Held at Center for Urban Horticulture

SEFS Retreat 20 September 2017

Faculty, Staff, Students

Held at Center for Urban Horticulture

Key words: collaborative, sustainable, use-inspired, proactive, global, balance

In the morning, work by Table Groups addressed two questions:

How do we see SEFS today?

What do we see SEFS becoming in the future?

(seating was initially by choice, then each table was balanced so that there was representation from faculty and staff and students)

SEFS Today:

(Table #2) SEFS is a unit in the College of the Environment that is struggling to define its identity given the legacies of the past and the needs of the future.

(Table #3)

Ecology/Social economics

Enlightenment/Awareness of environment (diverse subjects)

Killers/Growers

Formal (training, rational,planning)/Informal (sense of space, community, context in public sphere)

Skills/Curiosity

SEFS fosters students to do worldly things: thought process, environmental appreciation, communication, future careers: research/education, professionals

(Table #4) SEFS is an interdisciplinary program that carries out applied and theoretical research and education to understand the interactions among sustainable management and utilization of ecosystems.

(Table #5) SEFS connects people in interdisciplinary fields through teaching, research, and outreach to form an adaptable community to face new emerging environmental challenges.

(Table #6) SEFS is a diverse community devoted to collaboration and education focused on environmental stewardship and interdisciplinary research of the natural and human-built world.

(Table #7) SEFS is a collection of disciplines that study the ecology, production and management of natural resources; this School grew out of the former College of Forestry and focuses on terrestrial ecosystems. We are engaged in research and education including outreach to a broad audience of students of all ages.

(Table #8) SEFS is home to a wide range of research, teaching, and outreach activities to inform environmental stewardship and resource management. Collaboration largely happens within disciplines rather than across disciplines.

(Table #9) Environmental resource management FOREST:

• Society focus, diversity, restoration, sustainable, applied science
• Natural resources, forestry, horticulture, research, collaboration, outreach
• Scientific communication, stewardship, multidisciplinary, globalization

Where we are now: multidisciplinary applied natural resources school with a forest focus (identity) – highly collaborative and service oriented.

(Table #10) History from CFR which was more focused on training employees for Forest Service, commercial logging, production. Current focus on more contemporary jobs, Northwest Forest Plan, ecology, more varied topics. Some swing back to forest products with a more sustainably managed forest (CLT, other forest products). This problem reflects general opinion of working forests and environmentalism over time. More focus on graduate study than career prep. Wide breadth of study: engineering, soils, social science, entomology, ecology, fire, hydrology. Terrestrial? A land-focused arm of the College of the Environment. Sustainability, land and people. Are all of these people doing such different things working together as much as they can? People can get stuck in silos, due to constraints of individual programs (timing, dollars, need to focus on own work) or lack of communication. Individual people are often focused on specific detailed projects. Great faculty can draw students from far away. Are we following trends, or leading (changes in school’s focus over time)? It would be great to lead although that is challenging. Dollars drive research and this tends to lag trends. How nimble are we? Future job markets: who is looking out for this and forecasting them? BSE’s undergraduate program does this although collecting facts is one thing, analysis and use of information another. Passion for sustainable, natural resource production and management.

SEFS now: The terrestrial part of the College of the Environment studying a wide range of environmental science disciplines for the purpose of sustainable natural resource production and management.

(Table #11) Problem-solving addressing environmental issues from many disciplinary perspectives with roots founded in forestry.

(Table #12) Outdoors, research into trees, animals, soils, environment, ecosystems, people, applied science, natural resources, study and utilization of, multidisciplinary, terrestrial, name changed to SEFS versus a change in vision/mission, lack of time and staff, interest groups work within silos, opportunities for a variety of careers, collaboration and competition with other higher ed institutions (Yale, WSU, OSU, UBC), collaboration with USPNWRS government agencies, federal and state, incredible potential capacity for research ideas integration.

SEFS is a multidisciplinary community of scientists dedicated to the advancement of applied science in the field of natural resources.

SEFS in the future:

(seating at the tables was mixed by asking several from each earlier table to move over to a new table)

(Table #2) Generating knowledge in use-inspired science and integrating information across disciplines to solve environmental challenges.

(Table #3) Balanced, diverse and interdisciplinary collection of researchers and faculty working to foster a community of environmentally aware and socially conscious, holistic thinkers that possess the skill-sets to tackle the known problems of today and the unknown problems of tomorrow.

(Table #4) SEFS in the future needs to be adaptive and responsive to our changing society and climate which could additionally include but not exclusively the following disciplines: wetland ecology, grassland ecology, ecological engineering, computer science technologies.

(Table #5) Increase collaborative efforts within SEFS and across UW to extend the reach of our mission in environmental sustainability and engage external partners in fundraising to maintain and expand our infrastructure.

(Table #6) In the future, SEFS will continue to foster the core values of research and interdisciplinary, environmentally focused education while shifting towards inspiring persuasive and socio-ecologically aware leaders.

(Table #7) Inclusive, sustainable, innovative: We see ourselves as a diverse, innovative, inclusive and effective community that broadly communicates our quantitative (and qualitative) research in sustainable and resilient human and natural systems in the face of global change.

(Table #8) SEFS is a hub for interdisciplinary collaborative research teaching and community engagement to inform decision making for a more sustainable future.

(Table #9) Environmental resource management FOREST

• More diversity, more infrastructure
• Forefront of climate change research and communication
• Improve and keep abreast with evolving technologies

Where will we be: international outreach and collaboration, more networking among other campus units. But how do we maintain our central focus? Is there one? Is “forest” our core?

