Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences administrators are in the process of finalizing the school's long-term plan that will be presented it to the Board of Trustees in May.
William Schlesinger, who became dean of the Nicholas School last July, said he is updating former dean Norm Christensen's plan to create a more focused, realistic one.
"[Before I got here] the school was very big on concept and potential," he said. "When I took over, I tried rein it in."
The plan, scaled back in scope from its original intent two years ago, advocates a focus on five core areas, a reassessment of the master's of environmental management program, a commitment to information technology and, most controversially, the consolidation of the school's Duke faculty.
The school is currently split in three locations--the Levine Science Research Center, Old Chemistry Building and the Marine Laboratory at Beaufort, N.C.
Daniel Richter, professor of soils and forest ecology, favors consolidating the West Campus facilities.
"Having [Earth and Ocean Sciences] in another location is definitely a real stress," he said. "It would be wonderful to work in an organization in which everybody's in the same place."
Many earth and ocean science faculty who have offices in the Old Chemistry Building, however, disagreed.
"I think it would be desirable, but perhaps not as important as some people have stressed," said earth and ocean sciences professor Bruce Corliss. "Proximity to other faculty can help, but I think I don't place as much importance in it as others might."
Most faculty agreed with Schlesinger that the school has not done a good job of focusing on specialties. The new plan targets five areas--global change, ecosystem science, environmental policy and economics, coastal ecosystem processes and environmental health. Schlesinger said many of those core areas reflect current faculty strengths. The faculty development plan will, therefore, emphasize hiring experts in those areas to strengthen the curriculum.
Nevertheless, the school's budgetary problems figure prominently in the plan, which forecasts shortfalls until fiscal year 2005. A decline in the size of classes in the master's of environmental management track has led to decreased tuition revenue and, coupled with a decline in indirect cost recovery grants, has left the school struggling to break even.
The Nicholas School will attempt to increase interest in MEM courses--the main degree the school offers--by refreshing the programmatic tracks, using better marketing and increasing financial aid.
Schlesinger said the school had been too passive in its recruitment in the past and too dependent on the Internet to disseminate information about the school. Additionally, he said revitalizing the MEM curriculum would stimulate more intellectual vibrancy.
MEM students specialize in one of five tracks, the most popular of which are resource economics and policy, coastal environmental management.
The plan suggests eliminating less popular tracks and adding others instead. Possible tracks include ones in global change science and policy, environmental health and security, conservation biology, and ecosystem management and restoration. The School also hopes to establish a track in environmental engineering through the Pratt School of Engineering.
"I think we always have to be evaluating what is important to change about what we do, what's important to strengthen, perhaps what's important to de-emphasize," said David Hinton, professor of environmental quality.
The plan toned down one of the previous plan's strategic priorities of international partnerships and distance education.
"I think the changes in the economy and changes since we've learned more about [distance learning have] caused all of us to be a little more cautious," Christensen said. "I think that [Schlesinger's] decision to put less emphasis on that is probably wise. If I was in his shoes, I'd probably be rethinking."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.