News from the Society
Centennial Year - 1906-2006..........................................................................................10
BSA Seeks Editor for Plant Science Bulletin.....................................................................10
News from the Sections
Northeast Section Joint Field Meeting..............................................................................10

Announcements
Stunning Prints from Rare Book Collection.......................................................................11
Specimen Label Database................................................................................................11
Plant Pathologists Express Need for Plant Pathology-Related Microbial
Culture Resources............................................................................................................12
14th Congress of the Federation of European Societies of Plant Biology............................12

Positions Available
Teaching Postdoctoral Position.........................................................................................13
Plant Systematist..............................................................................................................13

Award Opportunities
Grants for Botanical Gardens and Arboreta......................................................................14
National Tropical Botanical Garden College Professors' Course Kenan
Fellowship.......................................................................................................................14

The Herbage CD-ROM, Third Edition.............................................................................14

Books Reviewed.............................................................................................................15
Books Received..............................................................................................................35
BSA Contact Information................................................................................................37
BSA Logo Items.............................................................................................................36

Plant Science Bulletin 50(1) 2004
ISSN 0032-0919

Published quarterly by Botanical Society of America, Inc., 1735 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43210. The yearly subscription rate of $15 is included in the membership dues of the Botanical Society of America, Inc. Periodical postage paid at Columbus, OH and additional mailing office.

Editor: Marshall D. Sundberg
Department of Biological Sciences
Emporia State University
1200 Commercial Street, Emporia, KS 66801-5707
Telephone: 620-341-5605 Fax: 620-341-5607
Email: sundberm@emporia.edu

Send address changes to:
Botanical Society of America
Business Office
P.O. Box 299
St. Louis, MO 63166-0299
email: bsa-manager@botany.org

Editorial Committee for Volume 50

James E. Mickle (2004)
Department of Botany
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-7612
james_mickle@ncsu.edu

Andrew W. Douglas (2005)
Department of Biology
University of Mississippi
University, MS 38677
adouglas@olemiss.edu

Douglas W. Darnowski (2006)
Department of Biology
Washington College
Chestertown, MD 21620
ddarnowski2@washcoll.edu

Andrea D. Wolfe (2007)
Department of EEOB
1735 Neil Ave., OSU
Columbus, OH 43210-1293
wolfe.205@osu.edu

Samuel Hammer (2008)
College of General Studies
Boston University
Boston, MA 02215
cladonia@bu.edu

You will note later in this issue that the Centennial Planning Committee of the Botanical Society of America is gearing up for 2006. One hundred years of botanizing is quite an achievement, especially when multiplied by the thousands of individuals who have contributed to the growth of our knowledge of plants. However, a perusal of the nearly 50 years of this publication (in the process of being scanned to the BSA website thanks to Bill Stern's contribution of the early volumes of the run) makes clear a continuing problem which caused Bill to ask:

Quo Vadis, Botanicum? (Stern, 1969).

Since that time a number of articles have appeared in the PSB documenting a disturbing trend of the dissolution and diffusion of botany programs in colleges and universities throughout the country. The one ironic difference is that 30 years ago zoology was seen as the treat driving the trend; today, zoologists share our fate. In the words of one dean, who orchestrated the demise of two outstanding botany departments in two universities within the past 10 years, "botany and zoology are no longer valid terms." Unfortunately, this misconception is shared by many administrators.

Again the question, where are we going? To help answer this question we surveyed university catalogs of 147 institutions around the country, both large and small (Fig. 1). Fifty-nine research universities were examined, including 40 of the 44 schools described by Eshbaugh (1983) and updated by Sundberg (2000). The
 
 

Figure 1. College and University catalogs sampled: red (medium gray), research Universities; blue (dark), comprehensive universities; green (light) liberal arts colleges.

sample included an additional 49 comprehensive state universities and 49 liberal arts colleges. In addition to noting which institutions offered botany courses, we tallied the courses offered within the relevant department (s). This provides some broad brush strokes to identify botany or plant biology (vs biology) departments. It also gives a quick picture of what courses are "hot," and which courses "are not."

Botany departments appear to be restricted almost exclusively to research universities (Table 1). Of the universities sampled, about half still have a botany department, but the declining trend noted previously continues. Since we gathered the data, for instance, the botanists at Iowa State University lost their autonomy. Certain disciplines remain well-represented, such as plant anatomy, plant ecology, and especially plant physiology. Other areas are becoming a "white hole" in the table _ notably traditional taxonomy. What is surprising is that the decline of taxonomic offerings is equally severe in botany and biology departments. Also surprising is that most institutions continue to offer a general botany course, although the trend is toward a one or two-semester sequence of general biology.

