare for class, and submit an NSF proposal before classes start.

Tammy

Our associate dean, Inno Onwueme, is retiring from Missouri State State University at the end of the summer and has taken a position at Indiana University in Indiana, Pennsylvania.  Inno will be one of the associate provosts at Indiana University.  In addition this places Inno closer to his children and his first grandchild.  I am so honored that I have had the opportunity to work with and get to know Inno.  I will miss him.  There will be an event on July 27th beginning at 3:00 PM in PSU400 for all of us to send him off in style.  I hope that you will join me at this event.

We have two new department heads in the college since I last wrote.  Dr. Alan Schick has arrived in Springfield from Richmond, Kentucky and began his duties as head of the Department of Chemistry on July 1.  Dr. Paula Kemp began her duties as acting head of the Department of Fashion and Interior Design on July1. 

I want to thank Dr. Eric Bosch and Dr. Jeannie Ireland for their service as acting department heads.  They both served with honor and integrity and I appreciate their willingness.

This summer I have worked on the behind the scenes details to ensure the success of the cooperative engineering program.  I have also been busy trying to keep the program review process moving along and attempting to make sure it is a meaningful process.  The computer science action plan was reviewed at the BOG meeting in May and I will be reviewing progress on action plans annually between self-studies.  The FID action plan is being monitored and Dr. Kemp will be working with the faculty to make progress on their plan.  The GGP, MTH, and PAMS self-studies are in the provost’s office and I will be meeting with the provost later this month to make the final choice on external reviewers and to set up the site visit.  I will post those just as soon as they are set up.  I am also meeting with BIO and CHM as they will be starting their self-studies this fall.  AG is going to do a mini-study and bring in consultants this fall in preparation for a full self-study and action plan in the near future.  I believe that this self-study process give us the opportunity to articulate our strengths and build on them; recognize the threats and address them, if possible; act on the opportunities; and address our weaknesses.

The university is reviewing the long-range plan and the progress that has been made so far.  We will probably begin to plan for the next long-range plan starting this fall.  The college is reviewing the strategic plan that we worked on this past year.  We will post the progress that we have made on various projects and then seek input for those items that we should be working on for the coming year. 

Important Dates for end of summer

July 27 Inno’s retirement party at 3:00 PM in PSU400

July 31 – Summer Commencement at 1:00 PM

August 18 – New Faculty Orientation

August 19 – Showcase on Teaching and Learning  (hope to see you there)

August 20 – All College Meeting at 10:30 AM in Meyer Library room 101

August 24 – Fall Classes Begin (I’ll be teaching CHM200/201 this fall.)

August 28 – Legacy Day

September 15 – All Faculty Reception from 3-5 PM at Juanita K. Hammons Hall  (recognitions for years of service, foundation awards, and retirement)

September 29 – State of the University Address by Dr. Nietzel at NOON in the PSU Theatre

I am going to get back to a regular schedule of posting.  Please email me with questions and comments.   I would be happy to address your concerns and I would very much like to include your successes in a future blog.

This year’s regional science fair was held last week.  The numbers of participants continue to drop.  I hear that the time commitment required of teachers for the process has impacted the number of participants.  The teachers enthusiastically support science fair projects but they can only do so much.  Is there a way that we and our students could help?  Let me know.

Tammy

I had a great meeting with the CNAS Faculty Advisory Committee last week but only four faculty attended.  I would like to hear from more of you so I’m going to plan some “meet me for coffee” sessions in April.  Please bring your ideas or questions.  If I don’t know the answers to your questions I will find them.

      Coffee with the Dean – Temple Hall 145

                 April 2 at 9:00 AM

                 April 6 at 2:00 PM

                 April 14 at 2:00 PM

                 April 29 at 3:00 PM

President Nietzel and Provost McCarthy have requested the opportunity to meet with us on Tuesday, April 7 at noon in the Meyer Library Auditorium.  They are in fact meeting with each of the colleges regarding the topics of student recruitment, enrollment management and budget.  I urge you to attend this very important all-college meeting. 

President Nietzel and Provost McCarthy have requested the opportunity to meet with us on Tuesday, April 7 at noon in the Meyer Library Auditorium.  They are in fact meeting with each of the colleges regarding the topics of student recruitment, enrollment management and budget.  I urge you to attend this very important all-college meeting. 

