Ben Miller Journalism Blog

The uncertain near future of research funding for the University of Nevada, Reno could mean hits to start-up packages for professors, faculty positions involved in research and support for interdisciplinary graduate programs, as well as an overall reduction in the amount of research.

“Research is a core mission for the university,” Marsha Read, the vice president of research, wrote in an e-mail. “As a land grant institution we have a mission to teach, research and conduct outreach. Research is essential to the concept of a university, which is to create new knowledge, as well as to teach others what we know.”

Milton Glick, president of UNR, called research “the highest form of teaching” and said that with less research the university would become “less important” nationally.
UNR was ranked 44th in the United States for research among public universities in 2008 by the Center for Measuring University Performance. Research funding at UNR was about $106 million for the fiscal year ending in 2009, according to the Office of Sponsored Projects.

One notable research project at UNR is the Nevada Terawatt Facility (NTF). The facility, made possible by a grant from the United States Department of Energy, conducts experiments that involve high-density plasma and could lead to advances in both energy production and cancer treatment. The program provides hands-on experience for graduate students and is one of the only facilities of its kind in the United States according to Aaron Covington, the deputy director of the facility.

Watch a video of the Nevada Terawatt Facility in action:

Steven Stewart, the assistant director of the Office of Sponsored Projects, says that Nevada’s budget crisis could lead to a decrease in funding of research in the near future.

“If you look at (state funding), certainly our next couple years are going to be way down,” Stewart said.

In a series of budget reductions passed by the Nevada legislature March 1, $95 million was cut from seven state departments that funded about $3 million of $5 million in state-funded research in the fiscal year ending in 2009, according to the Office of Sponsored Projects and the Nevada legislature’s Web site. Read said that funding for research in UNR has remained “pretty much the same – neither up nor down from last year at this time,” despite approximately $10.8 million in research funding due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama last February.

With statements from legislators that the Nevada budget crisis is likely to worsen in the coming years, Stewart believes that research funding will most likely go a “couple percent down” in the next few years.

Such a decrease would most likely hit the College of Science and the School of Medicine the hardest, as these schools receive the most research funding of any college or school at UNR. The two combined for over $48 million in research for the fiscal year ending in 2009.

Less available grant money would mean grants would become more competitive and harder for UNR to win, Stewart said. Professors whose jobs are more focused on research could even leave the university.

“There are some (faculty) who are funded 100 percent on non-school funding like grants,” Stewart said.

These professors could also be affected by university cuts. Glick said elimination of programs could affect research within those programs.

“While research grants are what supports the research, the university supports the research leaders,” he said.

Because research funding brings money to the university in the form of facilities and administration cost (F&A), a dip in research dollars would mean that UNR could see a lack of money for new hires, who Read said often require “fairly significant equipment outlays to set up their research labs.” F&A money also supports various research administration personnel, faculty travel awards, interdisciplinary graduate programs, grant matching funds, fees for accreditation of departments like UNR’s research proposal review board, construction of the Center for Molecular Medicine and laboratory renovations.

A magazine compiling information on the financial crisis has been created and is available now for download!

Click here!

As Nevada Senator Harry Reid works toward a goal of raising $25 million for his re-election campaign, The University of Nevada, Reno’s faculty senate is preparing for a very different sort of election.

Where Congressional candidates campaign aggressively and actively seek to win their positions during elections, faculty senators view their service as more of an obligation they may or may not be chosen for.

“It’s one of the responsibilities of being a faculty member,” Tom Harris, a senator for agriculture, said. “It’s like jury duty.”

Stephen Jenkins, a senator for the college of science, said the senate is just one of many ways that faculty can give back to the university. He has served on various boards during his time at UNR, including the F. Donald Tibbits Distinguished Teacher Award committee and a committee to award student research grants.

For Liberal Arts Senator Isabelle Favre, however, the senate is much more a way to fight for her department. Favre, who teaches French and may face majors and minors in her program being cut in coming semesters, says she uses her position to “clarify, expose and inform.”

“I have not been silent, and I listen a great deal,” she said.

