paleonet FW: Potential closing of the University of Nebraska State Museum

[Michael Cuggy <michael.cuggy@xxxxxxxx>]

I am forwarding this message sent to me from a friend in SVP.
-----------------------------------------------
Michael B. Cuggy


> To SVP Members,
>
> At the University of Nebraska, we, like so many institutions, have been
> undergoing severe budget cuts over the past several months. The University
> of Nebraska State Museum had been left spared from these cuts - until
> yesterday. We received news of the Chancellor's recommendations for a
> portion of the third round of cuts, as quoted from the Chancellor's email
to
> faculty and staff and publicly announced:
>
> "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
> maintain (but possibly with reduced hours) most public and outreach
> programs, including those at Morrill Hall, at Ashfall Fossil Beds State
> Historical Park and Trailside Museum. Mueller Planetarium would be closed.
> 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."
>
> This is truly a nightmare for me, a Ph.D. student, and my feelings cannot
> compare to those of faculty and staff in all Museum divisions, many who
have
> spent their careers here. I came to study VP at the University of Nebraska
> because of the fantastic people and amazing collections, and have come to
> call it home.
>
> I am asking for help from the SVP community in showing the University that
> eliminating research at the Museum would be a loss not only to the state,
> but also to the country and the world.  Please show your support by
writing
> to the Chancellor and President of the University. At the end of this
> message, I've included a list of selected Museum faculty, information on
the
> Museum, contact information for the University Chancellor and President
and
> links to further information on proposed cuts.
>
> With thanks,
>
> Andrea Bair
> Ph.D. Candidate
> Division of Vertebrate Paleontology
> University of Nebraska State Museum
> Lincoln, NE 68588-0514
> phone: (402) 472-2657 or (402) 617-1833
> email: abair@unlserve.unl.edu
>
>
>
> MUSEUM FACULTY (Vertebrate Paleontology and Zoology only):
> VP: Michael Voorhies and Robert Hunt, Jr.
> Zoology: Patricia Freeman and Hugh Genoways
>
> COLLECTIONS: The Museum includes over 13,000,000 objects and specimens,
> which include fossils from every Nebraska county, one of the earliest
known
> fossil flowers, the worldıs largest and only completely articulated fossil
> mammoth, in-depth collections of migratory birds, the Buros African
> collection, and a magnificent library on human parasitic diseases. The
> Museum is among the 25 largest museums of natural history in the U.S., and
> its parasitology and fossil mammal collections are the 2nd and 3rd largest
> and most important collections in the country, respectively. The
> non-vascular plant and insect collections are both among the 25 largest in
> the U.S., and UNSM scarab collections are the 4th largest in the world.
> Databases built from these collections are a unique research resource for
> the University, state, nation, and world. The Museum houses the earliest
> records of biodiversity in Nebraska and the Great Plains and serves as a
> repository for voucher specimens for several state agencies.
>
> RESEARCH & CREATIVE ACTIVITIES: Museum staff is involved in studies of
> modern and fossil biodiversity and evolution in the Great Plains, the
> Neotropics, China, and Mongolia. From 1996-2000 UNSM faculty have
published
> nearly ninety refereed research papers. One of the two 2000-2001 ORCA
awards
> went to a UNSM faculty member for his work on the systematics of scarab
> beetles.
>
> CONTACT INFORMATION:
> University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chancellor:
> Harvey Perlman
> 201 Canfield Administration
> University of Nebraska-Lincoln
> Lincoln, NE  68588-0419
> phone: (402) 472-2116
> email: hperlman1@unl.edu
>
> University of Nebraska President:
> L. Dennis Smith
> University of Nebraska Administration
> Varner Hall
> 3835 Holdrege
> Lincoln NE 68583
> phone: (402) 472-8636
> email: president@Nebraska.edu
>
> Information about the Museum and collections from the UNSM website
> (www.museum.unl.edu/mission.html):
>
> You can read the Chancellor's email at:
> www.unl.edu/pr/chancllr/2003-5budget/
>
> More information on this budget proposal is available at:
> www.unl.edu/pr/chancllr/2003-5budget/documents/20030310/summary.html
>
>
>



------ End of Forwarded Message