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Friday. December 7, 2007 | The Red & Black Finals Edition
ECOLOGY: Quick transition left some feeling ‘in the dark’
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SARA GUEVARA | The Red a Black
▲ Kim Potter, 23, a lab technician from Athens, puts away beakers in the research area of the
ecology building Thursday. The Odum School of Ecology was created by the University this sum
mer. However, the school faces growing pains due to a lack of faculty and funding.
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NEWS
Dean urges
< open minds *
> From Page 1A
the National Atomic
Energy Commission, Odum
helped establish the
Savannah River Ecology
Laboratory and later served
as the Institute of Ecology’s
first director.
“I knew Gene for 30
years, and his advice to us
was always to have perme
able boundaries in our dis
ciplines,” Gowaty said. “He
wished for us to reach out
to all of the academy and
all of society.”
In 2001, the Institute of
Ecology merged with the
School of Environmental
Design to form the College
of Environment and Design,
according to the Odum
School’s Web site.
The institute was ranked
highly for its research pro
ductivity by the Bulletin of
the Ecological Society of
America and a recent study
by U.S. News and World
Report placed the gradu
ate program eighth in the
nation.
The University made
headlines this summer by
creating the Odum School,
led by Gittleman and
Associate Dean James
Porter.
“I was initially enthusi
astic about having John in
a leadership role and
worked very hard to have
him hired at the University,”
Gowaty said. “Now, I am
disappointed in my earlier
decision to support his
hire.”
Gowaty said she was
disappointed particularly
when Gittleman did not
accept offers from the dean
of Franklin College and the
acting-dean of the Wamell
School of Forestry to speak
with faculty members
about various matters such
as collaborations and alter
native administrative
structures.
Jason Lang, a graduate
student from Cedar Rapids,
lowa, said there was some
concern over the speed in
which the transition hap
pened. He also said the
graduate students were
able to talk with their
advisers about the poten
tial shift, but input was not
solicited from them.
“Because we have such
a close working relation
ship with the faculty, when
this change happened so
fast and we weren’t
involved, we felt left in the
dark,” said Lang, who has
been at the University since
1997. “In going through a
state of change, there is a
lot of uncertainty about
what is changing or when
or why changes are being
made.”
“Growing Pains”
Lang characterized the
Odum School as having
growing pains, partly due
to a lack of communication
and financial recourses.
To demonstrate the
school’s fiscal limitations,
Lang gave the example of
this fall semester’s orienta
tion for new ecology stu
dents. In the past, he said
the Institute of Ecology
provided funding for food
and travel; however, there
wasn’t money available
from the school for the
event this year.
“Individual faculty mem
bers ended up donating
money,” Lang said, “but for
a while, the graduate stu
dents thought they would
have to pay for it them
selves.”
Gowaty pointed out the
graduate students have
more invested in the new
ecology school than others.
She said it is unclear how
the Odum School will affect
the research and teaching
of ecology at the
University.
“I do often think about
the halcyon days when the
Institute of Ecology
Emergency contact data
added to new alert system
By ALEXIS GARROBO
The Red & Black
Students, faculty and
staff not signed up for
UGAAlert had their infor
mation added to the sys
tem Thursday evening.
According to an e-mail
sent over the Archnews
listserv, the University’s
Emergency Preparedness
and Communications
Committee recommended
mandatory enrollment in
UGAAlert, the main emer
gency notification system
at the University.
attracted faculty from all
over the University to col
laborate on ecological stud
ies,” Gowaty said. “At least
in the run-up to the new
Odum School, we seemed
to be more isolated rather
than more integrated with
the rest of the University.”
When asked how the
faculty will interact with
the rest of the University,
Gittleman said the Odum
School will complement
other ecological and envi
ronmental units on cam
pus.
“The majority of faculty
members have bought into
it,” Gittleman said. “There
are some that still have
concerns, but the impor
tant thing is that everyone
is working toward becom
ing an exciting, effective
school.”
Lang said even though
not all faculty members
wanted the institute to
become a stand-alone
school, most are optimistic
about where the ecology
school is going and what it
can accomplish.
“You can tell from the
energy that the students
put into school activities
that they really care about
the future of the Odum
School,” Lang said.
The Next Step
Gittleman said the goals
of the strategic plan are to
raise the number of faculty
and increase funding. He
said the ecology school’s
short-term missions direct
ly affect its long range
plans.
“Whenever you do some
thing new, it’s very difficult
and involves stress,”
Gittleman said. “The pri
mary hurdle is doing some
thing novel and different.
We’re creating a school
from scratch.”
Lang said much of the
uncertainty surrounding
the faculty results from the
school not having a strate
gic plan in place.
“Personally, I thought a
strategic plan would have
been developed before a
new school could be creat
ed,” Lang said. “We became
anew school and now we’re
in debt. I have no idea how
that happened.”
As for the future,
Gittleman said the Odum
School sets a precedent for
other universities. He said
the school will blossom and
could create a domino
effect on ecology depart
ments around the country.
“There are going to be a
number of schools looking
over our shoulders to see ii
it works,” Gittleman said.
“They want to know if this
is a model they can base
their (departments) after.”
For others in the field,
the impact of the Odum
School remains to be seen.
Gowaty said she wishes
her former colleagues well
as they continue to work
on the ecology school. As
long as the faculty mem
bers are able to do their
work, she said it does not
matter what the school is
called.
“I think ecology is a
broader discipline than
most people realize,” Dave
Roberts, department head
of ecology at Montana
State University, said. “But
it is deserving of some rec
ognition and separation
from other departments.”
. Roberts said it is unlike
ly the creation of the Odum
School will have a ripple
effect at universities across
the country because there
are only about a dozen
ecology departments now.
“Just to be at the depart
ment level for ecology is
still pretty rare,” Roberts
said.
Gittleman said ecology
students must be able to
experiment with new ideas
and keep an open mind as
the Odum School moves
forward.
“With anything new or
on the cutting edge, you’re
going to be scared,”
Gittleman said.
“This system will only
be used for life threatening
emergencies requiring
immediate action,” wrote
Tim Burgess, senior vice
president for finance and
administration.
Students’ listed local
numbers and University
e-mail addresses were
placed into the system.
Faculty and staff had office
numbers and e.-mail
addresses added.
Students may remove
themselves by checking the
“opt out” box at
www.ugaalert.uga.edu.