The faculty senate meets once a month in the school of Journalism to discuss issues that range from code changes to redefining faculty positions, although the body serves in a purely advisory role. The senate also meets with administration officials like UNR President Milton Glick, Provost Marc Johnson and regents on a regular basis. Senators are, for the most part, friendly with each other, joking frequently during meetings and meeting outside of senate time for drinks.

UNR faculty will hold elections to fill 13 senate seats before May 5, when the faculty senate will induct the new members and elect a new executive board. Elections for the senate, however, are much different than congressional elections. Faculty members are elected through a nomination process, do not campaign and sometimes run unopposed. Many senators do not remember if any other names were included on the ballot when they were elected to their positions.

Faculty senators do share one similarity with the Congressional representatives who will be elected in the fall, however: Both will be facing financial crisis.

The crisis has put an extra strain on senators, especially those whose departments are most likely to be affected. Jodi Herzik, the senator for the provost’s division, recounted a senator crying in the middle of a senate meeting because of possible cuts to her program.

“No one is happy about talking solely about shutting down parts of campus,” David Ryfe, the current senator for the journalism school said.

UNR’s administration recently released a list of departments to be considered for reduction and even closing. The list included agriculture, education and languages.

Stephen Lafer, the senator for the College of Education, said budget talks have diminished his ability to help his constituents, who face reductions due to the cuts.

“The issue of quality of education in Nevada has not necessarily been the focus of the senate,” he said.

Cuts have already influenced the outcome of faculty senate elections, according to Elliott Parker, the chair of the senate. Last year, both the foreign language department of the College of Liberal Arts and the resource economics department of the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources elected two senators instead of the one senator they usually have. Both departments were worried about being the first to be affected by budget cuts, Parker said. Eric Herzik, the chair-elect who was elected last year and will become chair of the senate in the fall, is also the chair of the political science department and has spoken to several media outlets about economy-related issues.

For Eric, the process of dealing with these cuts is only beginning. But he is determined to use the faculty senate to help the university as effectively as possible.

“Dealing with a bad budgetary situation isn’t “fun” or something one seeks out, but it is a basic role and responsibility for faculty leadership,” Eric wrote in an e-mail. “The current Chair, Elliott Parker, has strived to provide as fair of process as possible and as strong of voice as possible for faculty in the rather gloomy set of budgetary choices we face. That fairness and input is what I will also strive to continue.”

Richardson speaks at a recent budget crisis forum

University of Nevada, Reno professor Jim Richardson describes himself as a man who wears “a lot of hats.”

Despite his relaxed demeanor and frequent joking, the 69-year-old co-founder of the only professor’s union in Nevada, former president of the national professor’s union, director of the Judicial Studies degree program, sociology and judicial studies professor and prolific author, who is rarely seen out of a suit, is right.

“I try to stay busy,” he said while checking his e-mail, which he says he must keep up with constantly, as he receives around 200 e-mails a day.

One of the founding members and first president of the Nevada Faculty Alliance (Nevada’s higher education teachers’ union), he has also served as the union’s lobbyist since its beginning in 1984.

Scott Huber, current president of the NFA, said that the relationship the union has with the school administration is not hostile or opposing, which is what separates the union from most others. However, Richardson has dealt extensively with various bodies, representing faculty and higher education hundreds of times.

“I once testified 80 times during one legislative session,” he said.

Nevada is not the only place Richardson has testified. From 1998 to 2000, Richardson served as president of the American Association of University Professors, the national union with whom the NFA is affiliated, during which he appeared before Congress.

His considerable experience with legislative funding led to Richardson’s appearance at a budget cut response discussion hosted by the Associated Students of the University of Nevada and the faculty senate on Feb. 17, at which he said during a speech that Reno’s economy is not the friendliest to college education.

“To serve a cocktail in a casino does not require a degree,” he said.

Richardson has a long history with universities. Having obtained a Bachelor of Arts and Master’s in sociology from Texas Tech University and a Ph.D. in sociology from Washington State University, Richardson went on to become a professor of sociology and judicial studies at UNR.

Lauren Pearson, a 24-year-old graduate-level student, remembers Richardson’s concern with students knowing the events of the day and his method of teaching, which challenged his students.