The situation at comprehensive universities mirrors the pattern observed at the research universities, but the trends are more evident (Table. 2). The majority of departments still offer general botany, but plant physiology is the only upper-level course offered by most institutions. One pleasant surprise is that plant taxonomy is still taught at half of the institutions - - a slightly higher percentage than at the research universities (Table 4)!

Botany offerings are notably thinner at liberal arts colleges (Table 3). General botany and plant physiology are the most commonly offered courses with upper division offerings limited to the interests of the one or few botanists on staff.

Course offerings by departments at various sized institutions are summarized in Table 4, which quantifies the general trends evident in the preceding tables. The data generally reflect the different sizes and missions of the institutions. Research universities typically have larger departments with more individual faculty members actively focused within a specific sub-discipline. Smaller departments are more dependent on the ability of a few individuals to provide breadth of coverage to the program. But another strong driving force at research universities is the potential for external funding. A good indication of this pressure is a comparison of traditional taxonomy with modern systematics. There is good support for molecular approaches to systematics, but support for traditional taxonomy is weak, as evidenced by the threat to museums and herbaria at some institutions. It is also notable that merged biology departments are more likely to be offering plant molecular biology at the upper level than are traditional botany programs.

What was not evident at first is that comprehensive universities are more likely to offer traditional plant taxonomy than are research universities. This is particularly noteworthy given the expressed need of federal agencies, such as the USDA Forest Service, for individuals trained in plant identification (Plant Science Bulletin 48(4)). This may be a strength upon which comprehensive universities could focus - and government agencies could notice..

Tables 1-3. Fields (in order): General Botany, Bo; Anatomy, An; Morphology, Mo; Taxonomy, Ta; Flora, Fl; Trees & Shrubs, Tr: Agrostology, Ag; Aquatic Plants, Aq; Systematics, Sy; Economic Botany, Ec; Physiology, Ph; Paleobotany, Pa; Plant Ecology, Ec; Phycology, Ph, Mcology, My; Plant Molecular Biology, Mo. Color: Green (light), Botany; Blue (dark), Biology.

Table 1 - Research Universities

Research

Botany

Anatomy

Morphology

Taxonomy

Flora

Trees/Shrubs

Aquatic

Systematics

Economic Botany

Physiology

Paleobot

Ecology

Phycology

Mycology

Molecular

Arizona St U

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

BYU

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Cornell U

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Duke U

x

x

Indiana Univ

x

x

x

x

Iowa State U

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Kansas State U

x

x

x

x

Louisiana St U

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Miami U

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Michigan St. U

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Mississippi St U

x

x

x

x

x

North Carolina St. U

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Ohio State U

x

x

x

x

Ohio University

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Oregon St Univ

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Pennsylvania St U

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Purdue

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Rutgers Univ

x

x

x

x

x

x

Southern Illinois U

x

x

x

x

x

Texas A&M Univ

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Univ Arizona

x

x

x

x

Univ Arkansas

x

x

x

x

U of Cal - Berkeley

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of C - Davis

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of C - Los Angeles

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of C - Riverside

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Chicago

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Colorado

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Conneticutt

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Florida

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Georgia

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Hawaii - Manoa

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Research

Botany

Anatomy

Morphology

Taxonomy

Flora

Trees/Shrubs

Aquatic

Systematics

Economic Botany

Physiology

Paleobot

Ecology

Phycology

Mycology

Molecular

U of Illinois

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U Illinois - Chicago

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Iowa

x

x

U of Kansas

x

x

x

x

U of Kentucky

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Maryland

x

x

U of Massachusetts

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Michigan

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Minnesota

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Mississippi

x

x

x

x

x

x

Univ Missouri

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Univ Montana

x

x

x

x

x

x

Univ Nebraska

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of New Hampshire

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of North Carolina

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Notre Dame

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Oklahoma

x

x

x

U of Tennessee

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Texas

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U ofVermont

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Washington

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Wisconson

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

U of Wyoming

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Utah State Univ

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Wake Forest Univ

x

x

Washington St U

x

x

x

x

x

Washington U (St. Louis)

x

x

x

x

Table 2 - Comprehensice Universities

Comprehensive

Botany

Anatomy

Morphology

Taxonomy

Flora

Trees/Shrubs

Aquatic

Systematics

Economic Botany

Physiology

Paleobot

Ecology

Phycology

Mycology

Molecular

Adams St U (CO)

x

x

x

x

Alabama St

x

x

x

x

Appalachian State U

x

x

x

x

Cal St Polytech. U

x

x

x

x

Cal St San Bernidino

x

x

x

Central Michigan U

x

x

x

x

x

x

Central Missouri St

x

x

Chadron St College (NE)

x

x

x

x

x

x

Delaware St U

x

x

x

Eastern Illinois U

x

x

x

x