UC Davis will establish new graduate school of the environment

UC Davis will establish a Graduate School of the Environment, the culmination of a grassroots campaign by faculty members to improve the impact and visibility of campus environmental-science programs.

"Our environmental programs deserve a major emphasis," said Provost Robert Grey. "The faculty members come from all sectors of the campus, and that breadth is a major strength. But we need more effective coordination of resources and better access for students, faculty members, policy-makers and funding agencies.

"A new school will signal this campus priority in an unequivocal way."

The school will be led by a dean and allotted 10 new faculty positions to hold joint appointments in the graduate school and in home divisions, colleges or schools. All the new faculty will have responsibility for both undergraduate and graduate education, though the focus of the new school will be graduate education.

In practical terms, the new school will provide a common administrative home to the campus's many environmentally oriented graduate groups and the John Muir Institute for the Environment.

The dean will promote environmental scholarship and education at the administrative level and strengthen cross-disciplinary linkages.

"Although most of the graduate education on our campus is through graduate groups, the financial and administrative support for those groups has been inadequate," said Kevin Rice, professor of agronomy and range science and chairperson of the Ecology Graduate Group. "I am hopeful that this new school will increase our capacity to recruit and retain top-notch students and will provide sufficient incentives for faculty to develop and teach graduate courses."

The provost has appointed Dennis Rolston, professor of land, air and water resources, to be planning coordinator for the new school. Rolston will lead a new planning and advisory committee charged by Grey to develop a "blueprint," or guiding plan, by May 1.

"UC Davis has substantial depth and breadth in environmental scholarship with programs in nearly every college and school, yet these programs lack stature, visibility and coordination since no one unit has campuswide responsibility for guiding the development of the environment initiative," Rolston said.

The idea of reorganizing the administration of environmental scholarship had been discussed for a few years, but got jump-started in October 1999, when 30 faculty members urged campus leaders to act. Five weeks later, Provost Grey had formed faculty and administrative advisory committees.

Town-hall meetings were held last spring; committee reports went to the provost by summer's end. The Academic Leadership and Planning group reviewed both and made recommendations.

The faculty committee, also led by Dennis Rolston, recommended that a School of the Environment be established, headed by a vice provost, with faculty having minority appointments, and with responsibility for graduate education.

Seventy-five faculty members from all over campus endorsed the plan.

The administrative council, led by Peter Rock, dean of mathematical and physical sciences, recommended a similar organizational plan, albeit one headed by a director and called a graduate school.

The provost endorsed the graduate-school designation but said it should be led by a dean.

"The Davis faculty asked for a bold, new organizational structure that would allow them to traverse disciplinary boundaries comfortably and at no cost to the well-being of their home departments," said Debbie Niemeier, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and special assistant to the provost on the project.

"The faculty voice was heard. A faculty-inspired and, by large measure, faculty-designed system -- that's pretty unique," said geology professor Jeff Mount, who served on the faculty committee.

The chair of the administrative council, Peter Rock, said, "The GSE will facilitate the development and implementation of new initiatives in environmental areas. The GSE will also enable the campus to better project the great and diverse strengths of its numerous environmental programs to external constituencies."

Dennis Rolston's new planning committee met for the first time Jan. 24. In the next months, a detailed design for the UC Davis Graduate School of the Environment must be approved by the provost and chancellor, the Academic Senate, the UC systemwide Academic Council, and finally the UC regents.

The recommendations of the faculty committee, administrative council and Robert Grey can be seen online at http://provost.ucdavis.edu/issues.cfm.

Media contacts: -- Robert Grey, Provost, 530-752-2065, [email protected]

-- Peter Rock, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 530-754-8918

-- Dennis Rolston, GSE Planning Advisory Committee, 530-752-2113, [email protected] (out of the office until Feb. 12)

-- Robert Flocchini, John Muir Institute of the Environment, and Academic Senate Committee on Academic Planning and Budget Review, 530-752-1460, [email protected] (out of the office on Feb. 5)

-- Sylvia Wright, News Service, 530-752-7704, [email protected]