Fw: Harold W Manter Lab - Nebraska Budget Cuts

[Scott L. Gardner]

Fwd: Harold W Manter Lab - Nebraska Budget CutsA letter from Armand Kuris -- Seems short and to the point.  SLG

hi all


In response to Georges email i sent the following to the Univ Nebr Academic Planning comm.


Armand


  Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 11:08:43 -0800
  To: wsplinte at UNLNOTES.UNL.EDU
  From: Armand Kuris <kuris at lifesci.ucsb.edu>
  Subject: Fwd: Harold W Manter Lab - Nebraska Budget Cuts
  Cc:
  Bcc:
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    Dear Colleagues:


  I received the following sad information concerning the budgetary crisis at the University of Nebraska.  Here at the University of California our budget is also taking a massive hit, so I sympathize with your dilemma.

  Let me be brief and brutally frank.
  The University of Nebraska has few internationally outstanding academic programs .  But one of them is the field of parasitology.  Here, Nebraska has a long tradition of outstanding research.  The Manter Lab is the key to Nebraska's prominence in that area.  A quickly verifiable demonstration of this is the role it plays in the functioning of the American Society of Parasitologists, serving as the Society's archival site.
  Here, at the University of California, we have many internationally outstanding programs.  In difficult fiscal times the standard has always been to protect excellence, cutting disproportionately elsewhere.  Using this principle, and what I know of the University of Nebraska, the two things that should be left intact are the Manter Lab and the football team (considering last year to be a unfortunate outlier).


  Sincerely,


  Armand M Kuris
  Professor of Zoology
  Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology
  and Associate Provost
  College of Creative Studies
  University of California
  Santa Barbara CA 93106
  USA






    To deal with the massive budgetary crisis in the State of Nebraska,
    The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is scheduled for another round of
    extreme budget reductions this spring. On March 10, 2003, Harvey
    Perlman, Chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln announced
    that the Research Divisions in the University of Nebraska State Museum
    (UNSM) will be closed.  Staff (including collection managers) will be
    employed until June 30, 2003 and faculty have one year from the time
    of receipt of the termination letter (expected this week) to find
    other employment.

    Included in this deletion of the State Museum is the Harold W. Manter
    Laboratory of Parasitology, which is maintained within the Division of
    Parasitology in the UNSM.  The HWML has very active programs in
    parasite systematics, taxonomy, and biodiversity with world-wide
    scope.  The lab currently has a full time curator, collection manager,
    one full-time externally funded curatorial assistant, several National
    Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduate (R.E.U.)
    students, and graduate students.

    In an e-mail letter on March 10,2003 to the faculty, students, and
    staff of the University of Nebraska, Dr. Perlman made the following
    proposal. "1.  Eliminate the Research Divisions of the State Museum
    and Master's degree in Museum Studies ($1,103,614) (Eliminate eight
    tenured faculty positions, 12 managerial/professional positions and
    two clerical/technical/service positions) Eliminate the research
    divisions of the State Museum and the Master's program in Museum
    Studies. The Museum would cease to have a research faculty, and eight
    tenured positions would be eliminated.  The Museum would continue to
    maintain collections of particular distinction or Nebraska importance,
    including Vertebrate Paleontology, Invertebrate Paleontology,
    Parasitology, Botany, and Entomology; these collections would continue
    to be available to support teaching and research by university faculty
    and others. Collections that will no longer be a focus for the Museum
    would be transferred responsibly to other museums through
    deaccessioning, long-term loan, or outright transfer. Some tenured
    Museum faculty may be re-employed in academic departments. The
    Master's program in Museum Studies will no longer be available."  See:
    http://www.unl.edu/pr/chancllr/2003-5budget/



    Please send any comments or letters to:

    The Academic Planning committee
    c/o Dr. William Splinter, Interim Director
    The University of Nebraska State Museum
    307 Morrill Hall
    The University of Nebraska - Lincoln
    Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0338
    e-mail:  wsplinte at UNLNOTES.UNL.EDU



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