As the Faculty Senate and university administrators ponder options for restructuring biological sciences at the university, a key report is available for consideration by the Cornell community.
The March 12, 1998, "Task Force Report: Division of Biological Sciences Structural Review" is available at this Faculty Senate web site: http://UniversityFaculty.cornell.edu/ResourceDocuments-BioSci/BioSciResource.html.
The report of the 14-member internal task force, which was commissioned by Provost Don M. Randel, made nine recommendations. Most notably, the task force recommended that the Division of Biological Sciences be eliminated and the sections be reconfigured into departments with direct access to deans. Also suggested was establishment of an Institute for Research in Biology to "foster quality, innovative research, bring young scientists to Cornell without increasing the total size of the faculty, and provide a platform for new funding opportunities."
After President Hunter Rawlings organized an external consultation, a blue-ribbon panel of distinguished educators visited campus in June and August. The external consultants (Arnold Levine, Princeton University; Nina Fedoroff, Pennsylvania State University; Gerald Fink, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Peter Raven, Missouri Botanical Garden) made six recommendations in their September report.
The external panel recommended designation of a vice provost for biological sciences with responsibility for "guiding the development of the biological sciences at Cornell" and "line responsibility for budgets, space and faculty appointments" in the area of life sciences in the colleges of Veterinary Medicine, Agriculture and Life Sciences and Arts and Sciences.
More specifically, the external reviewers recommended that a new vice provost should foster the growth of structural biology. They also endorsed recommendations of the Cornell Genomics Initiative committee, calling it "an exciting faculty-driven effort . . . that should not await the overall reorganization of the life sciences in the university."
Highlighting one suggestion of the Genomics Initiative committee, the external reviewers strongly recommended establishment at Cornell of a transgenic mouse facility. They also called for the appointment of a "strong external visiting committee . . . to advise the new vice provost and the president on the progress of reform."
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