Request for Tenure Track Biology Faculty, FY 16

Request for Tenure Track Biology Faculty, FY 16

Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee (SPBAC)

Budget Increment Request Form

PURPOSE: Use this form to propose new UAS operating fund increments or initiatives (e.g. legislative requests for programs or positions) which require either NEW resources or a major internal REALLOCATION of existing funding. Individuals preparing proposals should consult with their dean or director prior to submitting to SPBAC.

For more routine and/or modest proposals affecting existing department or program budgets, please consult UAS Personnel Budget Procedures & Practices (http://uas.alaska.edu/budget/docs/budget/uas-personnel-budget-procedures-practices.pdf).

Increment Title: / Assistant Professor of Biology
Campus/Department or Program: / School of Arts and Sciences, Department of Natural Sciences, Biology Program
Fiscal Year/Time Frame / Advertise in FY 15, faculty on site FY 16
Submitted by: / Marsha Sousa / Date: 1-20-2014

A.  Program/Position Description (Provide a description of the request and of its overall purpose)

We request approval to hire a tripartite, tenure-track faculty member in the Biology program. This tripartite faculty member is expected to teach 18 credits of genetics, general biology, microbiology, and vertebrate biology (or similar) courses; conduct research that expands our existing strengths in marine biology; and participate in service to the university, the community, and the discipline.

B.  Need & Justification for Program/Position (Explain why the request is needed, including enhancement of existing programs, response to market demand, taking advantage of new opportunities. If applicable, include the number of students affected and specific employer demand met.)

The UAS Biology Program is at a critical point in its history, with a number of important new opportunities. The recent remodel of the Anderson Building brings together the majority of our teaching, research, learning, and office needs under one roof. This improved infrastructure has boosted our ability to teach, conduct research, and mentor students. The seawater system and dive locker establishes UAS as a functioning marine laboratory. Recent reports also demonstrate that the Biology and Marine Biology Programs are, respectively, the most- and third-most inquired about programs at UAS. In addition, program enrollments have increased over the past several years (Figure 1) and we reached our goal of 20 graduates in spring of 2013 (Table 1).

Table 1: Number of graduates with Biology Degrees.

2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / Total
BA, Biology / 2 / 2 / 2 / 0 / 5 / 11
BS, Biology / 5 / 2 / 8 / 3 / 5 / 23
BS, Marine Biology / 7 / 6 / 4 / 4 / 10 / 31
Total / 14 / 10 / 14 / 7 / 20 / 65

A recent Biology program self-study and a retention study from the MacDowell Group suggest that to improve our ability to recruit, retain, and graduate students we must consistently offer the courses needed by our students, implement standardized advising models for all students, increase our ability to attract new students, and increase student research and job opportunities. We seek to add stability and diversity to our course offerings to increase retention and student success. We believe courses delivered annually to health sciences, environmental sciences, and biology students require dedicated efforts and long-term commitment of tenure track faculty that temporary faculty are not able to provide. At present, courses such as microbiology, anatomy and physiology labs, genetics, chemistry, vertebrate zoology, ecology, plant biology, and non-majors biology are taught piecemeal by graduate students, adjuncts, and term faculty. One of our term faculty, Johanna Fagen, who has taught ecology, plant biology, vertebrate zoology, anatomy and physiology lab, and non-majors biology, has indicated that she will retire in spring 2015. Our genetics class is a program requirement in biology; it is currently taught by a UAF graduate student. Stable faculty members with long-term commitments to UAS will provide consistent, high-quality teaching and advising to students, provide more research opportunities for students, offer high-demand courses regularly, and increase our opportunity to offer multiple sections to meet demand. These efforts are absolutely essential in getting students into and through our degree programs to graduation on time.

