Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment

Last updated
Virginia Tech College of
Natural Resources and Environment
MottoUt Prosim (Latin)
Motto in English
That I May Serve
Type Public University
Established1992
Parent institution
Virginia Tech
Dean Paul M. Winistorfer
Students1,023
Undergraduates 758
Postgraduates 265
Location, ,
U.S.
Colors Chicago maroon and Burnt orange [1]    
Website www.cnre.vt.edu

The College of Natural Resources and Environment at Virginia Tech contains academic programs in forestry, fisheries, wildlife sciences, geography, and wood science. The college contains four departments as well as a graduate program in the National Capital Region and a leadership institute for undergraduates.

Contents

The College of Natural Resources and Environment conducts most of its research in facilities located in Blacksburg or through the National Science Foundation's Industry & University Cooperative Research Program (I/UCRC). In 2014-15, the college consisted of 1,023 students. [2] The current dean of the college, Paul M. Winistorfer, was appointed in 2009.

History

Although the college was not officially established until 1992, its roots were present in Virginia Tech's history as early as 1925 when the first professor of forestry, Wilbur O’Byrne, was hired. By the early 1930s, students were able to study field horticulture, landscape design, and the chemical properties of sprays used to protect orchards. In 1938, the first bachelor of science degrees in conservation and forestry were offered in the Department of Biology.

By 1969, the Department of Forestry and Wildlife had become the fastest-growing department on campus, having grown from 66 undergraduates and five graduate students to 346 undergraduates and 52 graduate students. That same year, the department was officially made a unit of the College of Agriculture, and by 1974, it split into the Department of Forestry and Forest Products and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences. By 1975, a School of Forestry and Wildlife Resources was established. This school became an official university college in 1992, named the College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources. In 2000, the college changed its name to the College of Natural Resources before settling on its current title in 2010. [3]

Academics

The College of Natural Resources and Environment contains four departments as well as executive and traditional master's programs in the National Capital Region. As of 2010-11, the college had 737 students taking classes on the Blacksburg campus, thereby making it the smallest at Virginia Tech in terms of enrollment.

Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

The Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation offers a bachelor of science in fisheries science and a bachelor of science in wildlife science to undergraduate students. It also offers an M.S. and Ph.D. in both fisheries and wildlife sciences to graduate students.

Geography

Undergraduates can earn a B.A. in geography. The department offers two options for undergraduate geography majors: culture, regions, and international development or geospatial and environmental analysis. In 2012, the department added an undergraduate B.S. degree in meteorology, the only meteorology program offered in Virginia. Graduate students may earn an M.S. in geography. The Department of Geography also participates in the college's doctoral program in geospatial and environmental analysis.

Sustainable Biomaterials (formerly Wood Science and Forest Products)

Undergraduates can earn a bachelor's degree in wood science and forest products. The department, which has a strong focus on biomaterials, offers students the opportunity to choose one of the following four options: packaging science, forest products business, residential wood structures, or wood materials science. Graduate students can earn an M.S., M.F., or Ph.D. through the department.

Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

Undergraduates can earn a B.S. in one of the following majors: forestry, environmental resource management, and natural resources conservation. Within a major, students can choose one of the following options: forest resource management, forest operations and business, urban forestry, environmental resource management, watershed management, conservation and recreation management, environmental education, and natural resource science education. Graduate students can earn an M.S., M.F., or Ph.D. through this department. The department actively participates in the college-wide doctoral program in geospatial and environmental analysis.

Natural Resources graduate program (National Capital Region)

Located in the National Capital Region, the natural resources graduate program has three different areas of emphasis: urban issues, natural resource policy, and international perspectives. Through this program, students can earn a master of natural resources (M.N.R.), an executive master of natural resources (X.M.N.R.), or a certificate of graduate studies in natural resources. The executive master of natural resources focuses on leadership for sustainability. Currently, the natural resources graduate program offers over 30 courses in traditional and hybrid classroom settings.

