Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

2003 SRAC-1 Advisory Meeting; November 4, 2003 Denver, CO;

Jerry Bennett, presiding;


7:00 am - Welcome

Clarence Watson:

New Administrative Advisor to SRAC-1.
1) Jerry Bennett was appointed Chair of SARC-1 in the Spring, 2003.
2) Suggested that officers of SARC-1 consist of Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary.
3) Reviewed mission: A) Manage multi-state research; B) review on-going programs;C) liaison to state directors.


John Havlin:

Reviewed Agriculture Telecommunications Proposal.
Proposed M.S. degree (non thesis) in Soil and Environmental Science. NC State and Florida Universities will take the lead in the program because they have a critical number of distance education courses in the major. Thirty-four to 36 credits are proposed. SRAC-1 was proposed as a review organization for the program. Several core courses remain to be developed, and degree is proposed with 3 to 6 hours of field-oriented workshops. There are several problems to be worked out, including tuition and credit transfers among institutions.

Preston Jones:

Restated that SRAC-1 Committee is important for idea exchange. The Federal budget remains in limbo, but the proposed budget appears to be stable for agriculture.

Eric Young:

The Research Directors are trying to increase interactions with the committee as well as the committee?s workload. Eleven of 15 Southern Information Exchange Groups need to be reviewed. Outcome assessments need to be conducted and reported.

Three multi-state projects need to be reviewed. Committee members had difficulty accessing report information.

Steve Hodges:

Definitions of participation in groups is a problem. Many investigators participate in the multi-state projects that are not listed in documents.

General discussion:

Research directors have a problem identifying people to fill gaps in research, and they need tools to facilitate identification of people and expertise. They intend to develop a spreadsheet of investigators, fields of study, etc. in Southern region and bordering states.

Directors want mid-term review of multi-state projects. Pointed or directed reviews are not conducted. Feedback in written form should be sent to project leaders.

M. Hussey:

Department heads need information to review as attachments.

Jim Barrentine:

Heads need bullets of accomplishments, goals and milestones for assessments.

Surveys (see Appendix A in attachment).

Mix of data, need to break FTE into more groups, for example, some states send data as on-campus faculty only, others all faculty in state. USDA faculty are omitted from the list.


State Reports:

University of Arkansas:

The Walton Foundation has donated $200 million to the university. They will be supplementing fellowships and endowing chairs. The university wants to grow from 16,000 to 22,000 students. The department sponsors a golf classic to obtain funds and last year raised $15,000. The department is trying to make their curriculum more flexible by adding laboratories in environmental science. A GPS course is being developed. There were no salary increases last year in Arkansas.

Auburn University:

Budget reductions have not occurred and faculty received a 6% salary increase. The department is having a CREES review and the university is in the middle of a SACs review. The College of Agriculture is searching for a new dean and director of research.

University of Florida - Agronomy:

The University of Florida now has 48,000 students and a new president. Budgets decreased 10% during the past 2-3 years. A turfgrass breeder is being hired and an extension weed science position is open. The peanut breeder is retiring and Dan Gorbet has agreed to stay in his position to have a 2-year transition. Last year there was a 2% salary increase for everyone. A system exists where full professors apply for salary increases (9%) every 7 years, and this is a good opportunity to keep faculty productive. The department has 33 graduate students.

University of Florida - Soil and Water Science:

The teaching program at the undergraduate level has been decreasing in size and the department is thinking about developing a concentration rather than a major. Short courses are being developed which are fee-based. Funds are used to pay bonuses to the department?s faculty. There has been a 30% reduction in the soil science faculty, and the department believes that permission will be granted to fill four positions in the area of nutrient management and extension.

University of Georgia:

Al Smith retired and Don Shilling from Florida will be the new head on January 1, 2004. Last year the department received a 2 ½% budget cut and an additional 5% is expected next year. No one is being asked to leave, but the administration has identified positions to be targeted. There were no salary increases last year.

Undergraduate majors total 53 students, with 25 in Turfgrass Science, 18 in Soil Science and 10 in Crop Science. The university has a policy that majors must have at least 10 students graduate per year, so Plant Pathology and Entomology are in trouble with numbers. The department has been asked to roll Soil Science and Crop Science majors together. The college has a large Biological Science program and campus-wide concentrations are being set up under this program, and Crops, Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Soils will be a part.

The university plans to cap the number of students at 33,000. The average SAT score for admission is a little over 1200. A new program has started at Tifton in Agriculture and Environmental Technology and the University of Georgia has partnered with Abraham Baldwin College to develop the program, which appears to be highly successful.

