Presentation to Educational Policy Committee

Department of BiologyRevised March, 2013

Biology Department: Position Requests

• Biology Faculty identified the following positions as priorities, in ranked order.

1) Our top priority at this time is to hire a human physiologist.

2) Bioinformatics is the next area where the department should grow.

Position RequestsBiology

1) Why does the Biology Department need more faculty?

2) What is Bioinformatics?3) How will a bioinformatician help students, the

Department, and the University?

Position RequestsBiology

Position RequestsBiology

• Why does the Biology Department need more faculty?– One faculty member who has switched to full-time administration– Growth in majors and credit hour production– Reassigned time – service and research – reduces faculty available

to teach courses– Challenging to find replacements for faculty on sabbatical or with

released time awards• With 15 faculty who can each apply for a sabbatical every seven years, this

is a continuing issue– Advising load is high– Additional faculty are needed to mentor students engaged in

undergraduate and graduate research

Background: • Faculty reassignments—reduce capability to deliver needed

classes.– Rob Winn—1/2 load as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences, changing

to full time administration W2013– Brent Graves—Scheduled for 2/3 AAUP service– Erich Ottem—1/2 reduction associated with NIH grant– Jill Leonard – 4 hours load reduction associated with NSF grant– Additional faculty have received sabbatical or reassigned time awards

(RTAs)• 2012-2013: 1 sabbatical, 2 RTAs• 2011-2012: 1 sabbatical

Position RequestsBiology

Background: • Biology majors• Increased from 501 to 725 (F2006-F2012)

– 45% increase– Related majors have also grown

• Student Credit Hours• Increased from 5500 to 8055 (F2006-F2012)

– 46% increase– Particularly large increase for 100 & 200 level classes– Continuing challenges in:

» growth of class sizes» offering classes in a timely fashion

• During the same period, NMU FTE enrollment dropped from 8317 to 8079 (3% decrease)

Fall Major/Minor Counts for Biology and Related Programs

Major Fall 2006 Fall 2012 Increase/Decrease

Biology 501 724 + 223

Pre-Chiropractic 0 6 + 6

Pre-Dental 23 17 -6

Pre-Med 108 93 -15

Pre-Physician Assist 0 12 +12

Nursing 589 609 +20

Clinical Lab Science 204 447 +243

Total +463

Biology Credit Hour Production by Level

100 level 200 level 300 level 400 level Total0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

20062012

Cred

it Ho

urs

Need for additional faculty: • Enrollment growth has created high advising

loads – Average >40 advisees/faculty in Biology– Overall University average is 21 advisees

• In addition to high advising loads, faculty have high mentoring loads for undergraduate and graduate research.

Position RequestsBiology

Need for expertise in human physiology • Dr. Winn has taught:

– BI 201 Human Anatomy– BI 202 Human Physiology– BI 225 Physiology of Aging– BI 327 Animal Physiology– BI 405 Immunology– BI 425 Endocrinology– BI 510 Advanced Human Physiology– BI 511 Advanced Animal Physiology

• Graduate level courses need faculty with appropriate expertise and approval to teach graduate classes

• Adjunct faculty may be available to teach BI 201, 202; staffing other classes will be difficult

Position RequestsBiology

Increase in Biology-Physiology Majors

1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 20140

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Biology Majors - Physiology Emphasis

• BI 202 enrollment is very high. Although we are now searching for a 3-year term instructor position, in order to maintain reasonable class sizes and offer other classes often enough to meet student demand, we need a full-time faculty member with expertise in human physiology .

• Although Dr. Josh Sharp will now be teaching Immunology, we have not been able to offer BI 225, BI 510, and BI 511 frequently enough to meet student demand.

• There is student demand for an additional upper-level human physiology course as a companion course to BI 510. Such a course would benefit Biology majors with human health interests as well as students planning to apply to Physician’s Assistant programs.

• Dr. Winn had 72 advisees, more than any other member of the department. This is more than 3 times the average number of advisees for faculty in all departments. – Adjunct faculty hired to teach BI 201 and BI 202 are not assigned to advise students.

Position RequestsBiology

What is Bioinformatics?

• Bioinformatics is the research, development, or application of computational tools and approaches for expanding the use of biological, medical, behavioral or health data, including those to acquire, store, organize, archive, analyze, or visualize such data.– NIH Biomedical Information Science and Technology

Initiative Consortium• Many bioinformaticians study DNA or protein

sequence date (genomics and proteomics).• Data available has grown exponentially

More than 9,000 organisms have had their genomes fully or partially sequenced.(National Center for Biotechnology Information).

Why is Bioinformatics Important?

• Improve understanding of cancer and other diseases.

• Evolution– Where did we come from?– How are we related to other organisms?

• Molecular Ecology– How are populations related?– How do genes help organism adapt to the

environment?

Benefits to Students, Department & University• Ability to offer required classes– BI 218: Introduction to Cell & Molecular Biology– BI 312: Genetics– BI 418: Molecular Biology

• Increase research productivity – Increase graduate student enrollment– Increase undergraduate research involvement– Increased research productivity of faculty– Collaboration with current faculty studying genomics and/or

analyzing large data sets

Bioinformatics Position Request

Benefits to Students, Department & University• Prepare students for careers or further education

using bioinformatics – Biomedical research– Biotechnology– Graduate programs

• Amount of data to be analyzed by those with bioinformatics training is growing more rapidly than those with the skills to analyze it

Bioinformatics Position Request

Benefits to Students, Department & University• Enhance interdisciplinary research and

interdepartmental collaboration• A bioinformatician would bring computer

programming and statistical skills that would be of particular value to students and faculty in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department

• Understanding how to analyze genomic data would be of value to students in Diagnostic Genetics and other programs in the Clinical Sciences Department

Bioinformatics Position Request

Benefits to Students, Department & University• Strengthen the instructional and research efforts

in human health and ecology.• Increase in research productivity of the Biology

faculty by making loads sustainable. • Create programs that will help prepare students

for careers in a world where genomics and large data sets are becoming increasingly important.

Bioinformatics Position Request

• Some noteworthy requirements:• Need office space for additional faculty members.• Need additional lab space for a human

physiologist • Need dedicated space for computers and servers

for storing and analyzing large databases, with cooling for a Bioinformaticist– Start up funds for computational facilities ~$10,000

Enhancement Position RequestBiology

• Approximate Costs• Faculty (1.0 position w/ benefits) $ 70, 843• Start up funds $ 20,000• Total $ 90, 843

Position Request - Biology