College of Natural Resources and Environment leadership institute

In 2010, the college established the College of Natural Resources and Environment Leadership Institute for undergraduate students. In this two-semester study sequence, students study leadership styles and work on group projects focused on enhancing leadership qualities. Additionally, students meet with state government, state agencies, and non-governmental organizations in order to experience organizational and political processes in action. [4]

Virginia Tech's National Capital Region offers Natural Resources and Environment programs within the Washington metropolitan area. US Navy 030926-F-2828D-307 Aerial view of the Washington Monument.jpg
Virginia Tech's National Capital Region offers Natural Resources and Environment programs within the Washington metropolitan area.

National Capital Region

In 1969, the university launched new locations within the Virginia Tech National Capital Region (NCR). These facilities serve as a hub in the Washington metropolitan area for its students and alumni. As of 2015, the NCR offers Graduate programs for the college. [5]

Research centers and cooperatives

On Virginia Tech's main campus, faculty and students from the college conduct most of their research in Cheatham Hall and Latham Hall. These facilities can be used to study the physiology, nutrition, and genetics of trees, fish, and wildlife. Additionally, faculty and students have access to the Thomas M. Brooks Forest Products Center, located in the Corporate Research Center adjacent to the Blacksburg campus. The center contains laboratories for wood-based composites manufacture and testing, a high-bay wood engineering lab with full-scale timber testing equipment, a wood drying laboratory, the William A. Sardo Pallet Laboratory, and the Center for Unit Load Design Laboratory. The Virginia Water Resources Research Center, established by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1965 "for the purposes of developing, implementing and coordinating water and related land research programs," is also located in Blacksburg. [6]

Beyond Blacksburg, the College of Natural Resources and Environment is also affiliated with research centers that are part of the National Science Foundation's Industry/University Cooperative Research Center program, [7] such as the Wood-Based Composites Center and the Center for Advanced Forestry Systems. In addition, the college has connections to the Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, whose cooperators include the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the United States Geological Survey, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and the Wildlife Management Institute. [8]

The college has also been the recipient of research funding from national organizations. In 2011, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded Virginia Tech's Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conversation $3.4 million for a coordinated agricultural grant to study the effects of climate change on southern pine forests. [9] Additionally, in 2010, researchers from Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment received a $3.4 million grant from the United States Department of the Interior to study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on piping plovers, shorebirds that have been listed as threatened since 1986. [10]

Rankings

According to a 2006 study of the research impact of North American forestry programs published in the Journal of Forestry, the College of Natural Resources and Environment's forestry program was second on the perceptions-based composite score and third on the citations-based and publications-based index. [11] In 2010, the National Research Council also ranked the forestry Ph.D. program as one of the best in the nation. [12] [13] Additionally, during the last accreditation process in 1996, peer institutions ranked the college's wildlife and fisheries programs first and second, respectively.

In addition to its academic programs, the college has also been ranked for its research programs. In 2011, the National Science Foundation ranked the research program in the College of Natural Resources and Environment and the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences fifth in the nation. [14]

Notable alumni

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Tech</span> Public university in Blacksburg, Virginia, US

Virginia Tech (VT), officially the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI), is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It was founded as the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1872.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry</span> Doctoral-granting research institution in Syracuse, New York

The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) is a public research university in Syracuse, New York focused on the environment and natural resources. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. ESF is immediately adjacent to Syracuse University, within which it was founded, and with which it maintains a special relationship. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".