Kentucky:

The college has undergone major changes, including merging with another college and combining departments. The numbers in Plant and Soil Science have decreased and the Agronomy Department has had a name change to Plant and Soil Science. It is now difficult to teach needed courses because of few faculty. There have been five new hires, including ones in soil physics, crop genomics, plant regulation, plant science/medicinals, and a dark tobacco specialist with is a shared position between Kentucky and Tennessee. The department has moved into a new building, and it is now housed in two facilities. Last year there was a 3% salary increase.

Louisiana State University:

The university now has 30,000 students. A weed specialist in turf and ornamentals was recently hired and there is a vacant position in soils.

Mississippi State University:

A new president was hired at the university. There are 17,000 students enrolled, with 1% of the students in the college. The department has 61 faculty and two have been replaced during the last year, including one in ornamentals and the second in forages. Minority hiring has become a priority.

North Carolina State University -- Crop Science:

The College of Agriculture Dean (Jim Oblinger) accepted the position of Provost at NCSU. Johnny Wynne is the Interim Dean and Steve Leath is the Interim Director of Research. The University is in the middle of a SACs Review. Permanent reversions from departments are continuing, with a little over 16% for extension and 21% for research during the past 3 years; most reversions were from salaries. Operating budgets have also been cut in half. Philip Morris Inc. is funding faculty in the college with a $17 million grant to sequence the tobacco genome. A Turfgrass Center is being created with the help of $600,000 in state-appropriated funding.

Two faculty have left the department, including ones in plant physiology and aquatic weed management. One new faculty was hired in the area of cellulose synthesis and a second in agroecology. During the coming year the department will conduct searches for a second agroecology lecturer and a tobacco breeder. The USDA is planning to add a wheat genomics laboratory in the department and to replace a plant physiology position.

The Average SAT score for the undergraduate program is 1240. The department has 14 students with a crop concentration and 115 with a turfgrass concentration in the Agriculture Institute (2-year degree) program. In the 4-year undergraduate program there are 28 students with a crops orientation and 75 turfgrass science majors. The number of graduate students has risen from 55 in 2003 to 72 currently, with an equal number of M.S. and Ph.D. students.

North Carolina State University - Soil Science:

There have been two retirements in the department during the past year and one new hire in the plant nutrient management area (20% extension : 80% research). Distance learning is being promoted both within the college and department. The building where most of Soil Science is housed is planned for a $12.4 million renovation in 2005, and the faculty and staff will be relocated for an undetermined period of time. A CREES review is scheduled for April 2004. No salary increases were given last year, but a one-time bonus of $550.

Oklahoma State University:

The budget was reduced by 9.5% last year and there is a buy-out program. The university has a new president and 24,500 students. There were no general salary increases last year, but a $500 bonus. A few faculty received 3-7% increases.

The college is undergoing a reorganization where Entomology Plant Pathology will be combined with Crops and Forestry, Plant and Soil Science, Rangeland Management will combine to form a natural resources department. The department lost six faculty last year and the positions will not be replaced.

Texas A&M University:

Four faculty retired last year, including three in soils, and 4 faculty were hired, including ones in extension turf, small grains extension, cropping systems, and crop physiology. Teaching soil science is becoming difficult because critical areas are not being replaced. There was a 7% reversion last year, with the Ag. Experiment Station being cut 12% in research and 8% in extension. Faculty received a 2% salary increase based on merit. Pay increases are different in extension and research than in the rest of the university. Faculty can be nominated for increases of $8,500 per year and 4 of the department?s faculty received this amount last year.

The University has a new Food and Nutritional Sciences Department with 10 faculty. There are 45,000 students at the university. The Department has 147 undergraduates, of which 103 are turfgrass science majors and 44 are soil and crop science majors. There is talk about merging departments. .

Virginia Tech University:

Last year the department lost 4 faculty on campus and others off campus as well as 17 staff members. There was a 21% budget reduction to the college last year. The dean of academics and dean of extension have retired. The operating budget has decreased 51% since 2002. The university spent $6 million on early retirement program. There was 3.5% salary increase last year.

Students in Environmental science are being reduced from 500 to 200. In the department there are 77 majors in crop and soils (40 are turf majors) and 93 in environmental science. Two crop genetics positions are open on campus. The college is restructuring, in large part due to student number caps.

New Officers:

- Chair: Michael Barrett

- Vice Chair: Mark Hussey

- Secretary: Tom Stalker


Future meetings (see Appendix B in attachment for history of meeting locations):

- The 2004 meeting will be held in Kentucky during the latter part of September.

- The 2005 meeting will be held in Washington DC.;

Adjourned: 10:25 am