Dear Alumni, Colleagues and Friends of Biochemistry,

It is hard to believe that it has been four years since Miriam and I made the decision to move to the University of Arizona! It has been a great four years, punctuated by a move that I can no longer really remember. A lot has happened. Faculty have moved and retired, and new faculty have been recruited. Long term staff have retired, and new people have moved into their positions. And the student body continues to grow! Profs. John Law and Gordon Tollin have retired, although both maintain active labs, and Gordon teaches as he did prior to retirement. Hans Bohnert has departed, leaving a large gap in the mid-career ranks. We have recruited Matt Cordes, Megan McEvoy and Nancy Horton as Assistant Professors, and Vahe Bandarian will be arriving in July of this year. We are hopeful that we will successfully attract a fifth new faculty member this summer.

Next year, we expect to be recruiting 2 additional faculty into the Department, and we assume recruiting will continue for several years to come. New faculty bring new ideas and stimulate new thinking and direction. Students and faculty alike benefit enormously from this process. We have been well supported by the administration of the College of Science, the College of Medicine and the Central Administration of the University of Arizona, and expect that support to continue.

With regard to administrative staff, Christa Sitz and Helen Markes have retired, and Leilani Pavlik and Kim Bannister have taken their positions. Shirley Peters moved to Washington, and Margaret Gomez is now dealing with personnel matters. And Eva Wilson will be retiring at the end of this summer.

We will be recruiting a person to take Eva’s position as student program coordinator over the next month. Jane Dugas will assume responsibility for graduate student recruiting activities, and Eva’s replacement will focus on both undergraduate and graduate students who are registered in our programs.

Even at this time of excitement we face some very real difficulties and challenges, in the deep budget cuts that the university has suffered as a result of the budget difficulties of the State of Arizona. It appears that the worst has passed and we are in the process of digging out. However, one immediate difficulty that faces us must be solved within the next few months. In 2001, we initiated a new laboratory course, Bioc. 463, taught by Dr. Jim Hazzard. The course is required of all students who entered in the fall of 2001 and after. Taken as an elective by 10-15 students since its beginning, the department and college have invested significantly to buy the equipment needed for this number of students. Next fall, the students who entered in the fall of 2001 will be juniors and will begin to take the course as a degree requirement. We expect approximately 50 students per semester this fall and beyond, and we do not have the equipment to accommodate them. The College of Science has no money; the department has no money. It has been taken by the budget cuts. As a result, we are seeking old equipment that can be borrowed from or donated by research labs, and we are hoping for donations from bioindustry in Tucson and beyond which benefit from our well-educated students.

This course, a critically important component of our students’ education, must be preserved, and I will do anything that I can to save it from the state’s budget ax. If anyone has ideas or suggestions, please contact me.

With all best wishes,

Tom