“It was one of my harder classes, but I learned a lot, a lot from it,” said Pearson, who is currently taking classes in UNR’s graduate behavioral analysis program.

Robert Dickens, UNR’s director of government relations, who has had two sons take classes from Richardson and has worked with him extensively with his own lobbying, agreed with Pearson, saying that Richardson’s hunger for knowledge and political astuteness are some of the biggest contributing factors to his effectiveness as a teacher.

“He knows what the hell he’s talking about,” Dickens said.

Richardson said he tries to teach students to think outside the box in his classes, saying that although most people think of laws as being “a given, set in stone,” they were created by humans and can be changed.

Richardson’s exceptional grasp of current events led to testimony in the Russian court case Yakunin vs. Dvorkin in 1997, which involved the issue of religious freedom in Russia.

Despite all of Richardson’s experiences, however, he defines himself primarily as “a researcher and a scholar.”

Richardson estimates that he has had at least one chapter published in about 10 books and about 300 articles published in various locations. Topics for Richardson’s articles have ranged from sociology to university funding.

The University of Nevada, Reno faculty senate met with UNR President Milton Glick, Provost Marc Johnson and Nevada System of Higher Education Regent Andrea Anderson Thursday to discuss the possibilities of financial exigency, increased tuition and closing of colleges in response to budget cuts to higher education proposed by Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons.

Those in attendance spoke out against the proposed cuts to all three visiting speakers, who agreed with the senate.

“You can’t fix it all with money, but you can sure destroy it without money,” Anderson said.

A nearly $900 million deficit in the Nevada state budget has prompted NSHE schools to consider declaring financial exigency, similar to a state of bankruptcy in which schools could break contracts with professors and cut them from the payroll faster than normal, according to a statement by NSHE Chancellor Dan Klaich in a story by the Nevada Sagebrush.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is looking at exigency much more seriously than other schools in Nevada, according to chair-elect of the senate Eric Herzik.

“They feel like it would offer them more protection,” Herzik said during the meeting.

Glick expressed disapproval of the idea of exigency, saying that such an action would make UNR the “poster child for a failed university system.”

The senate also discussed the idea of closing colleges within UNR or cutting majors and minors to weather the budget cuts.

College of Liberal Arts Senator Isabelle Favre said that she expects the French major, for which she is an associate professor, to be one of the first areas to be “put on the chopping block” in the event of such a course of action, citing cuts already made to the German major. The French major had been asked to defend itself at the same time as the German major, Favre said.

The possibility of entire colleges within UNR being cut is also a very real possibility despite a reduction in the size of cuts being asked for by Gibbons, according to chair of the senate Elliott Parker.

“It sucks when it’s good news to say ‘we only have to shut down the college of engineering and not the college of liberal arts,’” Parker said.

Criteria that would be used to determine which programs were cut would include enrollment, uniqueness, research productivity and the rate of students in the program following up their education with master’s degrees.

Tuition is very likely to increase with or without budget cuts, according to Glick. In response to a question about what UNR can do to become less dependent on state funding, he said that he guesses tuition will “increase 10 percent every year for ten years.”

There are, however, alternatives routes to be taken. Glick mentioned that a small increase in the sales tax could provide millions of dollars in state revenue while causing only minimal loss to the average citizen. Anderson said that the board of regents has compiled a list of untapped state funds that could be used to “ease the pain” of the budget cuts.

Herzik said such cuts would only hold off funding decreases until July, the end of the fiscal year.

The Nevada Legislature will meet this Tuesday in a special session to discuss budget cuts and produce specific numbers for cuts to higher education.

The University of Nevada, Reno’s F. Donald Tibbits University Distinguished Teacher Award isn’t just given to anybody.

With two books written, two active bands, a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles and rave reviews from students, associate professor David Ake is not just anybody.

The award, which was presented to Ake last year, is described by UNR’s Web site as rewarding teachers for “excellence in the classroom, giving greater recognition to teaching as a faculty activity.”

Ake’s students agree with his selection for the award.

