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Environmental Informatics
Mar. 2nd, 2011 08:48 amOne of the cynical jokes in our office for the past decade or so has been that every department on campus wants to put "environment" or "information" in their names in order to sound modern and relevant. The most recent example of this is the School of Marine Affairs, which just changed its name to the School of Marine and Environmental Affairs.
In fact, the SMEA is these days part of a new college called the College of the Environment that was formed within the university in Autumn 2009. This was a merger of the College of Forest Resources and the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences (of which the School of Marine Affairs was part) with several other departments, including Atmospheric Sciences, Earth and Space Sciences (formerly Geology and Geophysics), and the interdisciplinary Program on the Environment. "Spanning the forests to the seas, from the depths of the earth to the edges of the solar system, the College is an unrivaled constellation of environmental research, education, and application." At the time the college was proposed, it was claimed that it was the first of its kind nationally, although Google tells me that other universities have similar colleges, including Western Washington University, Wesleyan University, and University or Rhode Island (where it's called the College of the Environment and Life Sciences). I don't know who really started the trend.
One of the things I find interesting about the College of the Environment is that it folds in two programs that began as adjuncts of extractive industries: Forest Resources and Fishery Science. The fact that these programs are now finding shelter under the environmental umbrella is an indicator of how much those industries have shrunk in importance in the Pacific Northwest economy, I think. I am reminded of my cousin's husband -- the CEO of a large lumber company -- who commented that the UW's forest resources program no longer produces people of any use to his company. On the other hand, one of the other changes within the School of Forest Resources (as it is now called) is that the Paper Science and Engineering program changed its name to the Bioresource Science and Engineering program, which I assume is a reflection of the interest in products such as biofuels these days, so it still isn't all tree-hugging down there. Then again, I notice my cousin's husband's company's webpage touts "Sustainability" first thing upon arrival, and goes on to tell us that wood sequesters carbon.
Well, it's been longer ago than all this that the School of Library and Information Science became the zippy Information School offering a zippy new Bachelor of Science in Informatics as well as the more traditional Master of Library and Information Science. Stay tuned for further mergers. The College of Environmental Informatics is still a possibility. It might even actually make sense in these changing times.
In fact, the SMEA is these days part of a new college called the College of the Environment that was formed within the university in Autumn 2009. This was a merger of the College of Forest Resources and the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences (of which the School of Marine Affairs was part) with several other departments, including Atmospheric Sciences, Earth and Space Sciences (formerly Geology and Geophysics), and the interdisciplinary Program on the Environment. "Spanning the forests to the seas, from the depths of the earth to the edges of the solar system, the College is an unrivaled constellation of environmental research, education, and application." At the time the college was proposed, it was claimed that it was the first of its kind nationally, although Google tells me that other universities have similar colleges, including Western Washington University, Wesleyan University, and University or Rhode Island (where it's called the College of the Environment and Life Sciences). I don't know who really started the trend.
One of the things I find interesting about the College of the Environment is that it folds in two programs that began as adjuncts of extractive industries: Forest Resources and Fishery Science. The fact that these programs are now finding shelter under the environmental umbrella is an indicator of how much those industries have shrunk in importance in the Pacific Northwest economy, I think. I am reminded of my cousin's husband -- the CEO of a large lumber company -- who commented that the UW's forest resources program no longer produces people of any use to his company. On the other hand, one of the other changes within the School of Forest Resources (as it is now called) is that the Paper Science and Engineering program changed its name to the Bioresource Science and Engineering program, which I assume is a reflection of the interest in products such as biofuels these days, so it still isn't all tree-hugging down there. Then again, I notice my cousin's husband's company's webpage touts "Sustainability" first thing upon arrival, and goes on to tell us that wood sequesters carbon.
Well, it's been longer ago than all this that the School of Library and Information Science became the zippy Information School offering a zippy new Bachelor of Science in Informatics as well as the more traditional Master of Library and Information Science. Stay tuned for further mergers. The College of Environmental Informatics is still a possibility. It might even actually make sense in these changing times.