Although I have tried to stay in communication with you through the department heads and this blog regarding budget, enrollment management and student recruitment issues Dr. Nietzel and Dr. McCarthy wanted an opportunity to communicate directly with us. 

Budget News – This changes on a daily basis in Jefferson City but last week one of the proposals was to lower the appropriations to higher education to FY06 levels for FY10 and FY11.  And then to keep the Governor’s promise they would use one-time stimulus money to hold our appropriations to the FY09 level.  Well that might work for FY10 and FY11 the stimulus money will be gone in FY12 and then we could be back at FY06 funding levels.  Once we know the budget and how it will be funded we will be able to respond in more detail but for now we need to watch our budgets and to be wise in our spending.

Enrollment Management – I have mentioned a number of actions that departments are taking to better manage enrollments.  We must meet the needs of our current students but we must be smart and efficent in our course offerings.  Some of you will be offering courses only once each year and some are considering offering upper division courses only once every other year.  Both of these options can work if we advise students well and communicate with them often.  One department in our college has taken a critical look at their curriculum with the help of their advisory board to not only increase academic rigor but actually streamline the curriculum.  That department deleted more classes than they added.  Over the past year we have looked more critically at the intersession and summer courses that we offer.  We want to offer courses that important for our programs and for our students.  There have been some courses that have not met those criteria either were not offered or will not be offered.

Student Recruitment – I had the opportunity to welcome about 50 high school students on Thursday as they attended Sonia Kovalesky Day.    Dr. Larry Campbell and others in the mathematics department directed this event to encourage young women to seek out careers in math and science.  Sonia Kovalesky was the first woman to earn a PhD in mathematics and I learned what a “perfect” number was at the event.  This event along with the many other events that we host on campus are great opportunities to recruit students.  We should always mention that they are most welcome to return and that we would be honored to have them as students on our campus in the future. 

Delaware Data and Departmental Profiles – Although there were some inaccuracies in the first draft of the departmental profiles published earlier this year, the corrections have been made and we even have some 2008 data.  I have shared this with the department heads and I will share it with the College Faculty Advisory Group on Tuesday.  That group meets once each month.  Our meeting this month is Tuesday, March 17 at 4:00 PM in Temple 120.  All faculty are welcome.  The data serves as a great tool although for some of our “grouped” departments like GGP and PAMS and FID the data is often difficult to interpret.  Although I do not have it yet we are now able to split these units (at least with data) and really look at geology separate from geography and planning.  I will share the data just as soon as I get it.

Hiring in CNAS – We have one new department head in the college who will start July 1 – Alan Shick, Chemistry.  We have hired one new tenure-track faculty member in FID – Cathy Starr and we are in the process of hiring a civil engineer, a geneticist for the biology department, and a physiologist for the biology department.  In addition we will be hiring four math instructors (replacement positions) and four other instructors to meet the needs of sabbaticals replacements and grant buyouts and late resignations/retirements.  There are some open lines that will not be filled immediately.  Some are waiting for program reviews to be completed and some are waiting until we have more certainty about the budget.  Each April the CNAS department heads bring me a list of wants/needs related to hiring.  We prioritize this list using Delaware data, departmental profiles, information from peer institutions, and information from program reviews.  I then defend this list to the provost so that we can begin our recruitment during the summer. 

Today is also the anniversary of the birth of Albert Einstein.  I can even find a website that tells me that today is “talk like a physicist day”.  Spring break is nearly here.  A wonderful break for all of us.  The Public Affairs Conference is April 21-24.  I have found a number of sessions that I plan to attend.  I hope to see you and your students at the conference. 

Yes, we have challenges but we also have much to celebrate and be thankful for.  I hope that will join me in learning about our challenges and then work with your department heads to make plans to face these challenges.

By the way, I understand that some of you may be in class at noon on April 7.  You are welcome to attend one of the other scheduled college meetings.  COBA – Wednesday, March 18 at 2:00 PM in Glass Hall 208.  CHPA – Thursday, March 19 at 4:00 PM in Strong Hall 004.   COAL – Tuesday, March 31at 11:00 AM in Ellis Hall 217B.  CHHS – Wednesday, April 1 at 4:00 PM in the Meyer Library Auditorium.  COE – Tuesday, April 7 at 10:00 AM in Hill Hall Lecture Room 2.

It is a joy to be your dean.

Tammy