“He has a great knowledge of jazz history,” Tim Shaghoian, an 18-year-old freshman and tenor saxophone player in one Ake’s classes said. “He’s a very talented composer, so has a lot to offer.”

On ratemyprofessor.org, Ake has earned a 4.7/5 for overall quality as well as highly favorable reviews by students.

“This professor is the epitome of what it means to be a good professor,” wrote one student.

Director of the School of Arts and trumpeter in both of Ake’s bands Larry Engstrom, who wrote a letter in favor of Ake’s selection for the Tibbits award, said Ake’s passion for the subject matter, application of music to life and hands-on approach to teaching are some of the qualities that earned him the honor.

“He’s a great combination of scholar and educator slash communicator and performer, and it’s so unusual to do all three so well,” Engstrom said. “He really does stand out.”

Ake has also been published. His first book, “Jazz Cultures,” is described by Ake as representative of “what people have taken from jazz since World War Two.” Ake’s second book, “Jazz Matters,” is set to be released this fall.

His bands, The Collective and EEA, have both recorded albums. The Collective, which includes Engstrom and UNR faculty Peter Epstein, Hans Halt, Andrew Heglund and Ed Corey, has performed in festivals and concerts regularly. EEA is holding a release party for its debut album, The Dark, on March 5 at the Steinway Piano Gallery. Both bands are highly praised by listeners.

“(The Collective is) one of the best jazz groups you can hear anywhere,” Shaghoian said.

Although the music released from these bands is centered around Jazz, Ake says he listens to music ranging from classical to Radiohead.

“It’s like food,” Ake said. “What does my body need right now?”

Most wouldn’t think of autism as a temporary condition.

Dr. Patrick Ghezzi and students in the Early Childhood Autism Program at the University of Nevada, Reno, however, do.

“We are able to recover about 50 percent of them,” said Ghezzi, a professor in the Psychology Department and co-founder of the program.

The program is not able to recover more children, he said, mostly because of the relatively short history of the science of applied behavior analysis, the methodology with which the program works with children displaying symptoms of autism.

“We are not able to recover all of them, and that continues to keep us up at night,” Ghezzi said.

Autism, which is defined by a promotional pamphlet for the program as “a behavior condition in young children that takes the form of avoidance of people, inattention, self-stimulatory and repetitious behavior, low interest in play, and delays in language,” affects about one in 150 children in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Through applied behavior analysis, the Early Childhood Autism Program is able to address this. Christy Coffman, a 27-year-old graduate student who works in the program, is quite experienced with the process.

“We look at behaviors that are observable and measurable, and we look at ways to change those behaviors, whether by increasing behaviors, decreasing behaviors or focusing on the ability of responding,” Coffman said.

One of those behaviors, she said, is language.

“They typically don’t use language to gain access to what they want,” Coffman said. “Their articulation is poor, they may babble or they just don’t talk.”

As a result, this is one of the tutors’ major focuses when working with the children. According to Coffman, tutors will usually begin with a “manding” vocabulary, or a way to request things that they want. For instance, she said, children who want a toy car will have to ask for one before receiving it, and then the behavior of asking for the car is reinforced by the child being handed it.

Christy talks about working with the kids:

The program, which was co-founded in 1995 by Ghezzi and the late Dr. Sidney Bijou, described by the Web site of the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts as a “pioneer” in the field, currently employs about 25 undergraduate students.

“We’ve really affected or impacted the lives of a lot of undergraduate students around here, and I really think that is a significant outcome,” Ghezzi said.

Funding for the program comes, at least in part, from the Sierra Kids Foundation, which held its sixth annual “Wild West Shootout,” a high school boys’ basketball tournament from December 3 to 5.

Dr. Ghezzi talks about the Wild West Shootout:

The program is so successful that, according to Ghezzi, families move from different parts of the country to put their children into it.

The science, however, is still evolving. For the time being, the program will continue to do its work, and Coffman says she plans on pursuing early intervention in a wider scope past college.

“We need to get to a position where we can recover all the kids in our program,” Ghezzi said. “Not only here, but certainly across the country and across the world.”

