Proposed College of

Natural Resources and

Environment

 For many years, the University of Florida
has been recognized internationally for its schol-
arship, teaching, and service in natural
resources and the environment. As the educa-
tional, research, and service challenges posed by
human conservation and use of natural
resources in the 21st century have grown, the
university community has responded by
demonstrating its academic leadership in this
area. During the academic year 1992-93, that
leadership role was reflected in a new institu-
tional venture, as UF began to bring individual
scholars, teachers, and students together in a
proposed new College of Natural Resources and
Environment, subject to the approval of the
Board of Regents.
 The goals of the college include:
 offering a rigorous, broad-based education
to undergraduate majors in order to prepare
them as citizens and professionals;
 providing opportunities for interdisci-
plinary education, so that each student will
have a clear understanding of the relationships
between environment and society;
 enhancing the education and training of
future teachers in basic environmental science
and policy;
 enriching opportunities for broader educa-
tion to students engaged in core disciplines and
professional degree programs;
 integrating discipline-centered graduate
education to offer new mission-oriented science
and policy analysis;
 linking the many existing strengths of UF
scholars and students into a new, future-
oriented educational enterprise; and
 serving the human and natural community
at the state, national, and international levels.

Faculty
 Hundreds of faculty from departments,
institutes, centers, and colleges across UF are
already engaged in research and teaching in
natural resources and the environment. Many
existing programs are at the forefront of interna-
tional scholarship in the field. Faculty most
closely involved in environmental teaching and
research will form the core of the new college
faculty, while retaining their faculty positions in
their existing departments and colleges. New
programs will develop to integrate students and
faculty in interdisciplinary majors, complement-
ing departmental majors already offered.

Undergraduate Curriculum
 The college intends to offer a broad range of
curricular choices to students at the undergrad-
uate level. The college will integrate core curric-
ula in physical, life, and social sciences with
elective courses orienting advanced students
toward integrated approaches to natural
resources and the environment. Final approval


of curriculum recommendations will rest with
the university Curriculum Committee, the Fac-
ulty Senate, and the Board of Regents.
 As the new college designs its degree pro-
grams, students will be able to choose from
approximately 300 undergraduate and graduate
resource and environment-related courses
already offered at UF, in basic and applied sci-
ences, engineering, and humanities. The college
will add new interdisciplinary courses to that
list and create coherent undergraduate majors
that enable the interested student to pursue a
unique, forwardlooking educational experience.
 As that process moves forward, students
may take advantage of several programs
already in place. The Interdisciplinary Studies
(IDS) major in the College of Liberal Arts and
Sciences offers an environmental studies option
(contact: Dr. Sheila Dickison, CLAS, 392-6800).
The Natural Resource Conservation major in the
School of Forest Resources and Conservation
offers another alternative with three tracks:
wildlife ecology, resource conservation, and
forestry (contact: Dr. George Blakeslee,
392-4851). An environmental studies minor is
available for students majoring in a number of
engineering programs (contact: Dr. Warren
Viessman, 392-0943). Students will find that
many departments in the colleges of Agricul-
ture, Architecture, Education, Engineering, and
Liberal Arts and Sciences offer related majors
with excellent reputations, including:


Anthropology

Botany


Civil Engineering
Entomology
Environmental
Engineering
Sciences
Environmental
Horticulture
Food and Resource
Economics
Forestry
Geography

Geology

Landscape
Architecture
Political Science

Soil and Water
Sciences
Wildlife and Range
Sciences
Zoology


(Liberal Arts &
Sciences, p. 176)
(Agriculture, p. 52 and
Liberal Arts & Sciences,
p. 184)
(Engineering, p. 91)
(Agriculture, p. 53)


(Engineering, p. 95)

(Agriculture, p. 56)

(Agriculture, p.53)
(Forestery, p. 117)
(Liberal Arts &
Sciences, p. 218)
(Liberal Arts &
Sciences. p. 220)

(Architecture, p. 63)
(Liberal Arts &
Sciences, p. 262)

(Agriculture, p. 59)

(Forestry, p. 218)
(Liberal Arts &
Sciences, p. 281)


 Some of these departments offer a number of
optional tracks within their majors, as well.


Graduate Studies
 Graduate study by its nature and organiza-
tion focuses more on discipline-centered schol-
arship. Most, but not all, graduate degree
programs are offered through departments.
Interdisciplinary degree tracks exist within
some departments, allowing students to take
advantage of new courses to be offered through
the proposed College of Natural Resources and
Environment. A new interdepartmental Ph.D. in
Ecology has been proposed and is under review
by the Board of Regents. Some interdisciplinary
master's degree programs do exist, such as the
Master of Arts in Latin American Studies. The
Tropical Conservation and Development pro-
gram in the Center for Latin American Studies,
the Agroforestry program in the School of
Forestry and Resource Conservation, and the
program for Studies in Tropical Conservation in
the Wildlife and Range Sciences department are
prominent interdisciplinary programs related to
Master of Agriculture, Master of Arts, Master of
Science, Master of Forest Resources and Conser-
vation, Master of Engineering, Master of Land-
scape Architecture, and Ph. D. degrees.
 In addition to its unique graduate programs,
the university is a member of the Organization of
Tropical Studies Consortium and the Oak Ridge
Associated Universities consortium. UF has a
number of research collections, field stations,
extension centers, research centers, and insti-
tutes, including the Archie Carr Center for Sea
Turtle Research, the Austin Cary Forest, the Cen-
ter for Aeronomy and other Atmospheric Sci-
ences, the Center for Aquatic Plants, the Center
for Environmental and Human Toxicology, the
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Laboratory for
Marine Biomedical Research and Biotechnology,
the Florida Institute for Resources and the Envi-
ronment, the Florida Museum of Natural History
and Herbarium, the Florida Wetlands and Water
Resources Research Center, the Interdisciplinary
Center for Biotechnology Research, the Marine
Laboratory, the Mineral Resources Research
Center, and the Ordway Preserve, among others.
The anticipated College of Natural Resources
and Environment proposes to develop additional
interdisciplinary research and training opportu-
nities for graduate students, as the establishment
of the college proceeds.

Advising
 Most undergraduate advising is done at the
departmental level. Students,are encouraged to
contact their departmental and college advisers
concerning the proposed new college curricu-
lum options. Guidelines for existing majors are
already available; information about new col-
lege majors also will be available through
departmental advising, as well as through the
new college advising mechanism, which should
be in place for the academic year 1993-94. The
departments listed above will refer interested
students to the new college advisory system.
 Graduate students must coordinate their
programs through departmental graduate coor-
dinators, who will make available relevant
interdisciplinary course offerings and research