UAS offers opportunities in biology and marine biology that few universities can match. UAS is one of three 4-year universities along the entire West Coast of the US that offers an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology. UAS supports a marine laboratory with a flow-through seawater system that allows undergraduate students to conduct laboratory studies on diverse marine organisms (algae, invertebrates, fish). We also have an unsurpassed natural laboratory within feet of our classrooms where students study costal ecology and wild marine mammals, other vertebrates, and invertebrates. Whereas other universities can offer field marine courses only to those students who opt to travel to a distant site or only during special summer programs, we offer marine courses to all of our students throughout the year in our local marine laboratory. Unlike most universities, UAS students can maintain their housing, their jobs, and pursue other required courses while they study marine biology.

Our program is strengthened through mutually positive associations with local agencies such as NOAA, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and Glacier Bay National Park, and through our faculty connections and appointments with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Professionals associated with such agencies and institutions provide avenues for undergraduate research experiences on projects more diverse than could be offered through UAS along. Our students enjoy seasonal employment and internships in exciting field research and learn practical techniques, clearly a mechanism for student retention at UAS. In addition, our graduates are hired into permanent positions with these agencies.

With declining budgets and a need to focus our work on areas of excellence, investment in the Biology program should be a priority for the university. Our stellar setting in Southeast Alaska, the excellent and unique laboratory facilities, and the lack of competing programs in Alaska and on the entire west coast make us a destination campus for undergraduates to earn their Marine Biology degree. Strengthening the program through the addition of committed faculty is a smart move because it plays to a fundamental strength of UAS.

UAS Mission & Core Themes (Identify which aspects of the UAS Mission and Core Themes this request supports and explain how it advances the mission and themes.)

The Biology Program, which includes options for degrees in Biology or Marine Biology, supports the university’s mission statement and strategic plan. Specifically, the Biology Program will continue to provide “student learning enhanced by faculty scholarship, undergraduate research and creative activities, community engagement, and the cultures and environment of Southeast Alaska,” (UAS Mission Statement).

Student learning: Student learning requires consistent instruction by highly qualified faculty members who are committed to UAS for the long term. These faculty will be critical, not just in instruction, but in building relationships with students through advising, mentoring, provision of undergraduate research opportunities, placement in internships, regular course offerings, and assistance with finding jobs or graduate programs after graduation. These relationships are key factors in retaining and graduating students as shown by recent MacDowell Group surveys.

Faculty Scholarship: We need faculty who are committed to teaching and learning that enhance our understanding of SE Alaska ecosystems and provide novel opportunities for students. Faculty need the time to commit to the labor-intensive work that goes into research on biological and environmental issues. Recent interest in building a robust research community in SE Alaska, and the formation of the Juneau Economic Development Council’s Research Cluster, of which UAS is a part, indicate that the timing is right to add faculty depth in the areas of biology, marine biology, and/or terrestrial ecology.

Undergraduate Research: Another faculty member actively pursuing research will provide yet another opportunity to include students in research. Undergraduate research experiences lead to greater student retention, provide students with practical research skills, and lead to relevant employment after graduation. At present, our biology faculty cannot support all the students who want to conduct research (BIOL 498), despite taking on teaching overloads every year. An additional permanent faculty member will allow us enhance research opportunities for our eager students. Term and adjunct faculty do not provide the student learning opportunities that permanent faculty do.

Community Engagement: Biology faculty routinely collaborate with scientists in state and federal agencies to conduct research and interact with the community through talks, tours, presentations, and mentoring. They are increasingly engaged with JEDC partners to enhance the economic climate for research in Southeast Alaska. Because of the accessibility of their discipline, biology faculty are some of the most active UAS faculty in mentoring high school students on science fair projects, participating in BioBlitz, volunteering for intertidal walks as fundraisers, donating their time to “I’m going to College,” mentoring the Girl Scouts, participating in the regional Ocean Sciences Bowl, and any number of other community engagement activities.

Cultures of Southeast Alaska: With our new ANSEP program for marine biology students in place and becoming increasingly active, the Biology Department is attracting increasing numbers of Alaska Native students. We are confident this is an area of substantial growth in coming years.

