School of Natural Resources Program Review

University of Nebraska – Lincoln

September 11, 2003

Michael P. O’NeillReview Team Leader

Outline

• Background• Intellectual core• People • Scholarly activities• Educational activities• Unit administration• Physical facilities• Dealing with the change

Acknowledgements

• Review team

– External Team Members: Phaedra Budy, Steve DeGloria, Ed Kanemasu, Jamie Robertson

– Internal Team Members: Derrel Martin, Anne Vidaver, Tylr Naprtek, Donna Woudenberg

• We are extremely grateful to the University Administration, the faculty, staff and students of the School for their efforts in making this review possible and making our visit an extremely valuable experience.

Background

• This is a talented faculty and a dedicated staff.– The history of repeated mergers has inspired some,

frozen some, and left many confused.

• Messages from previous reviews offer only limited insights to the current situation.

• We elected to discount the retrospective approach of the review.– Look prospectively rather than retrospectively.

Background (continued)

• The University Administration provided us with a wide array of challenges as our charge.

• Similarly, the faculty of the School identified a number of challenges.

• We used these charges and challenges to guide our listening and our deliberations.

Intellectual Core

• The school needs to identify its single unifying concept (in the language of organizations, your “hedgehog principle”)

“What do you do better than anyone in the region, nation, and/or world?”

Nutrient Management in Agroecosystems

Environmental BiophysicsCrop Production & Management

Environmental Modelingand Assessment

Biology of AgroecosystemsCrop Physiology & Biotechnology

Soil Biogeochemistry

Soil Information and Decision Support Systems

ENVIRONMENTALAND

AGROECOSYSTEM SCIENCES

AGRONOMY

SOILSCIENCE

CROPSCIENCE

MAPPING SCIENCES

INFORMATION AND

DECISION SUPPORT ENVIRONMENTAL

MANAGEMENT

ONE EXAMPLE

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

Ecosystem Science and Management

Issues: Intellectual Core

• The proliferation of multiple priority lists dilutes the focus of the School.

• No clear linkage between centers, clusters, and other interdisciplinary activities and how they relate to and support the shared vision.

Recommendations: Intellectual Core

• The process of developing the shared vision must be led by faculty and staff using a professional facilitator.

• All faculty and staff must participate in the process and abide by the result.

People

“Our ability to succeed is directly related to our ability to collaborate…”

• Faculty

• Staff

• Students

Strengths

• Faculty represents multiple disciplines, supported by a dedicated professional staff, and a diverse group of motivated students

• The necessary components exist to build a highly-successful interdisciplinary School of natural resources.

Issues: People

• “We are not adequately included in decision-making”

• Optimism is high but morale is sinking…

• There is a need for consistent, effective mentoring.

• People need meaningful recognition of a variety of accomplishments.

Recommendations: People• Communicate more effectively

– Budgetary information, annual reports, problems…

• Walk the hallways and talk to your people .

• Form leadership teams to provide input to and feedback on decision-making.

Scholarship and Education

Given the diverse membership of the school, we recognize that you must embrace a comprehensive definition of scholarship and education.

ScholarshipWe define scholarship as, for example:

• Creative independent work• Reviewed by your peer• Communicated and added to the intellectual

history of your field• Valued by those for whom the work was

intended

We believe that a broad definition such as this could embrace all scholarship in the School.

Education

Education includes all aspects of teaching and information delivery.

– Undergraduate and graduate courses.– Extension and outreach education.– Some aspects of Survey activities.

Issues: Education

• Declining number of undergraduate majors.

• Competing interests between and within the two campuses.

• Faculty strengths are not clearly reflected in the undergraduate curriculum.

• Recruitment and retention.

• Too few trained NR county educators.

Recommendations: Education

• Consolidated NR major with emphasis areas (defined by faculty).

• Responsibility to education must go beyond FTE allocation– Redefine FTEs based on curriculum needs.

• Cooperative Extension must strengthen its commitment to NR programming.

• Decisions on vision and majors needs to precede hiring a recruitment coordinator.

Unit Administration

• We view ‘Unit Administration’ as the current leadership structure of the School.

• Includes the management of faculty activities.

• Includes the administrative and business practices associated with the School.

Issues: Unit Administration

• Development of the School cannot be achieved without a shared vision and mission.

• FTE allocations have driven the assignment of faculty functions.

• Minimal input and discussion on the organizational structure of the School.

• There is a lack of trust among faculty and staff regarding decision-making.

• How will current and future vacancies be filled? Prioritized?

• Some administrative functions are not being completed in a timely and efficient manner.

Recommendations:Unit Administration

– Build a strategic plan based on the shared vision– Identify what needs to be done (scholarship and

education) and then do it!– Build trust through meaningful interactions with faculty

(faculty governance and/or leadership teams)– Develop a reward system that advances the mission

of the school (e.g., reward for integration).– Organizational structure requires clearer definition of

reporting responsibilities. – New hires and replacements must reflect the shared

vision and mission of the School.– Business practices and workforce responsibilities

must be distributed.

Physical Facilities

• Hardin Hall presents the opportunity to centrally locate faculty and bring together disparate programs.

• UN-L commitment to School facilities should fully support the vision.

• Locating faculty, staff, and students in the building should reflect disciplinary strengths while avoiding vertical stratification.

Dealing with the Change

• Look to the future; don’t dwell on the past.

• Seek professional facilitation help.

• Maintain and build (where possible) the institutional commitment to NR.

• Combining cultures is a slow and difficult endeavor.

Summary & Recommendations

• The lack of an intellectual core hampers growth in the School.

• This is not a review of the School – it is a prospectus.• Leadership and program development need to be

inclusive of faculty, staff, and student needs.• School needs to re-define scholarship and education to

integrate cultures and advance interdisciplinary science.• A water initiative represents one opportunity for the

School to bring together faculty from across campus representing the physical, biological, and social/human dimensions of a critical state issue with national and global implications.