[View with PicLens]

Obama delivered his first State of the Union Address to Congress on February 24, sparking criticism from Republican Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

Obama’s speech, which drew thunderous applause from the joint session of Congress on several occasions, focused mainly on the economy and set his administration’s priorities. The top three priorities of his administration, said Obama, would be energy, health care and education.

He also expressed optimism in the resilience of the American people, saying that the United States will overcome its economic situation.

“We will rebuild. We will recover,” Obama said.

Obama applauded Congress for passing the Economic Recovery Act, but said that more needed to be done, asking Congress to help him pass effective legislation quickly, including legislation to establish a higher cap on gas emissions from cars.

The Republican response from Jindal agreed with the idea of working with the new president on passing effective legislation, but said that the new administration is off to a bad start. Jindal said that the Economic Recovery Act spent too much money in a reckless manner, and was a bill that “Congress hasn’t read, and our people haven’t seen.”

Jindal further criticized the bill for its earmarks, saying the bill contained money for things like “volcano monitoring.” He also said that Republicans are strongly opposed to the idea of universal health care.

Jim Brusstar spends part of his time living in Reno, Nevada.

The other part of his time he spends in Green Valley, Arizona, helping illegal immigrants whose lives are imperiled while crossing the treacherous Sonoran Desert.

Brusstar participates in a group called the Samaritans, a nonprofit organization that supplies immigrants crossing the border with supplies necessary to survival.

“We’re just helping people survive,” Brusstar said. “No political agenda.”

The Samaritans, who traverse the desert supplying immigrants with essentials, leaving behind jugs of water and cleaning up trash they leave behind, have seen first-hand the effects of illegal immigration. Often times while on these “missions” the Samaritans come across horrific scenes of immigrants hung or shot by robbers or “coyotes,” the people who smuggle immigrants across the border for money or services ranging from gun-running to drug-running, according to Brusstar.

That’s not the only thing the immigrants coming over go through, however.

“There’s a lot of gangrene in the feet,” he said. There are also issues of severe dehydration and hunger.

The issues reach children as well. Brusstar said that the group often encounters mothers with children, or women still pregnant on the journey.

Some of the immigrants coming to America are simply trying to get back to their families.

“A lot of them have been in the U.S. five or 10 years,” Brusstar said.

Such people are often deported, leaving the rest of their families in America. On these occasions, the Samaritans are happy to let the immigrants use their cell phones to call their families.

Brusstar believes that the immigration policies are in desperate need of fixing.

“There’s mass numbers, so no one’s ever going to check all of them,” he said. “Building a fence is a joke. I’m watching them coming across this one sector every day.”

Brusstar said he supported McCain’s plan on illegal immigration.

Due to the prevalence of debate on immigration policy in the political agenda, however, the Samaritans encounter quite a bit of opposition during their operations.

“A lot of people in the local communities are anti-immigration, no matter what,” Brusstar said.

Another group against what the Samaritans are trying to do is the Minuteman project, a group of civilians who patrol the border with guns to deter immigrants from coming into America illegally.

“They have their own agenda, which I really don’t support,” he said. “Who knows when they’ll use their weapons, and for what purpose?”

The founder of the Minuteman project, Jim Gilchrist, is speaking on an immigration panel this Thursday at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The Samaritans, however, are not giving up.

“We’re continuing to do our work,” Brusstar said.

For all the people who disagree with the Samaritans, there are always those who support them as well.

“People say, ‘God bless you and thank you for what you do,’ and that’s good to hear,” he said.

Despite agreeing with the spirit of Obama’s new administration, Jindal criticized the Economic Recovery Act for its wasteful spending, including money for “Volcano Monitoring.”

He pointed in comparison to his own state of Louisiana, which he says has cut spending since he took office.

He also addressed the same areas that Obama said were his administration’s top priorities, saying of the health care plan that Republicans strongly oppose universal health care.

Jindal also criticized the ethics of Washington, D.C., saying that the trillion-dollar Recovery Act was a bill that “Congress hasn’t read, and our people haven’t seen.”

Jindal reached out to voters, saying that Republicans are “Determined to regain your trust,” by standing up for its values.