The Canadian Forest Service is a sector of the Canadian government department of Natural Resources Canada. Part of the federal government since 1899, the CFS is a science-based policy organization responsible for promoting the sustainable development of Canada's forests and competitiveness of the forest sector to benefit present and future Canadians. Some of the research areas that the CFS is involved in include; forest fire, climate change, silviculture, soils, insects and disease, remote sensing and forest management. Since 1991 the sector has produced an annual report, The State of the Forest in Canada, which describes the status of the nation's forests and the forest industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rausser College of Natural Resources</span>

The Rausser College of Natural Resources (RCNR), or Rausser College, is the oldest college at the University of California, Berkeley and in the University of California system. Established in 1868 as the College of Agriculture under the federal Morrill Land-Grant Acts, CNR is the first state-run agricultural experiment station. The college is home to four internationally top-ranked academic departments: Agriculture and Resource Economics; Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology; and Plant and Microbial Biology, and one interdisciplinary program, Energy and Resources Group. Since February 2020, it is named after former dean and distinguished professor emeritus Gordon Rausser after his landmark $50 million naming gift to the college.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yale School of the Environment</span> Professional school at Yale University in forestry and environmental sciences

Yale School of the Environment (YSE) is a professional school of Yale University. It was founded to train foresters, and now trains environmental students through four 2-year degree programs, two 10-month mid-career programs, and a 5-year PhD program. Still offering forestry instruction, the school has the oldest graduate forestry program in the United States.

The University of Forestry and Environmental Science (Yezin) (Burmese: သစ်တောနှင့်ပတ်ဝန်းကျင်ဆိုင်ရာ တက္ကသိုလ် (ရေဆင်း), pronounced[θɪʔtɔ́tɛʔkəθò(jèzɪ́ɰ̃)]), in Yezin near Nay Pyi Taw, is the only university specialized in forestry and environmental science in Myanmar. Founded in 1923 as the Forestry Department of Yangon University, in 1992, the University of Forestry and Environmental Science became a separate entity based in Yezin, Nay Pyi Taw. It mainly offers a five-year Bachelor of Science degree program in forestry and environmental science as well as two-year master's and three-year doctoral programs. The university is administered by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation. Undergraduate students are required to take part in a field training program each winter from third year. Graduates of the university typically become forestry officers at the Forestry Department, the Dry Zone Greening Department, the Environmental Conservation Department or the Myanma Timber Enterprise. Others find employment in non-governmental conservation organizations such as FREDA, UNDP, UNEP, FAO, JICA, WCS, WWF, FFI as well as other local and international research institutions and conservation organizations.

The School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at Virginia Tech offers graduate and undergraduate education in the fields of public administration, public policy, international affairs, urban affairs, and urban & regional planning. It has three campuses throughout Virginia: Arlington; Blacksburg and Richmond.

The College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) is one of seventeen colleges and professional schools at the University of Minnesota. The College offers 14 majors, 3 pre-major and pre-professional majors and 26 freestanding minors for undergraduate students and a variety of graduate study options that include master's, doctoral and joint degree programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences</span> School at the University of Florida

The University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS), founded in 1964, is a college of the University of Florida.

The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is one of eight colleges at Virginia Tech with a three-part mission of learning, discovery, and engagement and it is one of the best agriculture programs in the nation. It has more than 3,100 undergraduate and graduate students in a dozen academic departments. In 2013, the National Science Foundation ranked Virginia Tech No. 6 in the country for agricultural research expenditures, much of which originated from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is the agricultural and environmental sciences college of the University of Maryland and operates the Maryland Sea Grant College in cooperation with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies</span>

The College of Architecture, Arts, and Design formerly the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech consists of four schools, including the School of Architecture, which consistently ranks among the best in the country. Headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, the college also has sites in Alexandria, Virginia, and Riva San Vitale, Switzerland. Spread out among these three locations, the college consists of nearly 2,200 students, making it one of the largest schools of architecture in the nation.

