November 1, 2002

Dear Colleagues,

The following Ad Hoc Working Group is hereby established. It is composed of the following members:

Faculty: Brubaker (Chair), Ryan, Reichard, Briggs, Agee, Fridley

Staff: Trudeau and Paul

Students: Josh Taylor, Others (TBA)

The charge to the WG is based upon the principles enunciated in my memo of October 31, 2002 which reflect a reduced resource base for the College. Please follow these in developing your specific recommendations to the faculty. The Working Group is to design a curriculum structure to:

  • provide high quality and high impact programs of study for graduate and undergraduate students;
  • address educational goals for courses offered at both graduate and undergraduate levels;
  • develop links and collaborative courses with other campus programs;
  • recommend ways to consolidate and reduce the number of course offerings required to achieve learning outcomes;
  • ensure that the common core and general education courses clearly and completely cover the ecological, economic and social building blocks of sustainability;
  • ensure that service courses are established as a regular part of our educational identity and that instructional resources are committed as part of the annual instructional plan;
  • explore and recommend the feasibility of 4-1 curricular structures to integrate graduate and undergraduate programs;
  • identify all required and optional courses for the curriculum and outline the essential learning outcomes associated with each course

    Integration, consolidation and interdisciplinarity are key markers of our new identity and must be solidly visible in our new programs.

    Due to the critical nature of your work, I ask for a report at the all-college faculty meeting on November 19, 2002. This report must provide the structure and content (not all of the individual course details) of both the graduate and undergraduate programs. Especially important are the Masters-level graduate programs and how they build on the broadly-based undergraduate programs.

    I greatly appreciate the Working Group's willingness to help with this important endeavor. If you need assistance or additional resources to complete your task, please let me know. Thanks and best wishes.

    B. Bruce Bare, Dean

    To Return to:Prof Bare's Page, Dean's Office, College of Forest Resources