Environment of Southeast Alaska: The strength of the Biology program is its immersion in the environment of SE Alaska and the location of our marine laboratory on Auke Bay. With the intertidal zone just steps from the classroom and a seawater lab inside the building, biology students cannot avoid becoming knowledgeable about and engaged in the environment of SE Alaska. Students have additional opportunities to attend WhaleFest in Sitka and the Bald Eagle Festival in Haines, to spend extended field time in the area, and to participate in research in the marine and terrestrial environments of SE Alaska.

C.  UA Statewide Priorities: Shaping Alaska’s Future (Identify which of the five themes and issues this request supports and explain how.)

Theme 1: Student Achievement and Attainment: Students learn best, and are retained and persist to graduation when they develop relationships with faculty mentors. Full-time faculty members are positioned to be those consistent mentors throughout a student’s education. Term and adjunct faculty do not provide the consistency and enhanced learning opportunities through student research and scholarship that our tenure track Biology faculty provide.

Theme 4: Research and Development (R&D) to Sustain Alaska’s Communities and Economic Growth: Tripartite faculty members who are responsible for conducting research will engage in a meaningful way with industry partners. Our current faculty have already demonstrated this with ongoing effective partnerships with NOAA, NMFS, ADF&G, Glacier Bay National Park, and others.

Theme 5: Accountability to the People of Alaska: Faculty members with a commitment to the University are more likely to fulfill the long-term goals of the university and be accountable to the students and the people of Alaska for providing a high quality, consistent, meaningful education for Alaskan students.

D.  Other Strategic Priorities (Explain how this request relates to any other local, regional, or statewide priorities)

The state has asked us to focus on some specific areas, to avoid duplication of programs, and to decrease our budgets by fine-tuning our programs for efficiency. Given that there is no other undergraduate marine biology program in the state, and only three on the west coast, growing the Marine Biology program at UAS where the resources and opportunity exists is appropriate and efficient. We have infrastructure on campus that no other university in Alaska can claim or leverage. By strengthening what we already do well, we set ourselves up to become a center of excellence in marine biology. Further, the state has invested heavily in the seafood - maritime initiatives as a growth industry in Alaska. The research, teaching, and training that we do at UAS in Biology and Marine Biology not only complements the industry’s needs, it directly supports it through research applicable to crab fisheries, salmon fisheries, sea otter depredation on shellfish beds, marine algal growth, mariculture, genetic diversity and change in the face of climate change, and numerous other areas of research.

In addition, as indicated above, Southeast Alaska is in the midst of efforts to grow research productivity and infrastructure. This is the time to capitalize on that effort and increase the visibility of UAS in this realm.

E.  OMB Performance Measures (Identify the anticipated positive impact of the request on each performance measure or the negative impact of not receiving a replacement funding request.
See: http://uas.alaska.edu/provost/ie/docs/OMB_performance_measures.pdf)

Student success: high demand career pathways

INCREASE: Additional faculty will lead to additional recruitment and retention of biology students who will enter high demand jobs in fisheries and natural resource management in the State. Another faculty member will form new and stronger partnerships with the agencies that hire our graduates. Temporary faculty cannot provide this advantage.

Student Success: Success in entry level college courses

INCREASE: Students recruited to the biology program are more likely to be ready and able to succeed in college, particularly if we begin marketing to students in selected areas of the west coast. In addition, faculty mentoring in combination with the ANSEP program is improving student study skills and student-mentor relationships that lead to greater student success.

Student Success: Full enrollment

INCREASE: Expert advising of our program students by faculty advisors and by our staff advisors will lead to more students completing 30 credits in a year. Further, the types of students we recruit for the Biology major are more likely to have the college-level skills to maintain a full 15 credits per semester.

Student Success: Undergraduate retention and persistence

INCREASE: Students in biology are here specifically for our program. They are more likely to be retained and graduate than undeclared students are, as they are committed not only to complete their general education requirements and transfer to the lower 48, but also to complete the baccalaureate degree. Adding a faculty member will stabilize our course offerings and provide predictable instruction that students use to plan their coursework. These are key elements in student retention and success.