Last week I had the opportunity to attend my first Environmental Professionals Network program, a service of the School of Environment and Natural Resources, as interim Director of SENR. A large crowd of over 180 environmental professionals joined together in the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center on the Columbus campus to learn about the plans of an organization known as RAPID 5, a public-private partnership in Columbus, to create the largest inter-connected park system in the country, right here in central Ohio. It was truly an energizing experience, and I left the program looking forward to my next visit to one of the area’s growing number of natural recreation areas. If you want to learn more about RAPD 5’s work you can visit here (https://www.rapid5.org/), and if you haven’t had a chance to visit one of the Environmental Professional Network events recently, I encourage you to browse the list of upcoming events here (https://epn.osu.edu/events) and register for one or more. I promise you will leave engaged and inspired.
In my first Director’s note, I mentioned the impressive growth that the School of Environment and Natural Resources has undergone in the last decade, growing from “a scrappy, entrepreneurial unit…to the nucleus of environmental and natural resource teaching, research, and extension in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and Ohio State University.” To give you a better idea of that impressive growth I thought I would give you a few numbers. As of today, SENR has 837 students in our five undergraduate majors and 162 students in our Master’s degree and Ph.D. programs. That’s 999 students total (come on, we can get one more, right?). That number doesn’t include an equally impressive number of students in our seven Minor programs and even more students who take the opportunity to register for SENR classes from other majors around campus. In short, SENR’s student footprint is big.
As you might expect, to support an operation this large it takes a community of champions. To put this in perspective, consider that SENR currently has 47 faculty members, 17 full and part-time lecturers, 29 administrative staff, 36 research staff, 5 Extension staff, and uncountable other supporters on our campuses and around the state all with a singular vision: “A productive society in harmony with a sustainable and healthy environment.”
In August we held a faculty retreat in a peaceful outdoor setting at Highbanks Metro Park north of Columbus. At the retreat, the faculty furthered their commitment to SENR students by overwhelmingly approving a new administrative structure for the School that includes replacing a singular catch-all Associate Director position with two Associate Director positions; one focused on Graduate Education and Research and the other focused on Undergraduate Education. I am pleased to report that Dr. Robyn Wilson will continue her service as Associate Director, a role she has held for the past year, by taking on the role of Associate Director for Graduate Education and Research, and Dr. Lauren Pintor has agreed to join the administrative team in the role of Associate Director for Undergraduate Education. As Associate Directors, Drs. Wilson and Pintor will lead the instructional program and policy development of the school to further the School’s reputation for an unmatched student experience.
Finally, I want to remind everyone of the opportunity to engage or re-engage with SENR at the upcoming Homecoming Open House at the Wilma H Schiermeier Olentangy Wetland Research Park in partnership with Stone Laboratory. Details on registration for the Homecoming event are included below.
As always, I hope to see you all soon and please don’t hesitate to reach out if I can support you in any way.
Sincerely,
Tim Haab
Professor and Interim Director
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