Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings today (Nov. 17, 1998) announced a plan to reorganize the Division of Biological Sciences.

Rawlings said he will implement the primary recommendations of the Task Force on the Division of the Biological Sciences, which was commissioned by Provost Don M. Randel. The internal 14-member task force issued its report March 12.

That report is available on the Faculty Senate web site at http://UniversityFaculty.cornell.edu/ResourceDocuments-BioSci/BioSciResource.html. The entire text of Rawlings announcement is available at http://www.news.cornell.edu/campus/Rawlings.biosci.stmt.html.

The reorganization announced by Rawlings includes:

• Phasing out the current office of the director of the Division of Biological Sciences during the remainder of the 1998-99 academic year.

   

• Converting the undergraduate biological sciences program to a joint program of the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Arts and Sciences; the director of the undergraduate program will report primarily to the dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

   

• The current eight sections of the division will be folded into or converted into departments, with remaining faculty members belonging to one of four units: plant science, and departments of ecology and evolutionary biology, neurobiology and behavioral science, and molecular biology and genetics.

"A crucially important strategic factor in our planning for the future of biology at Cornell is the urgent need to build strength in programs and faculty in basic biology, especially in the sphere of molecular and cell biology," Rawlings said. "Thus, in addition to shifting some existing resources into the new department that will have a key responsibility in this area, the university and the College of Arts and Sciences will undertake to raise special funds to assist with the cost of recruitment and start-up of new faculty in biochemistry, genetics and chemical biology."

Rawlings emphasized that the reorganization will strengthen the undergraduate biology major, and will retain "a single, well coordinated biology major. Under this structure, the current understandings on tuition for both undergraduates and graduate students will remain in force."

"The mission of the undergraduate director, the newly formed departments and a revamped biology curriculum committee will be continually reviewed to upgrade both the major and biology instruction for non-majors," Rawlings said. "The means for enhancing the undergraduate program should include curricular initiatives, improvements in advising, and participation in teaching and advising by biology faculty from departments other than the new basic biology departments formed out of the division."

Implementation of the reorganization will begin immediately, Rawlings said. Daryl Lund, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Philip Lewis, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will disseminate before the end of this semester a schedule for transition during January through June. The deans also will draft an agreement of cooperation that will be finalized by mid-March 1999. The new departments will begin operation July 1, 1999.