(Table #10) Increased focus on global, sustainable resource management, urban systems (and urban/rural interactions) and leadership in the field.

(Table #11) Move SEFS as the public face of environmental and sustainability issues while being collaborative in nature with other disciplines.

(Table #12) More holistic approach, interaction and integration across multiple disciplines, use a systems outlook, develop a greater sense of community, cohesive identity as a community of science rather than individual disciplines, diversity among students, staff and faculty, cutting edge research leadership, cohesion amongst students faculty staff, sustainability and resilience.

SEFS will trailblaze a dynamic and holistic approach to the understanding and promotion of a sustainable and resilient environment. SEFS will use amore high technology infrastructure to improve and stay abreast of current technology.

In the afternoon, Table Groups focused on challenges and solutions for the SEFS Graduate Program with respect to recruiting, community, diversity, mentoring, funding, support.

(seating was “opt in” by topic)

Recruiting

We need faculty websites/lab pages that are current and well organized, including a page on school website with an active recruiting page, e.g. what labs have openings.

Faculty need to be able to maintain their own academic profile.

Prospective graduate student weekend – plan and advertise, make effort to be inclusive.

Grad Student happy hours, hikes, social events.

Funding packages and transparency around opportunities, RAs, TAs, scholarships, taxes.

Outcome transparency, degree completion time, career placement, etc.

Updated course structure.

Alumni surveys and statistics about where they are now.

Community

Mandatory journal club for one credit.

Weekly meeting with faculty and students led by faculty all at same time, ex. 4 pm every Friday, 3 quarters per year.

Resurrect Dead Elk Society, need officers.

Faculty-organized community projects for credit, can cross all interests, restoration, habitat for humanity, clean up, make community gardens.

Diversity

Make an effort to bring diverse learners into environmental education.

Consider other aspects of diversity too, e.g. economic.

Need to create an inclusive environment.

Need more diverse faculty, advertise elsewhere, don’t accept a non-diverse applicant pool – rerun search, create endowed Chairs for faculty representing diversity, create only diverse search committees, faculty need to be trained on how to do a search for diverse candidates.

Work on improving school-wide support system for inclusivity.

Diversity training for faculty and staff, training in how to be an ally, interrupting privilege.

Faculty need to take the lead and make this happen.

Environmental justice as a course.

Give SEFS fellowships only to diverse candidates.

Mentoring

Committee obligation for research mentorship.

Include as mentors other faculty, outside managers, lab alumni, peers.

Gather advice/provide advice so that grads can make the most of SEFS programs, take advantage of resources, define path/skills to take it, find direction/focus (with your interest in mind).

Provide intellectual training, how to think.

A mentor will have a congruent style.

Structured training for mentorship??? Confident management, communication.

What happens when relationship falls apart?

Mechanism to hold faculty accountable.

What check is there that the system is working? Peer pressure, impact on future students.

Funding model – set stage for mentoring relationship.

Red Book formal process.

Accountability, collective culture, students themselves.

Faculty Involvement Committee.

Communication.

Inclusion of committee members.

Hitting benchmarks, accountability.

Aim: not to be a graduate student.

2 sides: students stepping up, hitting marks, collecting (advisor/committee) culture of progress.

Poor attendance of faculty at student defenses, esp Ph.D.

Systematic hurdles e.g. funding.

Funding

Challenges: insufficient TAships, lack of transparency at the College, insufficient fellowships, scholarships, new faculty have no clear mechanism for learning about a diverse and complicated landscape, costs approx. $75K a year to support a grad student, tuition is far too high, students not finishing within 5 years, need to take required exams in first 2 years.

Students in professional graduate programs (MEH, etc) feel insufficiently supported, as do some MS students in some quarters.

Faculty must pay more and more for grad students but get few publications from grad students. Postdocs are more expensive but publish more.

List servs are not enough…students need central on line portal listing all big and micro grants TA positions deadlines etc.

Stress of balancing school/work/life with applying for funding.

Solutions: review (reduce) size of graduate program, faculty should be required to ensure funding for grads to be competitive, more flexibility in current funding opportunities, make SEFS fellowships available to current students who need to supplement their funding, look for new opportunities, training for new faculty in funding options and building graduate funding packages, actively seeking new endowed fellowships and industry affiliates, all sizes, and alumni.

Grad students (especially those in professional programs) need SEFS director and admin to build stronger partnerships with SEFS alumni potential employers professional organizations and other community partners to create easier paths to paid internships funding and future careers.

SEFS could follow College of Engineering’s method of partnering with Business School to create entrepreneurial career options.

Need to galvanize long serving professors to rejuvenate their funding efforts, take on more grad students.

Administrative and Staff Support

Challenges:

(A) Lack of central resources on on-line portal: facultly, research, FAQ, etc.

(B) Non-existent on-boarding process

(C) Faculty/staff/grad student disconnect

Other:

• Staff, budget, time constraints, limited resources and skill sets
• Additional tech support: update website
• Financial reimbursement for students
• Outdated info

Solutions:

(A) Centralized location for all info:Faculty, Research Projects, Admin support, Policies, Labs Programs and Centers, Farm

(B) Create an onboarding process: Mentoring program (as per public policy, staff/student), Focused tours and introductions

(C) Better established communication route including best ways to communicate; Investigate alternate communication platforms to email e.g. CANVAS, website, Facebook groups

Other:

• Staff/Faculty forum: provide potential research education program for students.