The College of Science at Virginia Tech contains academic programs in eight departments: biology, chemistry, economics, geosciences, mathematics, physics, psychology, and statistics, as well as programs in the School of Neuroscience, the Academy of Integrated Science, and founded in 2020, an Academy of Data Science. For the 2018-209 academic year, the College of Science consisted of 419 faculty members, and 4,305 students, and 600 graduate students The college was established in July 2003 after university restructuring split the College of Arts and Sciences, established in 1963, into two distinct colleges. Lay Nam Chang served as founding dean of the College of Science from 2003 until 2016. In 2016, Sally C. Morton was named dean of the College of Science. Morton served in that role until January 2021, when she departed for Arizona State University and Ronald D. Fricker—senior associate dean and professor in the Department of Statistics—was named interim dean of the College. In February 2022, Kevin T. Pitts was named the named the third official dean of the College of Science.

The College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech comprises two schools, 12 departments, and three ROTC programs. The college also has connections to research facilities and local community service organizations through which students can earn experience in major related fields and has many study abroad programs. In 2010–11, the college had 4,386 students taking courses on the Blacksburg campus. The college's dean, Rosemary Blieszner, was appointed in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Tech College of Engineering</span>

The Virginia Tech College of Engineering is the academic unit that manages engineering research and education at Virginia Tech. The College can trace its origins to 1872, and was formally established in 1903. Today, The College of Engineering is the largest academic unit of Virginia Tech and has 14 departments of study. Its undergraduate program was ranked 4th and its graduate program was ranked 30th among doctoral-granting universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2018. In 2014–15, the College of Engineering consisted of 10,059 students. The current dean is Dr. Julia Ross.

The Zambia Forestry College (ZFC) was established in 1949 to provide technical training in forestry. In the same year, it produced the first forest guards.

The R.B. Pamplin College of Business, is Virginia Tech's business school. Founded in 1965, it has more than 41,000 alumni. The current Dean is Saonee Sarker. In 1986 the college was renamed following a donation from alumnus Robert B. Pamplin and his son Robert B. Pamplin Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources</span> University in Malawi

The Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) is a university outside Lilongwe, Malawi. It was formed in 2011 by a merger between Bunda College of Agriculture of the University of Malawi and Natural Resources College (NRC).

References

  1. "The Brand Guide: Virginia Tech Identity Standards and Style Guide" (PDF). Virginia Tech. February 2015. p. 10. Retrieved November 4, 2015. The burnt orange and Chicago maroon are the university's official colors that were adopted in 1896.
  2. "Factbook: Student Overview". Vt.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  3. From Jamestown to Blacksburg: The Path to the College of Natural Resources by Ellen A. Brown
  4. "Leadership Institute students from College of Natural Resources and Environment take weeklong run with top officials | Virginia Tech News | Virginia Tech". Vtnews.vt.edu. 2011-01-27. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  5. "Graduate Degree Programs". vt.edu.
  6. "LIS > Code of Virginia > 23-135.7:8". Leg1.state.va.us. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  7. "NSF I/UCRC: Home Page". Nsf.gov. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  8. Links (2012-11-12). "Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit". Coopunits.org. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  9. Davis, Lynn (2011-03-16). "Virginia Tech shares in forestry grant | Government content from". Southeast Farm Press. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  10. "Virginia Tech group studies Piping Plover populations". Lumcon.edu. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  11. "Study Gives High Marks to Forestry Department: Virginia Tech Ranked Highly Based on Its Reputation Among Peers and Its Publications. - Science News". redOrbit. 2007-03-15. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  12. National Research Council (US) Committee on an Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs; Ostriker, J. P.; Kuh, C. V.; Voytuk, J. A. (2011). A Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States. Nap.edu. doi:10.17226/12994. ISBN   978-0-309-16030-8. PMID   22379653 . Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  13. "Report ranks doctoral programs across country". Washingtonpost.com. 2010-09-28. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  14. "National Science Foundation ranks Virginia Tech No. 5 for agricultural sciences | Virginia Tech News | Virginia Tech". Vtnews.vt.edu. 2011-05-02. Retrieved 2012-11-19.
  15. "Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources - Doug Domenech". Naturalresources.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2012-11-19.