Students may see changes in natural resources
The College of Natural Resources may see changes starting in October with the beginning of a review by a nationally accredited team of leaders, Utah State University Provost Stan Albrecht said.
The college will undergo a review of the natural resource programs and departments, Albrecht said, to determine where the college is going and what the strengths and weaknesses are of the programs.
The timing is favorable with leadership changes from the dean of the college and the director of the ecology leaving, he said.
Albrecht said it is always helpful to invite people who are nationally and internationally recognized to view programs from an outside perspective and this is the typical course a review process for colleges and departments takes at USU.
“I hope folks will understand that this is nothing unique,” Albrecht said. “This is the natural course that universities pursue.”
However, the review may increase stress for students, faculty and staff within the College of Natural Resources, said Mark Brunson, a member of the institutional review board.
“It’s a little bit daunting,” Brunson said, “because any time that outsiders come in and look at your program and decide what they like or don’t like about it, you put yourself on the line.”
The dean of the Natural Resources College,F.E. “Fee” Busby, was out of town and unavailable for comment.
The Provost Office believes the review will provide an excellent opportunity to explore ways to continue to lift USU’s performance and enhance the university’s national prominence in areas that are central both to the history and to the future of the university, Albrecht said.
The review can either be a positive or negative thing for the college, Brunson said.
The review team may conclude that the college is on the right course or the team may conclude the college needs to take another step.
“Depending on what happens,” Brunson said, “that could mean that once again [the CNR] faculty and students are going to have to spend the time and energy to figure out how to be something different than [the college is] now.”
There isn’t a way to determine what the future of the college is going to be until the review team comes in October and the project reaches completion, Albrecht said.
“The [review team] has not made the recommendations,” Albrecht said. “Does it have a future with the same configuration it currently has? That is not able to be determined.”
The review process has a potential to be disruptive to students, Brunson said.
The student body is aware of something going on in the college, he said, and understands this review could affect how the CNR is structured.
“The provost has said this will not be the same thing that happened in the College of Family Life,” Brunson said. “But there are students here who remember that.”
Brunson said this review could cause stress for both students and faculty members.
“I think that I would encourage the students not to panic, yet,” he said. “Part of why it is difficult is because as a student you know you might be affected but you don’t get a chance to direct the outcome. To an extent that’s how the faculty is feeling – we’re in the same boat.”
Meghan Wereley, a senior majoring in land management, said students in the CNR have heard a little information about the review from peers and professors.
“I think the more and more we hear about it, it can be distracting,” Wereley said.
Wereley said students would be upset if the review team decided to disband the College of Natural Resources.
“The [students] that hear it could possibly be disbanded – the undergraduates that travel to come and see the college – [see the CNR] as a valuable resource and have a negative feeling towards [the review],” said Werely, who came from Canada for the program.
If the College of Natural Resources were dissolved or combined with other units in a bigger college, Brunson said, the structure change may or may not impact students and faculty.
Students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to speak with the review team, Albrecht said. Public meetings will be scheduled to allow students, faculty and staff to express views about the review.
It is important for students to meet with the team and voice opinions about the review and the college, Brunson said.
“One of the things that I see in college students in general, is that [students] aren’t always as great as [students] should be in taking the opportunities to voice opposition, Brunson said. “Students are better at protesting then in going to meetings where they can actually make a difference.”
Potential change can make people feel uncomfortable, he said.
“One of the things that is important to do, whether you’re a student or faculty member, is to come prepared to listen as well as to speak,” he said. “If you come in with what appears to be a statement saying we want the status quo, then you’re less likely to be listened to.”
The intent of the review process is to better the CNR and the university, Albrecht said.
“The important thing to remember is that we are not doing this to weaken programs,” Albrecht said, “but to strengthen them – we’re doing it to get better.
-kcashton@cc.usu.edu