[Corebotanyfaculty] Fruits for thoughts response

Mon Mar 13 07:37:12 PDT 2023

I will chime in as well,

I feel that the workload that the UC system is placing on faculty is
impacting health - both physical and mental.  More and more faculty are
leaving to have a 'balanced' life rather than deal with this system or any
other academic institution - People often leave education.   This has
become an epidemic in the nationwide university system.  I recently
received a magazine from one of my alma maters. The front cover was '100
million in Grants'. My thought was "who cares"  but the amount of money
brought in was more important them than the scinec.

Faculty issues:
*increased teaching load when there are not enough classrooms to
accommodate classes.
*evaluating faculty publications based on an "impact factor" system for
journals - especially in a day when everything is internet-accessible.
Forget doing research on anything novel in an emerging journal - you will
never make tenure.

Whatever you do, don't become a specialist in the UC system.  If you don't
have an IR appointment, it is impossible to do anything on campus and a
struggle in the UCCE system. I do not have an IR appointment and it was
suggested to me in the past to just get a small percentage IR.  Being a
homosexual, I view that comment as what gays had to do in society before
homosexually was accepted - "just pretend to be straight and everything
will be fine"  When I went to get a parking pass this year, I was
documented as being part time according to parking services.  I had to call
to change this.  This problem stems from our UCCE leadership who is also
trying to promote a "healthy California.".  My thought on that is "Don't
say it - Do it!  Set an example.  We can't have a healthy California - in
any sense of the word, if the citizens are not healthy to begin with.

In closing,

I am sorry the department is having these issues with leadership.*  I value
research and education, but most importantly, I value people. * We have a
wonderful department.  Even though the department direction has changed out
of my field of research almost completely; the change over 20 years has
been remarkable.   I am truly impressed with not only the faculty, but also
the staff.  Through the pandemic and building construction, our Dept.
Chair, Ag Ops, and supporting Staff have kept us going.  Huge kudos - I
think they really need to be recognized somehow.

There will always be challenges and we should voice constructive thoughts
and criticisms.  We still have a great core of people and we need to
continue on our journey of Science and Education..

KEEP YOUR PASSION ALIVE!

Be safe. Be Happy, Live Healthy'
Don Merhaut

On Sun, Mar 12, 2023 at 5:04 PM Katayoon Dehesh <katayoon.dehesh at ucr.edu>
wrote:

