College of Agriculture To Remain – Now The Real Work of Making It A College of Ag Begins
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
Reports coming from those directly involved indicate that the proposed closure of the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources (CABNR) at the University of Nevada has been changed to no longer be a closure. Reorganization, reduction and other descriptions of change still apply, including cuts of over $4.1 Million from the College’s budget.
Before going further, it needs to be noted that a group of people deserve a great deal of credit for keeping CABNR in operations. The leadership and working volunteers of the CABNR Citizen’s Advisory Committee were especially tenacious in their assertion that the College should remain a College. Current CABNR students played an important role in advocacy for their College. The CABNR leadership did critical work in working and reworking – then reworking some more – the budget numbers and alternative options to achieve the necessary level of reductions with there still being something of an organizational structure left behind. Attention should also be given to the willingness of UNR President Dr. Milton Glick and Provost Marc Johnson to maintain an open door and open minds, being willing for face-to-face meetings and consideration for the alternatives which eventually were accepted.
Now it’s on to the really hard part – making it all work on a going forward basis. Communications and enhanced understanding needs to be established between agricultural stakeholders and College of Agriculture leaders/faculty and staff. All sides of the mix need to come together to build a common vision for what the new College of Agriculture will be in terms of agricultural research and education. Various components already exist and need to be continued – other aspects have to be identified and started from scratch.
Along the way funding systems need to be created to provide the resources required to carry out important College of Agriculture education and research programs. The requirement of having these sources in place, outside the funding stream that flows from Nevada’s General Fund, should be very self-evident, but establishing a sustainable financial underpinning cannot come at the expense of the College of Agriculture and the experiment/research system being engaged in their missions of education and research. Simply chasing money, without maintaining a focus on the relevancy of Nevada agricultural needs is not going to be acceptable.
It needs to be recognized that Nevada agriculture needs to step up to meeting obligations in this partnership as well. Through the input of ideas, feedback and where possible -- financial support – Nevada agricultural interests need to be fully engaged and committed to making the University’s College of Agriculture an effective institution.
A whole bunch of people have fought hard to get us to the place where we are today, keeping the College of Agriculture -- the College of Agriculture...now the real work has to be done to make that effort pay off!
Reports coming from those directly involved indicate that the proposed closure of the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources (CABNR) at the University of Nevada has been changed to no longer be a closure. Reorganization, reduction and other descriptions of change still apply, including cuts of over $4.1 Million from the College’s budget.
Before going further, it needs to be noted that a group of people deserve a great deal of credit for keeping CABNR in operations. The leadership and working volunteers of the CABNR Citizen’s Advisory Committee were especially tenacious in their assertion that the College should remain a College. Current CABNR students played an important role in advocacy for their College. The CABNR leadership did critical work in working and reworking – then reworking some more – the budget numbers and alternative options to achieve the necessary level of reductions with there still being something of an organizational structure left behind. Attention should also be given to the willingness of UNR President Dr. Milton Glick and Provost Marc Johnson to maintain an open door and open minds, being willing for face-to-face meetings and consideration for the alternatives which eventually were accepted.
Now it’s on to the really hard part – making it all work on a going forward basis. Communications and enhanced understanding needs to be established between agricultural stakeholders and College of Agriculture leaders/faculty and staff. All sides of the mix need to come together to build a common vision for what the new College of Agriculture will be in terms of agricultural research and education. Various components already exist and need to be continued – other aspects have to be identified and started from scratch.
Along the way funding systems need to be created to provide the resources required to carry out important College of Agriculture education and research programs. The requirement of having these sources in place, outside the funding stream that flows from Nevada’s General Fund, should be very self-evident, but establishing a sustainable financial underpinning cannot come at the expense of the College of Agriculture and the experiment/research system being engaged in their missions of education and research. Simply chasing money, without maintaining a focus on the relevancy of Nevada agricultural needs is not going to be acceptable.
It needs to be recognized that Nevada agriculture needs to step up to meeting obligations in this partnership as well. Through the input of ideas, feedback and where possible -- financial support – Nevada agricultural interests need to be fully engaged and committed to making the University’s College of Agriculture an effective institution.
A whole bunch of people have fought hard to get us to the place where we are today, keeping the College of Agriculture -- the College of Agriculture...now the real work has to be done to make that effort pay off!
Posted by Doug Busselman at 4/14/2010 4:06 AM 
Categories: Agriculture
Tags: University of Nevada Nevada College of Agriculture closing Agriculture
Categories: Agriculture
Tags: University of Nevada Nevada College of Agriculture closing Agriculture
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