Entomology Museum elimination @ Nebraska

[Andrew Smith]

Dear Colleagues:

Due to budget constraints with the state of Nebraska, the governor has
mandated that the University reduce its programs by 6-10%.  The University
of Nebraska State Museum has just been informed by the University
Chancellor that ALL of the research divisions and their staffs (including
tenured faculty), are PROPOSED for elimination.  Termination will be
effective 1 July 2003 for all collections managers, preparators, artists,
and secretaries. It will become effective March of 2004 for the tenured
faculty curators.  The research divisions affected are Entomology (Team
Scarab), Zoology, Botany, Parasitology, Anthropology, Vertebrate
Paleontology, and Invertebrate Paleontology.

The impacts of the proposed cuts are wide-ranging.  They affect our jobs
and livelihoods,  on-going state, national, and international  research
programs, education within the University and state, and preservation of
the record of the state's biodiversity.  Without our collections, the 125
year record of biodiversity in Nebraska, the Great Plains, and New World
tropics could be lost. It is our belief that the University administration
does not understand either the significance of the proposed cuts nor the
ripple affects it will have on education within the university and national
and international research.

The Division of Entomology is the repository for insect specimens from the
Great Plains and New World tropics and contains approximately 2.5 million
specimens (see http://129.93.13.109/default.htm), nearly 900 primary type
specimens, and the National Collection of Scarab Beetles from the
Smithsonian Institution.  In entomology, it is proposed that our
collections might simply be "stored" or have a caretaker to occasionally
dust them off or transferred to another institution (lots of legal
ramifications here as they are state property).  Clearly, our specimens
would no longer be available to the research community. This will also have
serious affects on state, national, and international research on
biodiversity, evolution, and agriculture. The entomology collections at
Nebraska have been continuously curated, studied, and augmented for over
125 years and rank in the top 10 university collections in North America.
We have several incredibly valuable historical collections as well as the
fourth largest collection of scarab beetles in the world.  If the
scientific community no longer has access to these collections and the
EXPERTISE of our team of researchers, systematics studies will suffer,
especially for many of our Latin American colleagues where we have most of
our collaborative efforts.

Moreover, this would have devastating affects on our graduate students who
are in the midst of their M.S. or PhD. programs in our lab.  Their fate has
not been adequately addressed yet by the administration. As many of you
know, the Division of Entomology has one of the premier progams in the
nation.   Just within the last five years, our Team has generated 68
scientific papers and two books.  We have two back-to-back NSF/PEET grants
(1997-2007) for a total of $1.5 million plus an NSF/BS&I grant ($.3
million) plus miscellaneous other small grants and contracts.  Our students
have garnered just about every award imaginable that can be given to a
graduate student, both at the local, national, and international level (see
http://www.museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/products.htm). In addition,
Ratcliffe received the University's most prestigious research award two
years ago when he was given the Outstanding Research and Creativity Award
(ORCA); Jameson is president-elect for two professional societies.

The following are proposed for elimination:

Dr. Alexander Riedel - Collections Manager
Dr. Mary Liz Jameson - Co-Curator
Dr. Brett Ratcliffe - Co-Curator
Dr. Andrew Smith - Post-doctoral Research Associate

The following graduate students in our lab whose program of study may be
terminated are:

Federico Ocampo - nearing end of PhD program
Matthew Paulsen - first year of PhD program

We still cannot believe that such a productive program as Scarab Central
(grants, publications, outreach, graduate students) could be subject to
such uninformed budget cuts, but it is happening.

WE NEED YOUR HELP. So far,these are PROPOSALS that may be subject to
change.  We would be most appreciative if you could send an email or a
letter wherein you express your outrage and dismay to the Chancellor of the
University of Nebraska, the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs,
the Vice Chancellor for Research, and a member of the Academic Planning
Committee.  Further indication as to the value of our systematics
entomology programs to the university and to the discipline of entomology
as well as to your own research would be extremely helpful. Loss of a major
research program and a major research collection should be emphasized as
being hugely irresponsible.  Letters or emails should be sent to:

hperlman at unlnotes.unl.edu,redwards at unlnotes.unl.edu,ppaul at unlnotes.unl.edu
mzeleny at unlnotes.unl.edu,jbenson at unlnotes.unl.edu

Dr. Harvey Perlman, Chancellor, University of Nebraska -
hperlman at unlnotes.unl.edu
Dr. Richard Edwards, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs -
        redwards at unlnotes.unl.edu
Dr. Prem Paul, Vice Chancellor for Research - ppaul at unlnotes.unl.edu
Mike Zeleny, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research - mzeleny at unlnotes.unl.edu
John Benson, APC - jbenson at unlnotes.unl.edu


Thank you each and every one for any assistance you might be able to give.

Team Scarab (Brett Ratcliffe, Mary Liz Jameson, Andrew Smith, Federico
Ocampo, Matt Paulsen, Alexander Riedel)

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Brett C. Ratcliffe
Curator & Professor
Systematics Research Collections
W436 Nebraska Hall
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE 68588-0514  U.S.A.

TEL: (402) 472-2614
FAX: (402) 472-8949
EMAIL: bratcliffe1 at unl.edu

Visit SCARAB CENTRAL and the Division of Entomology at
http://www-museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/index.htm
Scarab Workers: World Directory
http://www-museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/workers/index2.htm
Coleopterists Society homepage
http://www.coleopsoc.org/
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Andrew B. T. Smith, Ph.D.
W436 Nebraska Hall
Division of Entomology
University of Nebraska State Museum
Lincoln, NE 68588-0514  U.S.A.

Phone:  (402) 472-2664
Fax:    (402) 472-8949
E-mail: asmith at unlserve.unl.edu
http://www-museum.unl.edu/research/entomology/index.htm

SUBSCRIBE TO SCARABS-L AT:
http://crcvms.unl.edu/htbin/wa?SUBED1=scarabs-l&A=1
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