> Greetings Sue,
>
>
>
> Thanks so much for your email that prompted me to the possibility of an
> unintended misunderstanding of my initial email.
>
>
>
> Let me briefly state what my intentions are:
>
>
>
> 1: Placing a blame has never crossed my mind, nor have I disregarded the
> noble and considerable efforts of the many /most faculty members in
> successful writing of training grants and providing visionary plans that
> has and continue to  empower our department.
>
>
>
> 2:  I am in full agreement with you regarding the lack of recognition of
> these efforts by the CNAS leadership, and that is the exactly the cause of
> worry because of several reasons, chief amongst them:
>
>
>
>    1. You and many others have tried for a change, but the leadership is
>    there to stay, for the time being.  Thus, we need to find solutions that
>    will navigate us through these rough times
>
>
>
> b) Current leadership has no plans to replace the vacancies resulted from
> retirements and departures.  This simply translates to redistribution of
> the workload of teaching and committee work amongst those that have many
> professional years ahead of them.  In addition this attrition reduces the
> critical mass for obtaining more grants, more overhead returns to the
> department and by extension our ability to recruit new faculty even if we
> are granted a position.
>
>
>
> Thus my email was and continues to be a call for a collective  discussion
> for how best to relabel and remarket our department  to the internal
> leadership and to the granting agencies. This is mainly intended to find
> and devise a protective systems for those that will be guarding the gates
> for a long time to come.
>
>
>
> Obviously the guidance and input form you and others with a broader vision
> is critical and as always recognized and welcome.
>
>
>
> Be powerful
>
>
>
> Katie
>
>
>
> Katayoon (Katie) Dehesh
>
> Director, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, Distinguished
> Professor
>
> Ernst and Helen Leibacher Endowed Chair in Botany and Plant Sciences
>
> University of California, Riverside, CA 92521
>
> Phone: (951) 827-6370;  Fax: (951) 827-5155
>
>
>
> *From:* Corebotanyfaculty <corebotanyfaculty-bounces at lists.ucr.edu> *On
> Behalf Of *Bpschair
> *Sent:* Saturday, March 11, 2023 9:21 AM
> *To:* corebotanyfaculty at lists.ucr.edu
> *Subject:* [Corebotanyfaculty] Fwd: Fruits for thoughts response
>
>
>
> Hi everyone,  I am forwarding this response from Sue.
>
>
>
> Patty
>
>
>
> *From: *Susan Wessler <susan.wessler at ucr.edu>
>
> *Subject: Fruits for thoughts response*
>
> *Date: *March 11, 2023 at 8:52:42 AM PST
>
> *To: *Katayoon Dehesh <katayoon.dehesh at ucr.edu>
>
> *Cc: *"bpsfaculty at lists.ucr.edu" <bpsfaculty at lists.ucr.edu>
>
>
>
> Dear Katie,
>
>
>
> Your email seems to lay the blame for the loss of Xuemei on us, the
> faculty, for not innovating in the ways you describe. I could not disagree
> more. Perhaps you are unaware but many of us have written several joint,
> training, and visionary program proposals and have or are leading the
> successful ones.  A number are in the area you describe and led by younger
> faculty.
>
>
>
> Most of us have found that what is required for initiatives to be truly
> successful is buy in from the leadership of UCR and CNAS.  This can take
> many forms including support for the PI organizing and writing the proposal
> (e.g. teaching relief, grant writers), matching funds, and eventually,
> institutionalization.  Because this has not been forthcoming in the past
> 6-7 years (even worse, several promises made were not kept) many of us have
> simply given up and focused on our own programs.
>
>
>
> With regard to the loss of Xuemei (and Janet Franklin), and, to be honest
> my decision to retire earlier than I had hoped, and the potential loss of
> other distinguished faculty, that also is largely due to inaction on the
> part of campus leadership. In all cases we have been ignored - especially
> women and people of color. This is a classic example of why it takes
> decades to build strength at a university and only a few years to lose it.
> Your best faculty will always have lots of opportunities. It the job of
> leadership to prevent that from happening.
>
>
>
> Sue
>
>
>
> Sue Wessler
> Neil and Rochelle Campbell Presidential Chair for Innovation in Science
> Education
>
> Distinguished Professor of Genetics
> UC Riverside
> Home Secretary, US National Academy of Sciences
>
>
>
> On Mar 10, 2023, at 8:57 AM, Katayoon Dehesh <katayoon.dehesh at ucr.edu>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Greetings all
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
>
>
> The recent departures of our colleagues from UCR, especially that of
> Xuemei’ s has caused me much anxiety and concerns about our plant biology
> program.  Thus, I am writing to ask you to explore options as how to
> reinforce our powerful platform better aligned with todays’ scientific and
> social needs. Patty has sent us emails in this regard and offered plans to
> discuss various options in the upcoming faculty meeting. However, I have
> taken the liberty of asking you to explore various options for discussion
> before the Monday meeting.
>
>
>
> My personal thoughts are as follows:
>
>
>
> 1: It is perhaps prudent the change the name of the department from the
> current Botany Plant Sciences to just *Plant Science* department.
>
> In addition, one could consider substituting CEPCEB with something like
> Plant *Center* as we no longer focus on cell biology nor do we house
> critical mass of cell biologists to justify the label.
>
>
>
> 2: Given the application of Crispr speeding up GMO acceptance, we could
> investigate rebuilding the transformation capabilities and follow up with a
> grant application to NSF to propose development of transformation
> technologies for a wide range of crops currently not amenable to
> transformation.
>
>
>
> 3- Brainstorming for development of collaborative projects deemed for DOE,
> NSF, ARPA …etc., focused on plants for sustainability, carbon capture,
> biofilters etc.  Given the much expertise and interested parties in
> translational science preparation of a successful grant is feasible.
>
> I truly believe that the UCR houses the best plant scientists well
> positioned to address exciting science and solve some aspects of the global
> concerns.
>
> Let us pool together and engage in a constructive discussion.
>
>
>
> Be powerful.
>
>
>
> Katie
>
>
>
>
>
> Katayoon (Katie) Dehesh
>
> Director, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, Distinguished Professor
>
> Ernst and Helen Leibacher Endowed Chair in Botany and Plant Sciences
>
> University of California, Riverside, CA 92521
>
> Phone: (951) 827-6370;  Fax: (951) 827-5155
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
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